On the light side, I'd like to share with you a recipe translated from the cookbook "Vsyo Iz Muki" (Everything from Flour), Irkutsk University Press, 1990, p. 63.
Apricot Torte
1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
10 eggs
Filling
400 grams [14 oz.] apricots
1 cup sugar
Pour the mixed pastry batter in a round cake pan (or large fry pan). which has been prepared with butter and paper in the bottom, so that the batter comes about 3/4 up the sides of the pan.
Bake the cake at a temperature of 200 to 220 degrees [C. or 392 to 428 F.]. Check the doneness of the cake with a toothpick. Cut the cake in two horizontally, and pour [some of'] the prepared apricot puree over the bottom layer. Then put weights of 1 to 1.5 kg. [2.2 to 3.3 lbs.] on the cake [like for pressed sandwiches] and leave it like that for 2 to 3 hours.
After this time has passed pour the rest of the puree, now heated, carefully over the top of the cake, spreading it with a knife so that it will be smooth.
***
I made this cake in Russia and enjoyed it. The ingredients are simple and this is the time of year when fresh apricots should be available (at least in the northern hemisphere!). The parts in brackets are mine. I suppose this recipe might work with other fruits too, but I haven't tried that. The recipe doesn't specify how long to cook the cake, and I didn't write a notation about that, but I would suspect something less then or around half an hour at that temperature.
One memory I have of apricots in Russia is the wonderful, plump dried apricots I got at the market and often used to make apricot compote (a beverage, rather than dessert eaten with a spoon). Tree fruits didn't grow where I lived, though, because the growing season was too short. But there were lots and lots of berries... but that's another story.
~ Meg
