Almond peach cake

Written by on in Dessert

This post is long overdue…

Back in October, the weather was changing rapidly with the arrival of autumn, the clouds covered the mountain peaks and we have had some rain showers, intertwined with some truly summer-like sun rays. I was more than ready to get into this cozy and colourful time of the year, so I decided to embark on another baking project.

But then, me being in the last days of my pregnancy at the time, unfortunately, I have never managed to do so. Now, coming into my third month of being a mum to a little boy, I finally seem to be able to find a sort of a routine that includes the blog. Therefore, I decided to revive the idea of baking which would bring some warmth, especially now, in January, in the middle of the cold and snow-rain aura.

Luckily, I still had in the freezer some fresh peaches that I got at the market and froze back in October. Peaches are a perfect summary of the lazy late summer and early autumn days – their acidic tanginess coupled with a floral taste gives a truly soothing feeling when biting into the moist, buttermilk-infused cake.

In order to give it some character, I roasted almonds which I then spread at the top of the cake before baking. As I had some leftover white chocolate chips (I have a weakness for white chocolate, it’s my favourite), I added these to the dough – they melted perfectly in and gave the cake little drops of buttery sweetness.


By including buttermilk in the dough, the cake remains particularly moist, even the next day.

Almond peach cake
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Almond peach cake

Recipe by monika.gemmetCourse: DessertDifficulty: Easy
Servings

6-8

servings
Prep time

15

minutes
Cooking time

40

minutes

The proportions for this cake are designed for a baking form with a diameter of 24 cm. All the ingredients need to be at the room temperature.

Ingredients

  • 100g almonds

  • 2 ripe peaches, cut into cubes (frozen ones work as well)

  • 1 tablespoon of flour

  • 260g flour

  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

  • pinch of salt

  • 125g butter

  • 100g brown sugar

  • 2 eggs

  • 120g buttermilk

  • 1 tablespoon of maple syrup

  • zest of one orange

  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

  • 50g white chocolate chips

Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 200 °C (180 °C if using oven fan).
  • Grease the baking form with some butter and flour it.
  • Start with the almonds – roast the almonds on a dry pan, medium-high heat. Remove from the pan and when cold enough to handle, roughly chop into 2-3 cm chunks.
  • Cut the peaches into cubes and coat them in one tablespoon of flour – in this way, when you add them to the batter, they will not fall down during the baking, ending up at the bottom of the cake rather than spread within the cake.
    If using frozen peaches, make sure they are defrosted and squeeze out any excess liquid.
  • Whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda and a pinch of salt in a separate bowl until combined (alternatively, you can sift them through a colander into a bowl).
  • In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter with sugar.
  • Keeping the mixer on the slow speed, put in the egg, one at a time.
  • Add the maple syrup, vanilla extract and the orange zest.
  • Gradually stir in the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl – I usually do it in three parts, in this way, you are allowing them to be well incorporated.
  • With the mixer still on slow speed, add the buttermilk. Mix until just combined.
  • Remove the bowl from the mixer and slowly fold into the batter the chocolate chips and the peaches. Remember not to overmix the batter.
  • Pour the batter into the baking form – spread the roasted almonds on top.
  • Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out dry, it all depends on your oven).
  • Let it cool in the baking form for a few minutes before you put it on the rack to cool off completely.
  • Sprinkle with some powdered sugar and enjoy!

Notes

  • Depending on whether you like your cake more on a sweet note, you can increase the amount of sugar by 20-30 g. I am not personally a big fan of overly sweet desserts or cakes – for me, the maple syrup, chocolate and the peaches provide enough sweetness. That is why I like to balance it out with a cake batter that includes some acidity and bitterness by adding some buttermilk. It also helps the cake to stay moist – I took it the day after baking to my parents-in-law and the texture remained as delicate and luscious as directly after baking.
  • The brown sugar provides some additional softness and smokiness to the cake – but you can substitute it with white sugar, however, I would use around 100-110g of white sugar. then.
  • The white chocolate chips give the extra layer of creaminess and the buttery taste – but you can substitute them with semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips if you prefer these.