I went to the farmer's market with Sunday on the brain. Father's Day for our family was never as big a deal as a birthday or Mother's Day. My dad usually wanted to downplay it - a card and a meal at home was just fine for him. Sitting down together, that meal was usually a steak & potato with some sliced tomatoes and blue cheese. Something simple. Dessert was no different - a bakery bought pound cake or angel food cake with my dad's favorite fruit on it - peaches.
This weekend was the second Father's Day without either of my parents. When they're gone, those holidays don't mean any less - they just mean something different. While I found myself wavering between needing to just be quiet and the occasional welling-up, I also found myself craving something slightly sweet. Maybe something with fresh fruit in it. I had the desire to bake...and bake something I would have happily served at a dinner with my folks. A simple cake that travels well & is great warm with a little ice cream or whipped cream. This is that cake.
It's really quite a simple recipe. The most difficult thing you'll have to do is grind the almonds in a food processor or mini-chop (or clean spice grinder if you have one for such things). Other than that, this is really a celebration of summer fruit. Mix up the ingredients however you'd like. It's also a celebration of traditions and simplicity and making food to share with people. Do that however you'd like, too - just make sure you do it.
Peach, Raspberry & Almond Cake - makes 9 large rectangular servings or 12 small squares - adapted from a recipe here on BBC Good Food
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup self rising flour
- 1/4 cup ground almonds (you can use pre-ground almonds or do your own in a processor)
- 2 ripe peaches, skin on, pitted and each peach cut into 8-10 slices
- 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
- 1/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds (left whole for topping)
- powdered sugar, for garnish
- Prepare (butter or spray & flour) an 8" square baking pan. Preheat your oven to 350.
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter and allow to cool for about 5 minutes. While the butter is cooling, combine the two sugars, vanilla and eggs in a large mixing bowl or bowl of your electric mixer. Stir or mix until smooth. Drizzle in the butter while stirring and make sure the mixture is smooth again - make sure you do this slowly so that if your butter is still warm, it doesn't curdle the eggs. Stir in the flour, almonds and a ¼ tsp salt. Stir or mix one more time just until the flour & dry ingredients are incorporated.
- Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan. Place peach slices across top of the cake so that it is uniformly covered. Scatter the raspberries and almonds over the top of the cake. Bake for 1 hour - as usual, this will depend on how your oven is calibrated. The cake is done when a skewer or toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan on a rack for about 20 minutes. Serve immediately so it'll be warm or you can cover this cake and serve it later - it would travel and is delicious at room temperature as a breakfast cake or snack.
