International Women's Day and Apricot Custard Cake

There was no better place to spend International Women's Day (IWD) than at my local CWA cottage. Yesterday, I went along to give a talk and spend time with about 30 other women. It felt good to speak about the life we live here and to acknowledge IWD with local women. Everything I've done publicly since I set up my blog in 2007, including three books published by Penguin, being a monthly columnist for the Australian Women's Weekly and Burke's Backyard, and being on ABC radio on and off for many years, I did at home. Right here in my sewing room, I spoke live on air and I tapped out words that seemed to take on a life of their own and ended up landing all over the world. Home is not only a place to live and grow, it can also be the base from which we launch ourselves and our ideas. We really can do amazing things when we have a passion and put in the hard work to achieve our goals.  

I set off to the CWA cottage with my newly cut hair.

I've been celebrating IWD since the early 1980s when I lived in a mining town up north. Twice I "marched" up the main street with a friend to the town pub, had a gin and tonic, loudly toasted all women, then marched home again. There were only men in the pub and I don't think the men approved, or maybe I should give them the benefit of the doubt and say they didn't understand what we were doing.  To be truthful, in those days, most women didn't know about IWD either. It's only become a world-wide celebration in recent years but each year it's been bigger, stronger and louder. I hope it remains a day of celebration and political action and doesn't dissolve into a day when we all sit around praising our mothers and best friends. If that happens it will lose the potential to improve women's lives and highlight the changes needed now and in future years.

A couple of ladies asked for the recipe of this cake I made last week using only pantry staples and backyard eggs. I think it's a good recipe to show how versatile your stockpile cupboard or pantry can be when many of us are trying to avoid the supermarket.

  Apricot custard cake  

Cake
125g softened butter
165g sugar
2 eggs
225g self-raising flour
60g almond meal
2 tablespoon custard powder
125ml milk

Top of cake when baked

410g can apricots - drain off all the juice

½ cup apricot jam, warmed

Custard
2 tablespoon custard powder
2 tablespoon sugar

250ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
20g butter

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease deep 22cm/8 or 9 inch round cake pan and line the base.

Make the custard - this is a thick custard

Combine custard powder and sugar in a small saucepan and using a whisk, gradually stir in the milk. Stir over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat, add vanilla and butter and stir until the butter melts. Cover the surface of custard completely with plastic wrap to prevent a skin forming; cool to room temperature while you continue with the rest of the cake. Don't put the custard in the fridge as it will set and you'll have problems adding it to the cake batter.

Make the cake

Beat the butter and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy; add eggs, one at a time, beating well between each egg. Using a spatula, stir in the flour, almond meal, custard powder and milk.

Spread half the batter into your cake pan then carefully add all the custard on top of the batter.  Use a large spoon to do this so you have dollops of custard sitting on the cake batter. Don't spread it out and don't mix it in with the batter.

Spread the remaining cake batter over the custard and top with the apricots.

Bake the cake at 180C/350F for about 1 hour.  Check the cake after 30 minutes and if it's already golden brown on top, cover the cake with foil to stop it burning.

Let the cake stand for 5 minutes then turn onto wire rack; turn top-side up, brush the top with warm jam. 

Then, put the kettle on.

I hope you have a great week.  Take care of yourself. xx