Well, I ended up having to freeze the sour cherries until they can meet a proper fate. With this class I’m taking and the Mad Scientist’s impending move, things have been incredibly hectic. I will have to save them for a couple weeks until I have more time, as right now there’s barely enough time or energy to make anything more complicated than frittatas for dinner. Well, except one thing…
Buying lots of fruit is a great excuse to make sweet things, isn’t it? “But the fruit was about to go bad, so I had to bake something!”
There is this really really simple cake - really more like a tart of sorts, as it’s basically a butter crust with fruit on top - that acts as a wonderful little helper for using up the summer bounty. You can mix and match the fruit to your preferences or for whatever is in season. It cooks for a long time so the fruit doesn’t burst, but rather coalesces into something soft, juicy, and delectable. I’ve been eating it for breakfast all week.
Nectarine Blueberry Cake
adapted from Epicurious
Pastry crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
Fruit topping:
4 tablespoons sugar (use a bit more or less as needed, depending on the tartness of your fruit)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon tapioca flour
4 nectarines, sliced lengthwise
1 cup blueberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350°F
For pastry:
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse just until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add egg and vanilla and pulse just until dough clumps and begins to form a ball (don’t overdo it or the heat from the processor will melt all the butter and it will become a sticky mess).
Press dough on to the bottom and up the side of a 9″ springform pan (it won’t go all the way up to the top, this is no problem).
Topping:
Mix together flours and sugar in a large bowl. Add peaches, blueberries, and lemon juice, and toss to coat. Spoon topping into pastry and bake, loosely covered with a sheet of foil, until filling is bubbling in center and crust is golden, about 1 1/2 hours.
This cake is great at any temperature: warm, room temp, and even cold.