What an adventure these little lovelies turned out to be! We were having visitors at the new place and I had been baking all afternoon in anticipation. I pulled my first tray of peach cakes from the oven, and slid a knife around the side of each one to ensure a clean removal. That was certainly not to be. I placed the cooling rack on top of the cakes and flipped them over, but mid-air, disaster struck. All of the cakes, except one, fell to the floor... and crumbled. I would have usually gone with the three-second rule, but they were in pieces. My cakes were in crumbs all over the floor. A dreadfully sad "NNNOOOooooo, oh no, no, no...", was all I could say as I fumbled around on the floor cleaning them up. It was a very sad moment. Luckily, though, I had another tray in the oven, so there was still enough cake.
The second tray turned out beautifully and my pretty peach cakes went down a treat! I find that using olive oil instead of butter always adds a different dimension to cakes and biscuits. It makes them dense, moist and just the tiniest bit savoury. The peaches soften and sweeten in the oven, making cakes like this a great way to use up fruit that is a tad old. As it is the beginning of autumn (and the end of our stonefruit season), the peaches aren't as fresh and wonderful as they are throughout summer. A dollop of mascarpone tops the cakes off perfectly, too!
Peach cakes with mascarpone
What you'll need:
1 cup plain flour
1 cup self-raising flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups vanilla yoghurt
2 eggs
100ml olive oil
2-3 peaches cut into eighths
Mascarpone and walnuts, to serve
What to do:
Preheat oven to 180C and grease 12 small bundt cake tins super well.
Combine flours, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the yoghurt, eggs and oil. Whisk to combine until you have a smooth batter.
Press two peach slices into the base of your cake tins. Spoon mixture over the top. Place cakes into the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Allow cakes to cool before topping with mascarpone and a walnut.
