Saturday was Meredith and Aidan’s birthday!
And we celebrated with a train ride and lunch at the Winking Lizard in Peninsula!
Allyson’s Aiden has a birthday in May- so we enjoyed the train experience with both boys for their birthdays!
They had such a good time- both on the train and playing on the tracks-
and climbing on the rocks and checking out the view of the river.
Then, after a ride back to Akron, and a car ride home to Copley, we had cake!
Actually a yummy torte.
Belgian Apricot Torte.
It is kind of crumbly- but so great with tea and low in sugar that we loved it!
Here’s the recipe:
3/4 cup soft butter
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1 1/2 TBSP oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg, beaten
3 cups flour ( all purpose or pastry- I used pastry)
1 1/2tsp baking powder
grated rind of lemon
grated rind of orange
1/2 cup finely chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup apricot jam
confectioner’s sugar for dredging
Line a 8 inch pan with baking parchment.
Beat the butter, sugar, oil and vanilla until fluffy, then add egg and beat well.
Sift the flour with the baking powder, and gradually work into the creamed mixture along with the grated rinds.
Knead together as for a shortbread dough. Divide in half, and coarsely grate one portion into the pan so that it covers the bottom evenly.
Beat the jam and apricots together and spread the mixture evenly over the dough- taking it right to the edges.
Grate the remaining dough evenly over the apricot layer and bake in a preheated oven at 300 degrees F for about 1- 1 1/4 hours, or until lightly browned and just firm. Remove from the oven and set aside until cold
Remove the torte from the pan and strip off the paper.
Dredge heavily with sifted confectioner’s sugar.
I was going to take a picture of the whole round- but we ate it before I could get my camera out. This is so easy to make- easy for kids to eat and just delicious.
Looks like it was a lovely day. And–I am going to make that torte!
Elizabeth-
You will LOVE it!
You might want to cut the flour down by 1/4 cup. I found that it was so crumbly, that I didn’t have to grate it- just laid the crumbs on the bottom and third layer. It is much prettier grated- or at least the picture in the book made it almost lacy-looking when grated.
ok, noted, thanks! What cookbook is it from?
It’s a small book I picked up in a resale shop, entitled, STEP-BY-STEP Picnics, by Rosemary Wadey.
I saw the torte and bought the book- so far I’ve made the torte, eggplant rolls and rosti potato cake with zucchini and carrots. I LOVE picnics and picnic foods and picnic cookbooks and picnic weather, and picnic baskets, and the friends and family I picnic with and porch picnics and beach picnics and roadside picnics, and backyard picnics- PICNICS!
Thanks for the delicious 2nd birthday. So far you’re 2 for 2 on birthday successes with Aidan. Thanks again for helping us have such a fun day.
Could not find superfine sugar at the store. What do you recommend instead? And–I’m going to look for that book! And–how about a Kingwood picnic again soon?
Elizabeth,
You can make your own superfine by running it through the food processor for a couple of minutes.
Love the idea of a Kingwood picnic, again, SOON!
Willow-
I’m so thankful to get to celebrate with you all! I love the way he dug into the cake before we lit the candles, before we sang the song- it was so cute and so VERY dear to this grandma’s heart!
Are you up for a Kingwood picnic again, soon?
Mmmmm! That looks soooooo good! I want to try it, too. I’m almost tempted to substitute rosehip jam for the apricot. Maybe for the second torte. 🙂
And the train fun … that would have been a hit with this family, too!
Martha,
You could substitute any kind of preserves, just remember that you need more substance than just the jam would provide. Maybe if you add dried cherries chopped up?
Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
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