Peach Cake With Pecan Crumble Topping

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What do you do when a bag-load of fresh fruit straight off the tree is dumped on your kitchen counter? Yes, try to eat it as soon as possible, but since its hard to consume a bag, one needs to get creative with his cooking abilities. And that’s what I am looking to do with my big bag of peaches. This weekend, my cousin gave us a couple bags of fresh ripe peaches, all ready to be consumed within a week, so be prepared for some Peach recipes coming your way.

For today, we start with the Peach Cake, a fuss-free cake made with Peaches flavored with nutmeg and lemon [recipe adapted from Woman's Day; photo by Alison Miksch]. The fruit makes it a nice moist dessert, and to add some texture, we add a layer of crumbled topping with pecans. A lovely summer dessert that is best served a bit warm, and will make you feel all warm and fuzzy, just like a Peach!

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Ingredients

  • CAKE:
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and salt
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest
  • 1 1/2 lbs ripe peaches (about 4 medium), peeled, sliced into wedges and tossed with 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • ..............................................
  • PECAN CRUMBLE TOPPING:
  • 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons packed finely chopped pecans
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into bits
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Confectioners’ sugar (optional) for dusting

Preparation

Step 1

Heat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9 x 3-in. spring-form pan with baking spray.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt in large bowl to combine. In a small bowl, whisk milk, eggs, butter, vanilla and zest.

Pour over flour mixture, mixing just until smooth, about 1 minute. Spread evenly over bottom of pan. Top with quartered peach slices, arranging them neatly in a pattern if possible.

For the Topping, mix all the ingredients together with fingers in a bowl until moistened and clumpy. Scatter the topping generously over the peaches.

Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, or until lightly golden and a pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Remove cake from pan.

Before serving, dust the cake with some confectioners’ sugar. I prefer serving this a bit warm, as it remains nice and moist. A scoop of Vanilla ice cream would be perfect to transform this into a delectable dessert, even at a BBQ party!

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