Photography: Rochelle Eagle / Styling: Lee Blaylock
This peach and sour cream cake combines peaches and sour cream for a match made in heaven. To make the cake, you combine the simple ingredients of butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon, eggs, sour cream and peaches. An extra bonus is that this recipe uses tinned peaches so you can make it all year round. Then you make the crème diplomat – a delicious, airy pastry cream that is the perfect accompaniment for the cake. You won’t be able to stop at just one piece.
If you’re in the mood for baking, try one of the cakes from our cake collection or one of the baked goodies from our baking collection.
Ingredients
Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C (170°C fan-forced). Line the base of a 20cm springform tin with baking paper and grease the ring.
For the cake, in a food processor, combine the butter, 165g (¾ cup) of the sugar, the flour, bicarbonate of soda and half the cinnamon. Blitz for about 30 seconds, until combined and crumbly in texture. Add the eggs and sour cream, and pulse for 15 seconds, until all the ingredients are combined. Using a spoon, stir in the peaches until evenly distributed through the batter.
Spoon mixture into the cake tin and smooth the top. Mix together the remaining sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the top (add a little more brown sugar if you wish).
Bake for about 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then remove and leave on a wire rack to cool completely.
For the crème diplomat, mix cornflour, sugar, egg yolk, vanilla seeds and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Heat milk in a medium saucepan over low heat until scalded – it’s done once you see steam and tiny bubbles. Remove from the heat and, whisking constantly, pour milk over the egg mixture to temper it. Pour combined mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Whisk constantly for about 5 minutes, until it bubbles and thickens, showing signs of sticking to the bottom. Take care not to overcook it or you will scramble the mixture (if you have a thermometer, it’s ready when it reaches 82°C).
Place a sieve over the mixing bowl and strain the custard through it. Stir in the butter until combined. Cover with biodegradable plastic wrap, with the wrap directly touching the surface, and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours.
Before serving, whip the cream using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment until medium-stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into the custard mixture – this is your crème diplomat ready for serving.
This is an edited extract from The Baker’s Book edited by Ruby Goss, with photography by Rochelle Eagle and illustrations by Beci Orpin, published by Murdoch Books, $45.
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