This post contains affiliate links, which means if you purchase something through my link, I will earn a small commission. This does not affect the price you pay for the item. I only advertise products that I have used myself and would genuinely recommend!
A rich, moist vegan almond cake topped with sticky, tangy apricot and sweet icing that snaps as you bite into it. It’s a delicious balance of sweet and tart.
My last vegan cake making involved making some of the lightest cakes possible – vegan lemon cupcakes. This time my idea is quite different. Something sticky and rich. The goal – a cake bar resembling an apricot almond danish pastry.
There’s only so close a cake can get to a danish pastry, but this one has the flavour just like the pastries I enjoyed so much, and the mouth feel is surprisingly close. Best of all, it’s very easy to make.
Ground almonds are perfect for creating this texture, they make excellent, moist cakes.
It’s a very thick batter, actually more like a dough. You don’t pour it, you press it in to the tin. Then you spread the layer of apricot jam mixed with a little water. The water helps it spread, and it ensures that as the cake bakes it doesn’t dry out too much. Spoonfuls of the cake dough are dropped across the jam, creating the distinctive texture of golden peaks and dips filled with sticky apricot. Finish by scattering with flaked almonds, they’ll toast while the cake bakes.
You can check out my favourite, tall-sided square cake tin here – Tala 20cm Square Cake Tin
Make sure it’s well cooled before icing – ideally overnight for the flavours to develop. It’s much better the next day if you can wait that long!
Have you enjoyed this vegan almond cake or have a question? Join the conversation below!
Vegan Almond & Apricot Cake
Ingredients
Cake dough
- 200 g granulated sugar (golden, if possible)
- 175 g plain flour (aka all-purpose)
- 50 g ground almonds (aka almond flour)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 125 g plain soy yogurt
- 75 g light olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
Jam layer
- 125 g apricot jam
- 2 tablespoons water
To decorate
- 2 tablespoons flaked almonds
Icing
- 75 g icing sugar (aka confectioner's sugar)
- 2-3 teaspoons Water
Instructions
Making the cake
- Pre-heat the oven (180 °C, Fan 160 °C, 350 °F, Gas 4), and line a 20x20cm (8×8 inch) square baking tin with baking paper.
- Sift together the dry cake dough ingredients (flour, sugar, ground almonds, baking powder and salt) until evenly distributed, then stir in the wet (yogurt, oil and almond extract) until a thick, smooth dough forms.
- Set aside 1/2 a cup of the dough and press the remainder in to the lined cake tin to form an even layer.
- Whisk together the apricot jam and water until dissolved, then spread evenly over the cake dough. Using the reserved 1/2 cup of dough, dot small spoonfuls of it randomly across the top. Scatter with the flaked almonds.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 40-50 minutes. Towards the end of this time test by inserting a cocktail stick into the middle of the cake. It should come out clean. If there is wet batter on the stick, return it to the oven and cook for a couple of minutes more, then test again. Repeat as needed until the stick comes out clean. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack before applying icing.
Icing the cake
- Sift the icing sugar in to a bowl, then add two teaspoons of water and stir briskly to form a thick icing that pours slowly. If needed add just a little more water – a few drops at a time – until you reach this consistency.
- Place the icing in a piping bag with a small tip and pipe lines across the top of the cake.
Have made this twice now and I absolutely LOVE it! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
That’s great to hear Sarah! Thank you for leaving me feedback 🙂
Could this work in a muffin tin?
Thanks ivy
Hi Ivy, I think this would work – but you’ll be increasing the surface area a lot – so I expect them to cook faster. Hope this helps, and if you get to try it out I’d love to know how it goes, Ben
Can I bake this in a round 8×8 pan?
Hi Amelia, I haven’t tested this recipe with a round tin. However, an 8″ round tin is roughly 75% the area of a square 8″, so you’d be making a thicker cake. I don’t see a problem there, but it would help to reduce the amount of cake dough you dot across the top, and the amount of jam layer and icing since all of these are balanced to suit the surface area of the cake. If you keep it the same I suspect the dots of dough would just merge and not create the right surface texture.
Hope this helps, and if you try it please let us know how it goes!
This is absolutely a family favourite in our house! Really delicious and very easy to make and I’ve made it many times. I’d like to make it deeper as mine ends up only about 1inch deep. Is the easiest way to just double the ingredients? If so, any advice on how much longer to bake. Many Thanks. PS Going to try the apple cake this weekend.
Hi Melanie, it’s so good to hear you’re enjoying the recipe! To double the recipe I’d have to trial it, but going from about 1″ (which is how this cake should be, so yours is all good) to 2″ doesn’t sound unreasonable and I wouldn’t expect it to need the time doubled. The cake batter just needs to heat throughout and stay at the right temperature for the right length of time to set, and I don’t think it will take that much extra time for the heat to reach the centre of the doubled cake and cook it. It would still be a small cake. I’d start out adding at most 10-15 minutes and work from there. Hope this helps!