August 31, 2010

Summer Fruit Tea Cake



Summer Fruit Teacake


Summer is officially coming to an end. However Texas is not ready for fall; we are still in high nineties leaving  the 3 digit temperatures just a week behind. The markets are still exhibiting the pretty colors and all the fruits and berries you can ask for and at very reasonable price.

I might say we still have a month and a half to enjoy the season for this year. A big sigh of relief on my part, for I am really not ready for the fall or the winter. The heat is intense here, the flowers are wrinkled before they fully bloom, but I love every bit of  the brightness and sunshine.

Schools here have opened and we all are getting adjusted to the early mornings, tight schedules and long days. I am sure all those of you with children are doing the same or at least in preparing for school opening. There seems to be less and less time during the day that I can devote to the kitchen and the blog. Lunches are grab and go, less than an hour for making dinner, but the day seems to disappear quickly with me most of the time driving the children around. Can anyone why Stay at home moms barely stay at home?

This cake was baked sometimes back. I thought it is a better idea to post it now, rather than wait for next year 🙂 It is a very dainty cake and tastes as good as it looks, and indeed a very elegant way to celebrate the lovely gifts of summer with come happy times with friends and family.


Summer Fruit Teacake


The end of summer also marks that my blog turns two. Sometimes 2 years back, life breathed into this space and I have been trying to feed it and trying to keep it alive. I know of late I am not keeping up with posting, answering your questions or visiting anyone. I hope I can get back to whatever I had dreamed of! Thank you for your support, feedback and friendship. It really means a LOT!




Now back to the recipe….


Summer Fruit Teacake



Summer Fruit Tea Cake



The recipe was inspired and adapted from: Stone Fruit Tea Cake from My Kitchen Snippets &  Almond Plum Cake from Food and Wine. (I have used a combination of almond and all purpose flour. My dough was not a tight dough, and the use of the mixed flours  is the reason why mine  has a different look and texture than the pretty Stone Fruit Tea Cake from the Kitchen Snippets.)


Ingredients:


Dry ingredients:

  1. 1 cup all purpose flour
  2. 1/2 cup almond flour
  3. 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
  4. 2.5 tablespoons orange zest
  5. 1/4 teaspoons salt

Wet ingredients:

  1. 1/2 cup butter, just melted
  2. 1/3 cup sugar + 4 tablespoons sugar (or as per your taste)
  3. 2 eggs
  4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  5. 1 teaspoon almond or orange extract
  6. 1/4 cup milk

Fruits:

  1. 3/4 cup cherries, pitted and halved
  2. 1.5 cups blueberries
  3. 1.5 cups peaches, about 3 peaches – chopped
  4. lightly toasted sliced almonds + confectioner’s sugar for topping

butter and flour to grease and dust the pan




Preparation:

Combine the flour, baking powder, orange zest and salt together in a bowl. Rub the zest with the flour to with your finger tips to release the oil.

With a mixer/whisk, cream the sugar and butter together on medium speed for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until fully incorporated between additions, while scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally; whisk in the milk; then stir in the vanilla and the almond extract.

Add the flour mixture in 2 or three shifts, mixing just until a lump free dough forms. It will not be a very runny dough. Refrigerate for about 40 minutes. While waiting, prepare and prepare your fruits.

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Butter a shallow, 9-inch baking dish or tart pan. Divide the batter in such a way that one part is slightly greater in amount than the other. Spoon out the bigger amount of the batter evenly on the baking tin.

Scatter the chopped fruits over the batter. Spoon over the other part of the batter over the fruits unevenly.


Summer Fruit Teacake


Bake for 40-45 minutes or until lightly golden on the top. The toothpick inserted should come out clean.

Cool completely before slicing. Sprinkle sliced almonds and confectioner’s sugar before serving.



Summer Fruit Teacake


Slice it –


Summer Fruit Teacake


and enjoy with tea or coffee and some wonderful friends. If you are like me, you would quit the company, find a lonely quiet spot, grab a book, a cup of wonderfully fragrant darjeeling tea that shimmers and looks almost translucent, very big slice of cake and wish that the moment lasts forever. Or you can call everyone in the neighborhood, decorate your home with flowers in every corner and vase, spread out the fine linens and china and have a summer tea party!


Summer Fruit Teacake


But we did nothing of the above with the cake. Once A came back from work, we made some tea, sat around the table and gobbled up a large part of the cake shamelessly between the 4 of us. Might not have been a “high tea”, but good company is all that matters, isn’t it? Well let’s go to Anita’s Tea Party now. We will meet a few of our friends there for sure.




Related Posts:

Strawberry Lime Cake

Fruit & Berry Spoon Cake

Syrian Walnut-Semolina Cake with Figs and Chocolate

Cherry Chocolate Almond Bar

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Filed Under: Cakes, Cookies, Muffins etc, Desserts & Sweets
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