Apricot traybake with rosemary, orange and vanilla sugar crust

Late June brings apricots piled high on market stalls, their honeyed perfume promising flavour. This simple traybake uses them well: a soft, buttery cake made tender with soured cream, the apricots gently settling into the batter as it bakes, while a sugar crust scented with rosemary, orange zest and vanilla tops the cake.

Prep 15 min Cook 1 hr 10 min Serves 8-10. For the cake: 250g caster sugar, finely grated zest of 1 orange, 190g unsalted butter softened, 3 large eggs at room temperature, 1½ tsp vanilla extract, 330g plain flour, 1¼ tsp baking powder, ¾ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp fine sea salt, 180g soured cream, 12 medium apricots halved and stoned.

For the rosemary-orange sugar crust: 2 tsp finely chopped rosemary, finely grated zest of 1 orange, seeds from ½ vanilla pod, 3 tbsp caster sugar. Pouring cream, to serve. Grease and line a 20cm x 30cm tin with greaseproof paper.

apricot traybake, rosemary, orange zest, vanilla sugar, soured cream, buttery cake, apricots, caster sugar, traybake recipe, pouring cream