Recipe: Peach, Amaretti and Vanilla Cake
Stone fruits mark a gentle turning point in Litha. Their arrival is soft but certain: peaches with warm, perfumed flesh that taste of long days and sunlit evenings. This peach, amaretti and vanilla cake captures that feeling. The sponge is soft and fragrant with vanilla, studded with fresh peach and flecked with almond from crushed amaretti. The top caramelises as it bakes, creating a golden, fragrant crust.
Ingredients
For the cake
120g butter
80g soft brown sugar
40g caster sugar
120g flour
2 free range eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
75g amaretti biscuits crushed (50g for the batter 25g for the topping)
1 and 1/2 peaches stoned (one peach cut into thin slices the remaining half diced)
1 tbsp flaked almonds
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan and grease and line a 20 cm baking tin. Cream the butter and sugars for about five minutes until light and very fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time with a little flour, then add the vanilla extract. Fold in the remaining flour gently.
Stir through the diced peach and 50g of the crushed amaretti. Pour the batter into the tin. Arrange the peach slices on top, then scatter with the remaining amaretti and the flaked almonds.
Bake for 50 minutes to one hour until golden and cooked through. Cover loosely with foil if the top begins to brown too quickly. Cool slightly, then serve with yoghurt mixed with a little vanilla extract.
A Seasonal Note
This cake belongs to Litha, when peaches arrive with their soft warmth and the days feel full to the brim. Vanilla and amaretti bring richness, while the fruit adds brightness for the height of the season. A gentle summer bake that pairs beautifully with long afternoons and slow moments.
