Peachy Keen
I love to cook, I don't love to bake. Baking is too scientific for me. Much like chemistry. If you screw up the amount of baking soda or a teaspoon too much of one ingredient in the recipe, your cake is ruined. You can't throw a little of this or a little of that into the mix, your cake might turn out like cement.
I also don't like my cake pans. I have tried the nonstick kind, but they never seem to make a nice crust on the cake or cookies. I have tried the commercial pans, but then my cakes don't want to come out, and they stick to the bottom.
There are a few things that I bake that turn out very well. I make a great ricotta cheesecake (springform pans seem to be my friends), and also a really great peach cobbler (made in a Pyrex glass baking dish, also my friend).
Today, my farmer's market peaches are mushy & overripe, so instead of throwing them away, I made a really yummy Peach Batter Cake, courtesy of the lovely cookbook Once Upon A Tart. This is a nice book, and their Soho takeout bakery/lunch shop on Sullivan St. in lower Manhattan is fantastic. They make the BEST scones and quiches around. This cake tastes as yummy as it looks. No whipped cream needed.
Peach Batter Cake:
courtesy of Once Upon A Tart Cookbook
350 degree oven.
Grease a 9" cake pan w/ butter.
Peel and slice about 5 peaches into 3/8" slices and place in a bowl w/ 1 tbsp. of sugar & 1 tbsp. of cinnamon.
Place the fruit mixture on the bottom of the cake pan.
The batter consists of: 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar, 1.5 sticks of butter, melted (that's a lot of butta!), and 1 egg.
Mix flour & sugar together, then add the egg, then the melted butter. Add 1 cup of chopped walnuts to this mixture (optional, but works well w/ the peaches).
Spread this batter over the peaches and bake for 45 minutes, until top is golden brown.
When the pan is cool enough to handle, flip the cake over to reveal the fruit side (if you are lucky, your cake will slip right out......I am never that lucky!).
Comments
Haley
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