Spiced Nectarine Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Lightly butter springform pan.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Beat butter and 3/4 cup sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in extracts. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just combined.
• Spread batter evenly in pan, then scatter nectarines over top. Stir together nutmeg and remaining 1/2 tablespoon sugar and sprinkle over top. Bake until cake is golden-brown and top is firm but tender when lightly touched (cake will rise over fruit), 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove side of pan and cool to warm.

Steps:

• Nectarine Custard Cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Cream sugar, butter and lemon zest together. Add flour then egg yolks and slowly add roasted nectarine paste and milk in thin stream to prevent lumps and/or mix to form a paste. Whip egg whites to soft peaks and carefully fold into above mixture using a rubber spatula. Pour mixture into muffin tins or similar size ceramic dishes that have been brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with granulated sugar and bake in a water bath for approximately 35 minutes at 325 degrees F. Unmold while still warm, let cool then set in refrigerator. (See Cook's Note)
• Nectarine Carpaccio: Bring water, sugar, and scraped vanilla bean seeds to a boil, remove from heat, and let cool to body temperature. Shave nectarine using a mandolin or other similar tool and place in the cooled syrup. Let sit for approximately 2 to 4 hours.
• Lavender Honey Brulee: Bring milk, cream, and scraped vanilla seeds to a boil. Mix yolks and honey with a whisk. Add hot liquid slowly at first to avoid cooking the yolks. Cook the mixture until temperature reaches 185 degrees F. Immediately strain into a clean bowl and (sprinkle gelatin in 1/2 ounce of cold water and let it sit until gel is formed), add gelatin then white chocolate. Cool quickly over an iced water bath then pour into an 8-inch square container. Set in refrigerator.
• Citrus Cracker Dough rounds: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Sift together flour and confectioners' sugar. Make a well and add in the egg and orange zest. Mix until a dough forms. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Roll out on board until you can see through the dough. Using different size round cutters, make a unique design. Place on aluminium foil that you have crushed up and let dry. Bake at 325 degrees F. until it is golden. Let rest until cool.
• Assembly and Suggested Serving: Place the Nectarine Custard Cake off center in dish. Cut the brulee into rounds that are the same size of the cake. Sprinkle top of the brulee with granulated sugar and with blowtorch caramelize the sugar. Place on top of the custard cake. Put a few slices of drained nectarine carpaccio on top of the brulee and place citrus crackers up against the Nectarine Custard Cake. Garnish with fresh lavender.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9-inch-diameter springform pan. (I used a 10-inch springform with fantastic results.) Using electric mixer, beat 1/2 cup butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add 2/3 cup sugar and beat until blended. Beat in eggs one at a time, then lemon juice and lemon peel. Beat in flour until smooth. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Arrange enough nectarine slices atop batter in concentric circles to cover completely, pressing lightly to adhere. Mix cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar together. Sprinkle over cake. Bake until cake is golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour (50 minutes for plums, 80 minutes for peaches). Cut around cake to loosen; remove pan sides. Serve cake slightly warm or at room temperature. Makes 8 servings

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 13- by 9- by 2-inch metal baking pan, knocking out excess flour.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl. Beat together butter and 1 cup granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in vanilla and almond extract. Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing at low speed after each addition until just combined. Add flour mixture and sour cream alternately in 3 batches, mixing after each addition until just combined. Spread batter in pan, smoothing top.
• Cut nectarines lengthwise into 1/8-inch slices and toss with lemon juice and remaining 3 tablespoons granulated sugar in a bowl. Arrange slices, overlapping slightly, in 4 crosswise rows over batter. Cover surface of cake with a piece of buttered wax paper (paper helps fruit glaze itself) and bake in middle of oven 15 minutes. Remove paper and bake until a tester comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes more.
• While cake is still warm, dust generously with confectioners sugar, then cool completely on a rack.

Steps:

• If you'd rather, peel the nectarines; I like having the peel in there.
• Melt butter in small saucepan over medium high heat.
• Dissolve brown sugar in the melted butter, then add the cubed nectarines and the rest of the spices.
• When mixture starts to simmer, turn heat down to low.
• Simmer in order to achieve desired consistency and allow flavors to blend. You will want this to be chunky, with some textural variation--chunks of fruit in a thick, medium-brown sauce. This may take 5-10 minutes. Remove pods before serving (? I'm actually not sure if you can eat them).
• Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, or cool and refrigerate.
• My note: this was excellent with hot multigrain cereal! I cooked the cereal first and then added the sauce, about 1:1, stirred it in and warmed it up along with the cereal for a few minutes on low/simmer. Yummy!