Apricots are my favorite June fruit. Around here, they are only available a few weeks, and each year I eagerly look forward to their appearance at the store. I recently bought some apricots, so was thrilled to find a hundred-year-old recipe for Apricot Sponge.
Apricot Sponge is a smooth, silky dessert that is served with whipped cream.
My daughter ate some Apricot Sponge, and said, “A top-five recipe.” In her opinion, this is one of the top five hundred-year-old recipes that I’ve served her. She thinks that it tastes like a luscious dessert that she ate at a fancy restaurant.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Apricot Sponge
1 pound apricots (about 7 medium apricots)
water for peeling apricots
1/4 cup water + 1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 envelope (0.25 ounce) unflavored gelatin
2 egg whites (pasteurized)
whipped cream (see below)
First, peel apricots. To do this, fill a saucepan two-thirds full with water. Using high heat bring to a boil. Drop apricots into the boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove from water with a spoon. Pinch a piece of the loosened apricot skin, then peel by slipping the skin off.
Cut the peeled apricots in half and remove stones. Place the apricots halves in a saucepan; add 1/4 cup of water. Using medium heat, heat until the apricots are softened, while stirring occasionally (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat, then push the cooked apricots through a sieve. (I used a Foley mill). Measure the apricot pulp. There should be approximately 1 cup. Return to pan and reheat.
In the meantime, put 1/4 cup cold water in a small bowl; sprinkle the gelatin on the water. Let sit for about 3 minutes. Then stir the softened gelatin and the sugar into the hot apricot pulp.
Remove from heat, put into refrigerator and chill at least 3 hours.
After the mixture has chilled, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Then, beat the chilled apricot mixture until smooth. Gently fold the beaten apricot mixture into the beaten egg whites. Spoon into serving bowls or cups. Serve with whipped cream.
Whipped Cream
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
Put cream in a bowl; beat until stiff peaks form. Add confectioners’ sugar; beat until combined.
A Hundred Years Ago 
That sounds delicious, and would probably work (what sacrilege!) with tinned aprocots too.
I like how you phrased it (“what sacrilege” brought a smile to my face), but I agree – canned apricots would work well in this recipe.
Wow, this sounds amazing.
It’s yummy.
I think the names of the recipes are interesting as well. I have heard of sponge cake, but not fruit sponge.
There are also sponge pies. Like you, I was not familiar with a fruit dessert that was just a “sponge.” I think that all three (sponge cake, sponge pie, and sponge) refer to the light, airy, creaminess of the dessert which results from the use of beaten egg whites. When I wrote up this recipe, I considered putting a more familiar descriptive name for this dessert in parentheses following the title, but I couldn’t come up with anything that seemed quite right.
Another name for this dish could have been Apricot Fool. A fool is an English dessert. Traditionally, fruit fool is made by folding pureed stewed fruit (classically gooseberries) into sweet custard. Modern fool recipes often skip the traditional custard and use whipped cream.
We make gooseberry fool when the berries become nice and ripe. 🙂
Until I read your comment, I’d never heard desserts called fools. One of the things that I really enjoy about this blog is all the wonderful things that I learn from readers like you. Thanks!
Sounds delish! Thanks for the recipe.
It’s tasty.
The “sponge” threw me off. It looks delicious.
It’s really good. The name of this dessert almost seems archaic. I think that it refers to the beaten egg whites that are folded into the apricot mixture.
I’m sure this tastes like summer!
It is a nice summer dessert.
Reading the headline, I expected a recipe for a sponge cake with apricots. I didn’t know the same term was used in other desserts. It looks very light and delicious. Will give it a try.
I think that you’d like it. Until I saw this recipe, I also thought that sponge was an adjective that went before cake or pie. It’s interesting that the word “sponge” apparently can be used used alone to describe a food that includes whipped egg whites.
I learned something new. Thank you! 🙂
I learned something new here! I read the recipe several times trying to find the sponge part,as I always thought of sponge as a type of cake! Not so ,According to a culinary site it’s…A sweet batter product that is leavened with beaten egg foam. Also called génoise.
And, I learned something new, too. Thanks for researching this. It’s fascinating to learn what sponge means.
Top five?! That’s quite a distinction. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of apricots but I need to try this!
I think that you’ll like this recipe. My daughter definitely thought this was one of the best old recipes that I’ve made.
I love all these old-fashioned desserts. I hope to try this.
As I’m sure you can tell, I also love old-fashioned desserts. 🙂
Yum. I never think of apricots or cooking with them. This month I did a blueberry dessert, but I’m going to have to try this apricot sponge.
A blueberry tart sounds good. I really like apricots. I think that you’d enjoy this recipe.
Such a pleasant and refreshing delight to enjoy during these warm days of sun. Yummy!
It’s a perfect summer dessert.
I will have to give this a try. I love apricot anything! Interesting that this is called a
‘sponge’ dessert when it really is more of a custard or pudding. From earlier comments I think we all agree. But, hey, those gals from a hundred years ago sure knew how to whip up some tasty dishes, no matter what they were called! 🙂
Looks like a wonderful dessert! 💕