In past ages, court pastry-cooks used to create a new recipe on any important banquet: delicious cakes. Many of these recipes were lost, yet a few of them have survived to date as a heritage of  ancient and refined pastry-cooking. Among these specialities is the apricot Christmas cake, with its distinctive taste thanks to the apricot which takes the place of raisins and other fruit. We recommend to bring the cake to room temperature 2 hours before serving.