from the current “collection”
Nothing sends me into a hoarding frenzy like the approaching end of the peach season. Well, that’s not really true, but it is one of my biggest weaknesses in the stone fruit-produce season. Anyway, is there really a difference between collecting and hoarding? Hmmmmm……..
I’m not of the mind to give up on Summertime easily, even though I’m getting lots of vibes about Autumn coming in. The Morning Glories are blooming on the west side of the house, right on schedule (but not on the east side, so I’m doing a little study, but I digress). And so, yesterday, I trundled into Manhattan to the farmer’s market again, fully expecting two things. First, was that Mr. Kesler would be at his post at the Tree-licious Orchards tent so that I could do a proper interview with him. He was not. Second, I expected to score a bag of beauteous plums to make the cake that Martha Rose Shulman posted in the NYT this week http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015073-olive-oil-plum-cake. The plums I wanted were not there. Should I go back today?
I got a bag of yellow peaches, a bag of white peaches and a bag of Honey Crisp apples, a container of Rose Petal Raspberry Gelato, snapped a few pictures and called it a day.
This morning, being a perfect baking morning, albeit a little on the damp side, I decided to bake the cake with my peaches instead, making the most of my inventory. Continuing on my adaptation of this recipe beyond the fruit, I decided to add some nutmeg and lemon zest. Here’s what I came out with:
OLIVE OIL PEACH CAKE WITH NUTMEG AND LEMON – adapted from Martha Rose Shulman
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup sugar
zest of one lemon
2 extra large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
about 4 ripe peaches, peeled and sliced
muscavado sugar
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9″ springform pan. Place a piece of parchment paper in bottom and butter. Set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
In the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, soften butter on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the olive oil and blend for 1 minute. Scrape down paddle and bowl with a rubber spatula and continue blending until smooth. Add the sugar and lemon zest and beat for 2 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until blended in. Add extracts and blend.
Turn the mixer to low and add dry ingredients, blending just until flour disappears. Remove the bowl from the mixer and finish mixing by hand with a rubber spatula. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth out until even with a small offset spatula. Arrange the peaches in concentric circles.
Bake for 40 minutes or until edges of cake and fruit begin to color and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with muscavado sugar. Remove from pan after cake has cooled on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Let cool completely before serving with a dollop of creme fraiche, lemon scented mascarpone or vanilla ice cream.
So, whatever gorgeous fruits you have sitting on your counter, go ahead and bake a cake! Enjoy!
