Summer Fruit Almond Cake
This is a moist-crumb, fruit-heavy cake. The base recipe can be used with any spring-into-summer fruit selection – peach and blueberry, nectarine and raspberry, plum and blackberry, you get the picture (using a total of 2 cups fruit). The key is to toss the fruit in a little sugar before mixing it through the batter, so as to evenly disperse throughout the cake.
Ingredients
- 100 g room-temperature butter
- ⅓ cup (70g) sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup (120g) unsweetened yoghurt
- 1 cup (150g) plain flour (can use spelt, or gluten-free flour)
- ½ cup (60g) ground almonds (almond flour)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup fresh or frozen rhubarb, chopped into 2cm pieces
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped into 2cm pieces
- 2 tbsp extra sugar
- 3-4 tbsp sliced almonds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC (fan bake 160ºC).
- Grease and line a 22cm round cake tin. For the rustic ‘creased sides’ look, scrunch up the baking paper first then press into the tin.
- Place the butter and sugar into a stand mixer and beat until creamy. Add the vanilla, then eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add the yoghurt and mix to combine.
- Place the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk together.
- In another bowl, combine the rhubarb and strawberry pieces. Add 1 tbsp of the second measure of sugar and toss to coat. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and use a spatula to fold together. Add the fruit and fold briefly through the batter – don’t over mix.
- Pour into the tin, smooth the surface and scatter with the sliced almonds and an extra tbsp of sugar. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the almonds are golden, and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve wedges of cake with creamy natural yoghurt.