Nectarine Plum Cake

I love summer desserts. Fruit in summer is the best thing. Okay, fruit any season is the best thing, but it’s summer now, so let’s focus on that. This week I’m going to post a few summer dessert recipes because a) summer b) I like baking and c) yeah, okay, I promise to blog about something with garlic again soon, even though 4 of my last 7 post have included garlic. Anyway…

Sometimes I get crazy ideas into my head. Like – I really want cake and even though it’s 9 pm, I’m going to bake one. Fortunately this cake is a snap and you won’t be up forever waiting for cake. My grandma used to make me a peach cake every summer when she came to visit my family in Alaska. I didn’t have any peaches, but figured any stone fruit would work. This recipe looked similar to the one she used to make. I had to make some other substitutions because it was 9 pm – like no whole milk (I never have that in the house), different yogurt, and no zest, but including citrus sugar.  Citrus sugar is simply a jar of sugar I have that’s mixed in with the zest of oranges and lemons I have saved. Easy and a fun thing to have on hand. I think my version of this cake was pretty darn good too. Make it any ol’ time. Even late at night.

Nectarine Plum Cake modified from Peach Cake from Cooking From Scratch:

Makes one 9” cake

1½ c. flour

1 c. sugar

1½ tsp. baking powder

A dash salt

¾ c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1/3 c. honey Greek style yogurt

1/3 c. vegetable oil

2 small-ish nectarines, sliced

2 small plums, sliced

2 Tb. citrus sugar (or regular sugar and include ½ tsp. lemon zest in the cake itself)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the flour, sugar, and baking powder together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the milk, vanilla, egg, yogurt, oil, and lemon zest (if using) together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir completely. Spray a 9" round pan with oil. Pour the batter into the pan. Place the sliced fruit on the top of the batter. You don't need to press them in; the batter will rise up around them. Sprinkle with citrus sugar. Bake at 350 for 60 minutes or until the cake is nice and golden and a tester comes out clean. Let cool slightly before serving.

It’s not a heavy cake and reminds me a lot of the very best raspberry buttermilk cake, another summer favorite. Perfect with tea or for late night cake cravings.