No Excuses, Go Make this Cake
If I gave you a recipe for super easy cake that would use up the bruised fruit that is starting to get a bit stinky you would use it, right? You would bake it up in a few minutes instead of buying a frozen dessert at the local supermarket to take to friend’s, wouldn’t you?
Because having to throw out old peaches and berries is too sad to bear and you would rather whip them up into something delicious and impressive, right? And since the recipe calls for stuff you have in the kitchen, is totally foolproof and you don’t even need a mixer for it, it would be a no-brainer.
I make this cake all through the summer for those reasons. I make it when friends are coming over at the last minute and even up at the cottage. In fact, I sometimes pack the dry ingredients with me when I am going to visit friends because I have found that baking powder is not something everyone has in their cottage kitchen.
It comes from one of my kitchen staple books: Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax. I love this book and this ridiculously simple dessert recipe is stained with butter but now I have the recipe memorized.
I used peaches and blueberries and some wrinkly blackberries, but I have also used apples, pears, cranberries or a mixture of whatever I have in the fridge. Go now and make it.
All-Time Best Summer Fruit Torte
Makes one 8-inch or a thin 9-inch single layer cake. Can be doubled.
½ cup (one stick) unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 peaches or nectarines, peeled, pitted and sliced
½ cup blueberries
Sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling
Preheat the oven to 350 and butter cake pan.
Beat (in bowl with wooden spoon, or with an electric mixer) the butter until light. Add sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Beat in egg at one at a time.
In a small bowl, add flour, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and stir until just combined.
Scrape the batter into pan, smooth the top. Scatter the fruit randomly and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
Bake until golden brown and baked through about 45 minutes. The batter will bubble up over some of the fruit. Cool on a rack, serve at room temperature.
Here is the cake, after my son has gotten to it and picked off some of the peaches:
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