Blueberries and peaches are rippled through the soft, almond-rich crumb of this pretty cake – the very essence of summer. I sometimes add a few rose petals and an extra handful of raspberries at the last moment, or perhaps a light scattering of caster sugar.
Ingredients (serves 8-10)
175g butter
175g golden caster sugar
200g ripe peaches
2 large eggs
175g self-raising flour
100g ground almonds
1 tsp grated orange zest
a few drops of vanilla extract
150g blueberries
Line the base of a 20cm, loose-bottomed cake tin with baking paper. Set the oven at 170C/gas mark 4.
Cream the butter and sugar together in a food mixer until pale and fluffy. Halve, stone and roughly chop the peaches. Beat the eggs lightly then add, a little at a time, to the creamed butter and sugar, pushing the mixture down the sides of the bowl from time to time with a rubber spatula. If there is any sign of curdling, stir in a tablespoon of the flour.
Mix the flour and almonds together and fold in, with the mixture at a slow speed, in two or three separate lots. Add the orange zest and vanilla, and once they are incorporated add the chopped peaches and blueberries.
Scrape the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Test with a skewer – if it comes out relatively clean, then the cake is done. Leave the cake to cool for 10 minutes or so in the tin, run a palette knife around the edge, then slide out on to a plate, decorating as the fancy takes you.
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