Poppy Seed Cake with Apricots

Ingredients

• 250 g flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 125 g cold butter
• 75 g sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• flour (for rolling)
• butter (for the pan)
• 120 g butter
• 300 g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 kg strained low-fat quark
• 1 packet vanilla pudding powder
• 0.25 tsp baking powder
• 0.5 tsp lemon zest (unprocessed)
• 1 pinch salt
• 0.5 tsp orange zest (unprocessed)
• 2 egg whites
• 250 g poppy seed mix
• 1 can apricot halves (ca. 820 g)
• powdered sugar (for dusting)

Instructions

1. 1.

   Sift flour onto a work surface, mix in salt and create a well in the center. Cut cold butter into small pieces and distribute around the well; add an egg, about 50 ml lukewarm water, and use a knife to cut through all ingredients. Quickly knead the dough crumbs with hands into a dough, shape into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill for about 30 minutes.

2. 2.

   Roll out the dough on a floured surface and line a butter‑greased springform pan, shaping an edge; chill again. Preheat the oven to 180 °C fan.

3. 3.

   Whisk butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs. Stir in strained quark, pudding powder, baking powder, lemon zest, salt, and orange zest.

4. 4.

   Take two thirds of the mixture and spread it over the dough. Whip egg whites stiffly. Fold poppy seed mix into the remaining quark batter, fold in the meringue, and spread over the quark layer. Bake in the preheated oven for 50–60 minutes. Let cool. Drain apricots, arrange on top, and dust with powdered sugar.