Apricot, Pistachio, and Olive Oil Coffee Cake

or, how I became a Prunefluincer

Hello and happy-end-of-May to you. I’m bringing you a recipe today that was commissioned by California Grown, a group that represents agricultural commodities grown in the Golden State, and with that I’d like to offer a little backstory about my relationship with them.

I’ve always been a fan of a culinary underdog (my obsession with fruitcake, anyone?). A few years ago I was mouthing off on the internet about how another maligned favorite of mine, prunes, are criminally underappreciated. I can’t stand the inevitable scatological jokes, and I’m incredulous that we’re still allowing them to turn us off such a delicious snack.

Unbeknownst to me, a photographer acquaintance of mine (now a buddy, hi James!) had been working with CA Grown and put my content in front one of the subgroups they represent, California Prunes. They reached out and asked if I’d be interested in writing recipes and posting sponsored Instagram content for them. I responded that I would be delighted.

Growing a modest Instagram following and meeting other creatives who use social media has really changed my relationship to sponsored content. At times I can still feel existential about the way social media can feel like a relentless, grim parade of self promotion. Yet creating content, especially recipes, for corporate clients has become a lifeline for many indie internet chefs and food writers. The chef Paola Velez has been instrumental in crystallizing this notion for me, and her candor on the subject has shaped my perception of my own sponcon. Many of you know how razor thin the margins are for microbakers, and having the extra income from these types of gigs has allowed me the breathing room to imagine other projects I’d like to accomplish. Plus now I can tell people I’m sponsored by prunes!

Next time you see a chef schilling a product on Instagram, consider that by interacting with that content, you’re actually tangibly supporting them and increasing the likelihood they’ll pick up other sponsorships, which may mean more recipes, more writing, more art, or maybe just a vacation.

With that, a commitment- when I share sponsored content here in the future, know that I’ve thought about the relationship carefully, and that I believe in the product I’m selling. Today that product is California dried apricots! I’m the featured blogger for California Stone Fruit this season, which means this is the first of two recipes I’ll be sharing for them in the next month.

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Ahoy, sponsored content below!

Right now in New Orleans, we’re in a market lull - the strawberries are petering out and the blackberries and blueberries haven’t yet begun in full force.

A late cold snap this past spring is creating a difficult year for farmers. You may have heard the rumors too - we’re actually having a tricky season for stone fruit across the country, so in the South we can expect a late, small crop of peaches and very few plums or nectarines. That’s why dried fruit, and especially dried California stone fruits like apricots, prunes, and peaches, are so wonderful to work with. They’re dried in the peak season and ready to go whenever I’m craving them, and I don’t have to wait for apricot season to roll around (which, to be frank, it never does down here as we don’t grow apricots locally). One of my favorite hacks is to simmer dried stone fruit in syrup and blend into a fruit butter (like I did with the prune raspberry butter for the almond cake recipe I developed last year). This time, dried apricot butter is the star of this new coffee cake recipe - apricot, pistachio, and olive oil coffee cake. 

It’s a given that I’ll source my dried apricots from California - California grows more than 95% of the apricots in the United States, and over 50% of the nations produce in general (!). And while I’m typically a stickler for sourcing my produce locally and in season, dried apricots are available year-round. Buying from California means my produce is being grown with attention and care, utilizing cutting edge sustainable farming practices - practices that are a model for agriculture around the world.

Here, a base of tender pistachio cake is topped with a bright layer of apricot butter and finished with an addictive pistachio and olive oil streusel. The olive oil plays so well with the flavor of the dried apricots - each has a lovely, fruity acidity, and the addition of both butter and olive oil to the cake itself means it stays moist for ages. I even love baking this cake the evening before and letting it mellow overnight - in the morning the pistachio streusel has melded into the apricot butter in the most luscious way (much like the inspiration for this recipe, the Entenmann's raspberry danish twist). On that note - I’ve developed the streusel for this recipe to have a soft, melt-in-your-mouth quality. If you prefer a crunchy streusel, omit the cornstarch and substitute granulated sugar for powdered sugar. 

