With a very Moreish Vanilla Cream…
Oh how we are yearning for summer. Summer conjures up images of so many seasonal fruits, but how many recipes do you see showcasing the glorious Donut Peach? Exactly! And really there should be more. Because this little peach of a peach is bursting with juice and sweetness in a way that rivals it’s plumper hairier cousins and the all-too-often sour nectarine BIG TIME…
Although perhaps not the most economical of goodies, the yummy donut peach is definitely becoming more widely available in our greengrocers and supermarkets, and makes the perfect afternoon tea treat served up with a dollop of vanilla pod flecked cream – or a good quality clotted cream. So I just had to share my tasty Recipe: Donut Peach Upside-down Cake with you. It’s sure to be as much of a hit in your household as it is here at The Glass House!
Serves 8.
Peachtastic!
- 300g ripe donut peaches (stones removed and chopped into small pieces)
- 300g self-raising flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 250g brown sugar
- 250g unsalted butter
- 5 eggs
- 2 tablespoons icing sugar
- 1 small carton of whipping cream
- Seeds of 1 vanilla pod
- Set the oven to 170 degrees C (325 F/Gas Mark 3) and grease a loaf tin.
- Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the brown sugar, melted butter and eggs.
- Beat until all is thoroughly combined.
- Divide the donut peaches into thirds (approximately, this doesn’t have to be exactly gram for gram!) and press one third of them through a sieve (discarding the skin), so that you collect the juice – it won’t be much more than a tablespoon or so – into a separate bowl.
- Stir the icing sugar into the juice and then stir in another third of the donut peaches.
- Now transfer the fruit mixture into the loaf tin (reserving the final third of the donut peaches).
- Spoon the cake mixture on top, smooth the top of the cake down with a palette knife so you have a relatively flat surface and then pop the cake in the oven for around 45 minutes. Test with a piece of dried spaghetti through the centre when the time is up: If it comes out clean then the cake is ready, but if not then return it to the oven for another 5 minutes and check again until your spaghetti strand is ‘cake free’!
- Leave the cake to cool for around 20 minutes before you turn it out onto a plate. Decorate with the remaining pieces of donut peach.
- Whip up the cream, scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod into the cream and give it a good stir, then add generously to accompany each serving.
