• Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Butter a 9” cake pan, and get out a sheet of parchment paper. Crinkle up the parchment paper, then un-crinkle it and place it in your buttered pan, pressing the parchment up the sides of the pan. This will give you a way to lift the cake out of the pan so that no streusel falls off of it.

Vanilla Cake

• In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
• Rinse, halve, and pit the apriums and set them aside along with a bowl of 2 tbsp. of flour.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer, in a large bowl) beat together the butter and sugar for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
• Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in both eggs and the vanilla, and beat until well combined (~1 min.)
• Add in half of the flour mixture, and mix by hand just until the flour is incorporated. Add in all of the buttermilk and mix until combined. Add in the rest of the flour, and lightly fold the mixture together just until all of the flour is incorporated.
• Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and smooth it into an even layer

Aprium Topping

• Dip the skin side of each aprium half into the flour to coat the bottom. Place the apriums facing up in the cake batter (with the coated flour side touching the cake batter). Make sure the apriums are close together and that the top is fully coated. Sprinkle the sugar over the apriums.
• Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs on it.
• Wait for the cake to cool before serving. Slice, serve, and enjoy!