This Sourdough Peach Cake was inspired by my trip to the cool, verdant hills of Uttarakhand to get away from the eye-burning heat of Delhi. Seeing orchards of apricot and plum trees heavy with blushing orbs of sweet, juicy fruit, made me want to rush into the kitchen and bake with them. So I returned with bags of crimson plums and rosy-hued, golden peaches and immediately set about baking this luscious cake. Stone fruit season is here and it’s time to eat them in cake!
How to bake a cake with sourdough
A cake such as this Sourdough Peach Cake is a good way to use up some of that sourdough discard sitting in your fridge. It is nothing but flour and water with some natural yeast in it, which was used to make a starter for sourdough bread. It’s important to know that it DOESN’T make the cake sour. Instead, it adds tenderness to the crumb and a layer of background flavour. You know how adding a pinch of salt can make sweetness seem rounded and not flat in a dessert? This acts in the same way, making the cake crumb richer and somehow more complete in taste. I’m a big fan of adding sourdough discard to cake batter.
How to prepare peaches for baking
Peel – Peaches have a thin skin with fine hair-like fuzz, which can feel dry and chewy in the mouth while eating the cake. We want succulent, juicy fruit and so they must be peeled. Often when peaches are ripe, the skin can be gently removed with a thin, paring knife. If the skin on your fruit is not coming off easily, simply score an X on the top and dunk them in hot water for no more than 30-60 seconds, then put them in ice water (so that the internal heat doesn’t cook them) and peel.
Slice – You’ll notice that my Sourdough Peach Cake has sliced peaches. I sliced them into ½ inch- thick half moons. Firstly because the ones I bought were too large to use halves (it would’ve led to a wet top on the cake. Secondly, halved fruit works better in upside-down cakes; being in contact with the hot bottom of the pan helps them cook faster and caramelises the sugars to a caramelly doneness.
Handle with care – Soft fruits such as mangoes, peaches, plums etc must be handled with care. Otherwise, you’ll end up with bruised, brown fruit. The lesser you touch them, the better. Slice them just before you start mixing the cake batter, and keep them covered in a bowl till you’re ready to put them on top of the cake. Exposure to air will oxidise them and they’ll lose their bright, shiny appearance.
What to do if you don’t have sourdough discard
If you don’t have discard stowed in your fridge like a sourdough baker, you can still bake this beautiful Sourdough Peach Cake,(although then you can’t call it that 😊). Simply replace the discard with 120g of Greek yoghurt or sour cream, which will add the same softness and delicacy to the texture of the cake.
This is an easy cake that gives back more in terms of taste and texture than the effort you put into it. Make the most of the short yet sweet stone fruit season and have yourself some Sourdough Peach Cake!
Sourdough Peach Cake
Ingredients
- 115 g sourdough discard (unfed)
- 130 g all purpose flour
- 125 g almond flour
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 115 g butter melted and cooled
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp soda bicarb(baking soda)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 peaches, peeled and sliced into wedges
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175°C, line the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan with parchment and lightly grease the pan with nonstick cooking spray or butter.
- Whisk the flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in bowl.
- In another bowl, whisk the sugar with the butter, beat in the eggs one by one, and mix in the sourdough discard followed by the vanilla extract.
- Now fold in the dry mixture and ensure that there are no lumps left in the thick batter. Be careful not to overmix since it will deflate the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, even out the top with a palette knife and arrange the sliced peaches generously (they will shrink as the cake cooks).
- Bake the cake for 45 -55 minutes till the cake is lightly golden and cooked. Insert a skewer or toothpick to check that therthere's no wet, uncooked batter inside. Let the cake rest in the pan for 10 minutes before unmolding. Serve with vanilla ice cream.