The Sweetest Summer Menu: Apricot Cakes and Dolce

It’s picnic season! Our favorite alfresco menus highlight the fresh fruits and vegetables of the season, from tangy chicken salads, spring pea flatbreads and watermelon capreses to the mini apricot cake recipe we’re sharing below.

We love to wrap them while they’re still warm from the oven, then tuck them in our picnic basket, along with a chilled bottle of Dolce Napa Valley. The late harvest wine’s stone fruit flavors, silky texture and soft vanilla undertones are a heavenly match for these tiny cakes.

Cheers to summertime!

The Sweetest Summer Dessert: Mini Apricot Cakes

Wine Pairing: Dolce Napa Valley

Ingredients:

Makes 12 Small Cakes

1 cup Butter

¾ cup Sugar

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

3 eggs

2/3 cup almond flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

3 apricots, halved, pit removed and cut into ¼ inch pieces

Method

Preheat oven to 350. Spray your muffin tin with pan spray and set aside.

Sift flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat butter and sugar together, occasionally scraping down the sides, for about five minutes. Your butter and sugar should be light and fluffy. Set your mixer on low and add the eggs one at a time. Add your vanilla, and then slowly mix in the dry ingredients in three parts.

Divide your batter into 12 muffin tins, filling each tin about a third. Top with sliced apricots and bake for 20 minutes, until the centers are fully cooked. Remove and cool on a baking rack for five minutes before removing the muffins from the tins. Allow them additional cooling time while you pack your basket with a chilled bottle of Dolce Napa Valley and all the additional essentials you’ll need for a summertime picnic.