Upside-Down Apricot Hazelnut Torte

Flavorful fruit makes a winning, moist crown for nut-based Passover cakes prepared without butter or other dairy ingredients. But my upside-down tortes sometimes ended up with soggy crusts. Stumped, I turned to my dear friend, Maria Springer, owner of Maja’s Viennese Kitchen, a cooking school just outside of Baltimore.

A chemist by training, Maria began by analyzing the ingredients, recommending skinned nuts less oil-rich than pecans or walnuts and adding