When he realised (years ago) that I had never had a REAL peach, or nectarine, he was speechless. And since we could never make the time to go to Australia for the stone fruit season, I still have no idea what a REAL peach or nectarine tastes like.
Since it is a waste of money buying peaches or nectarines (for eating) in Singapore where we currently reside, I settled for the next best thing. I use them for baking instead!
So I made this gorgeous, gorgeous cake. Moist, tender and not overly dense, this is really a great cake to make for a party or a small gathering.
It all started with finding some peaches. Peaches, being an imported fruit, can be very expensive. I was really lucky because I found some white peaches that were on sale. So I bought 4 peaches, which was sufficient to make the cake as well as the puree for the glaze.
You will need to remove the skin of the peaches. The way to do this is to blanch the peaches (one by one) in really hot water, and then placing them in ice water so the skins are loosened and can be peeled off easily. No idea what strangeness I am sprouting? No worries, watch this video for a detailed explanation.
Once the peaches have been peeled, dice them into small pieces, squeeze a little lemon juice on them to prevent them from browning, and set them aside.
In a bowl of a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until the mixture turns light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat after each addition for about a minute until the egg has been incorporated before adding the next.
The resulting mixture should look like this:
Into this, I added vanilla bean paste, since I did not have any pods.
And the flour and sour cream in the sequence flour-sour cream-flour-sour cream-flour.
Once all the flour had been incorporated, I spooned about half of the batter into a greased Bundt tin. Then I placed about 3/4 of the diced peaches on the batter and covered them with the remaining batter.
The cake was baked for about 50 minutes and allowed to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes before I inverted it onto a wire rack.
While the cake was baking, I made the peach syrup by pureeing the remaining peaches, and straining the puree to obtain a smooth mixture. Into this, I added sugar and orange juice and cooked this over medium heat until the sugar had melted.
I brushed this generously onto the warm cake, allowing the syrup to be absorbed before reapplying more syrup.
This is one gorgeous cake (forgive me for the repetition), no matter which way you look at it.
And really, really delicious.
Peach and Vanilla Bean Bundt with Peach Syrup (Serves 12-16)
Adapted from Weekofmenus
Ingredients:
For the Cake:
3 cups plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
225g unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups caster sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds - I used 1 tbs vanilla bean paste
1 cup sour cream
1 ½ cups diced fresh peaches
For the Syrup:
⅓ cup fresh peach puree, strained
⅔ cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon orange juice
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170C. Grease and lightly flour inside of 10 inch bundt pan.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
3. Using either a stand mixer (paddle attachment) or a hand mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes.
3. Gradually add sugar and beat at medium-high speed until the mixture is light in texture and color, about 3 minutes.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.
5. Beat in vanilla bean.
6. At low speed, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with sour cream.
7. Scoop half of batter into pan and spread with spatula. Sprinkle with peaches. Scoop remaining half of batter on top of peaches. Smooth with spatula.
8. Bake cake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes, then invert it onto another rack.
10.Place the cake, on the rack, over a baking sheet.
11. While cake is baking, make syrup. Combine peach puree, sugar, and orange juice in a small non reactive saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, 3 to 4 minutes.
12. Remove pan from heat. Using a pastry brush, dab syrup generously all over surface of the warm cake, allowing it to soak into the cake before reapplying. Let the cake cool completely.
Please visit the other participating bloggers to see their amazing bundt creations:
Balsamic Peach Bundt Cake by Kate from Food Babbles
Bellini Bundt Cake with Champagne Glaze by Stacy from Food Lust People Love
Brown Sugar Peach Bundt Cake by Veronica from My Catholic Kitchen
Caramelized Peaches and Cinnamon Bundt Cake by Anuradha from Baker Street
Cream Cheese and Peach Bundt Cake by Kathya from Basic N Delicious
Frangipane Peach Bundt by Sandra from The Sweet Sensations
Momotaro Peach Boy Cake by Kim from Ninja Baking
Peaches and Cream Bundt Cake by Heather from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
Peach Bundt with Raspberry Jam Swirl by Holly from A Baker’s House
Peach Bundt Cake with Amaretto Cream Glaze by Roz from La Bella Vita Cucina
Peachy Buttermilk Bundt by Anita from Hungry Couple
Peach Cinnamon Swirl Bundt Cake by Lora from Cake Duchess
Peach Spice Bundt Cake by Renee from Magnolia Days
Peach Streusel Bundt Cake by Anne from From My Sweetheart
Vinho Verde Pound Cake with Peaches & Blueberries by Laura from The Spiced Life
How to be a part of Bundt-a-Month
- Use peaches to bake us a bundt for August and post it before August 31, 2013
- Use the #BundtAMonth hashtag in your title
- Add your entry to the linky tool below
- Link back to our announcement posts
- Link to BundtaMonth on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/BundtaMonth
- Link to BundtaMonth on Pinterest at https://pinterest.com/bakerstreet/bundtamonth/
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