Little Apricot Cakes

I spotted these babies in June’s issue of Bon Appétit and deemed them entirely too cute to pass up. I don’t even like apricots that much and yet I couldn’t wait to make them! The recipe is super simple and they make for the perfect sweet but not too sweet baked good to serve for a casual Sunday brunch. But let’s be clear- I did not have a brunch. I’m super selfish about my Sundays. We ate them all ourselves- Brandon as his late night snack, me as my breakfast with copious amounts of watermelon. Can it just be summer forever? Minus the humidity of course.

One day til the weekend! But let’s be clear again, Thursday is my favorite day of the week.

Little Apricot Cakes slightly adapted from Bon Appétit

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or you can use all purpose)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 2 apricots, halved, pitted, cut into 1/4-inch wedges
• 2 tablespoons raw sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat muffin cups with nonstick spray. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in another medium bowl, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, lemon zest, and vanilla and beat until combined.

With mixer on low speed, add dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Divide batter among muffin cups (cups will be only 1/3 full) and smooth tops. Top with apricot slices and sprinkle with raw sugar.

Bake until cakes are golden and a tester inserted into the centers comes out clean, 20–25 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack; let pan cool 5 minutes. Transfer cakes to rack and let cool completely.