Dimply Peach and Plum Cake

Dorie’s recipe by way of Smitten Kitchen with a few notes and expanded to a 9x13 pan.

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons, 1 stick, unsalted butter, at room temperature
215-220 grams, light brown sugar
Grated zest of 1 whole orange and 1 whole lemon
3 large eggs
120 ml flavorless oil, such as canola or safflower
2 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or cardamom
290-295 grams all-purpose flour
3-4 peaches and 3-4 purple or red plums, halved and pitted
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan, dust the inside with flour, and tap out the excess.

Beat the butter at medium speed until it’s soft and creamy, about 3 minutes add the sugar, orange, and lemon zest, and beat for another 3 minutes — I don’t usually worry much about mixing times, but I paid closer attention here and did 3 minutes and 3 minutes here and I recommend it

Then add the eggs, one at a time, and beat for a minute after each egg goes in — Again, if you aren’t on a hurry, I’d recommend taking the full 9–10 minutes Dorie and Deb recommend to mix here

Still working on medium speed, beat in the oil and vanilla; the batter will look smooth and creamy, almost satiny

Sprinkle baking powder, salt, and cinnamon or cardamom over batter and beat well to combine, 20 seconds longer than seems necessary — I don’t know what “20 seconds longer than necessary” is, so I beat it for about another minute total

Add mix flour in with a spatula until just incorporated

Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top and arrange the peaches and plums cut side up in the batter — Depending on your plum size, you’ll be able to fit 12 or 15 halves on the top

Bake for about 35 to 45 minutes, or until the top is honey brown and puffed around the plums and a toothpick inserted into the cake between each plum comes out batter-free

Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 15 minutes during which time the plums juices will seep back into the cake then run a knife around the sides of the pan to unmold the cake and the invert to cool right side up — Because the fruit is so juicy and this cake is so moist, I inverted it first on to a cutting board and then back on to my wire rack and then I left it on the wire rack, loosely tented with foil as we ate over 3 or so days

Nancy’s Salad

I don’t know that I have ever actually faithfully followed this recipe. I make this salad a slightly different way every single time — in the fall and winter I use roasted red peppers instead of tomatoes, I’ve added artichokes, experimented with other Italian cheeses, omitted onions, made the vinaigrette, not made the vinaigrette, added cucumbers, carrots, and other things I’ve had on hand, and used dramatically less than 1/2 of pound of cheese and salami. Oh and I always crisp the chickpeas. None of this matters; it’s amazing every time. This salad as is or as a jumping off point is, obviously, a genius recipe.

Approximate quantities: 1 head of butter lettuce, roughly chopped; 1 large carrot, sliced into thin disks; 2 medium heirloom tomatoes, roughly chopped; 1 bell pepper, thinly sliced; 1 small red onion or spring onion; thinly sliced; 2 Kirby cucumbers, sliced into thin disks; 8 pepperocini, roughly chopped; equal amounts aged provolone and sopressata, julienned; and 1 16-ounce can of chickpeas, crisped in a skillet or on a sheet pan drizzled in olive oil, red or white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and dried oregano

Serves two as a main.

I Also ❤ Links

I bought this totally portable and super light-weight grill for my lovely husband because of Alison Roman's article about hers in Bon Appetite. We haven't used it yet and per Alison's recommendation, we're going simple for the first time; I'm thinking hot dogs and chicken satay. 

After finally watching Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, I can't stop thinking about small batch soy sauce and miso. And about Lingurian olive oil.

I made a mash-up of Smitten Kitchen's quick, essential stovetop mac-and-cheese and simplest spaghetti al limone last weekend and it was really, really good. I was just sort of eyeballing it, so I have to pay closer attention to the quantities next time so that I can share it.

So I guess I'm marinating after I'm grilling this summer? Evidently, everyone is doing it. Even Ruth!.