Take advantage of a great peach season with this simple spoon cake.Julie Van Rosendaal/The Globe and Mail
This is a good year for Canadian peaches.
In British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, fruit trees are recovering from the droughts of recent years. And friends are raving about the quality of this season’s crop emerging from Ontario’s largest growing region, the Niagara Peninsula.
I have not come across a dry, mealy or otherwise disappointing peach this summer. There are plenty of recovery options if you do find yourself in this situation: Chop and add it to a batch of jam (peaches pair well with any jam-friendly fruit), pop it into a smoothie, or freeze and grate it over yogurt and granola.
When you have a perfect peach, juicy enough to dribble down your arm as you bite into it, it’s hard not to just eat it as is, out on the grass or leaning over the kitchen sink. (My grandma used to thickly slice hers onto buttered bread, making an open-faced peach sandwich.)
But August is the season of cobblers and crisps, fruit-heavy cakes, pandowdies and slumps, and juicy peaches are perfect in any of these.
This simple stir-together spoon cake – a cake you serve by the spoonful, rather than the slice – can be made with any fruit in season, or a combination; cherries, rhubarb, apricots and plums are all excellent peach pairings if you’d like to mix it up. So much of the pleasure of a peach comes from its juiciness, and here it retains its sauciness underneath a crunchy cornmeal cake lid. If you like, whiz a few basil leaves into your sugar in the food processor before adding it to the batter.
Peach Cornmeal Spoon Cake
I leave the skins on when making pies, crisps and spoon cake. If you want to peel your peaches, drop them into a pot of boiling water for about a minute, then transfer them to a cool water bath and slip off their skins. If you like, serve your cake with whipped cream sweetened with maple syrup or honey, or infuse the cream before whipping with Earl Grey tea leaves or lavender.
- 1 1/2 to 2 lbs (about four) peaches or nectarines, sliced
- 3/4 cup sugar (divided), plus extra for sprinkling
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp fine salt
- 1/2 cup not-too-thick yogurt or sour cream
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
Preheat the oven to 350 F and butter an eight- to nine-inch pie plate or similar-sized baking dish. Slice your peaches into the dish, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar.
In a medium bowl, melt the butter in the microwave (or do it on the stovetop and transfer to a bowl) and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Add about half of the flour along with the baking powder and salt, stirring until almost combined. Stir in the yogurt or sour cream, and then the remaining flour and the cornmeal.
Drop in spoonfuls over the peaches and spread to almost cover them – the batter will expand and spread in the oven, so don’t worry about going right to the edge; also, you’ll need some openings to allow steam to escape. If you like, sprinkle the top with sugar.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the cake is deep golden and the fruit is bubbly. Serve warm, by the spoonful, preferably with ice cream.
Serves about six.