Apricot, Pistachio, and Olive Oil Coffee Cake

Recipe note: almond flour is a good substitution for the pistachios in this recipe. I used pistachio flour to great effect, but you could also grind your own pistachios in a food processor - the cake will have more of a rustic edge and the streusel will be a bit crunchier.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9” round springform pan by spraying it with pan spray and pressing a piece of parchment paper into the bottom, allowing the edges of the paper to come up the sides of the pan (this will give your cake a lovely rustic look, and prevent any errant apricot butter from scorching on the edge of the pan).  A note- I use an oven thermometer in my notoriously unreliable home oven to make sure it’s at the correct temp - for me, that means setting my oven to 380 degrees to reach a true temp of 350. If your bakes routinely come out wonky, consider buying one.

Begin by assembling the streusel, and then make the apricot butter. You’ll finish by preparing the cake batter, and then assemble the coffee cake from there.

For the streusel:

½ cup / 50 grams confectioners sugar

½ cup / 60 grams all purpose flour

½ cup / 50 grams ground pistachios or pistachio flour

1 teaspoon cornstarch

½ teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons / 40 grams olive oil 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Assemble all the dry ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Drizzle in the olive oil and vanilla extract. Stir the mixture with a fork until it forms a crumbly texture - if it still appears like there are dry patches of flour, add a little more olive oil a teaspoon at a time until it comes together. Spread the streusel in a single layer on a sheet tray and pop it in the freezer while you assemble the rest of your coffee cake elements.

For the apricot butter

1 ¼ cups / 200 grams dried apricots, roughly chopped

1 ¼ cups water

¼ cup / 50 grams granulated sugar

Juice of half a large lemon

Simmer the apricots, water, sugar, and lemon juice together in a small non reactive pot until the sugar has dissolved and the apricots have become very tender, about three to four minutes. Puree the mixture until very smooth - you may need to add a little water if the mixture is quite thick. Let cool to room temperature.

For the cake

1 ½ cups / 180 grams all purpose flour

½ cup / 50 grams ground pistachios or pistachio flour

¾ cup / 150 grams sugar

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 stick / 112 grams butter, room temperature

¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons / 92 grams sour cream

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

This cake uses the reverse creaming method - where the room temperature butter is first incorporated into the dry ingredients, followed by the wet ingredients. 

Combine the flour, pistachios, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to combine. Add the room temperature butter to the dry ingredients and mix with a paddle attachment until the mixture looks coarse and crumbly, like sand.

Combine the sour cream, olive oil, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla in a separate bowl and whisk to combine. Add half the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix at medium-low speed until the wet ingredients are fully incorporated and the mixture takes on a lightened appearance, about two minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining sour cream mixture to the bowl and mix for an additional two minutes at medium speed to aerate the batter.

Spread the cake batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of the streusel. Gently spoon the apricot mixture onto the surface of the cake batter - or if you have a piping bag, it can be helpful to use one to pipe the apricot butter evenly over the surface of the cake batter. Use a spoon or an offset spatula to gently smooth the apricot butter layer over the surface of the coffee cake batter. Finish with the remaining pistachio and olive oil streusel.

Bake for 38-42 minutes or until the cake has taken on a deep golden brown color around the border. The thick layer of apricot butter can make it difficult to tell if the center of the cake is done, as a knife poked in the center can still come out moist. I like to look at other visual indicators here - the center of your coffee cake shouldn’t wobble when gently shaken, and the border of the cake will have separated from the sides of the pan and be a deep burnished color. I actually got another brilliant tip for just this problem from Natasha Pickowicz’ recipe for Jammy Coffee Cake in More than Cake - there, she suggests “sliding the knife in at a sharp sideways angle, count to three, and then remove the knife. If it’s dry, the cake is done”. In my experiments with this method with my own recipe, I found that there would be a few damp crumbs still attached to the knife, but otherwise it’s a wonderful indicator for doneness in these tricky bakes.

Allow to cool completely before slicing, or let the cake rest, loosely tented in foil, overnight to enjoy the next morning.