categories: Desserts for Special Occasions, Simple Desserts

Last week I was in Lisbon, Portugal for a week’s break. It was my first time in Portugal, and so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. The first few days left me the impression of a country heavily affected by the crisis – at least I assume that was the reason for the lack of maintenance on all the houses and buildings not to mention the roads. I guess you get spoiled living in the Netherlands where everything is kept neat and tidy – not a brick out-of-place or a tree left untrimmed anywhere here in Holland!

Being a fairly structured kind of gal, this neat and tidiness really appeals to me and so at first I struggled to see beyond the chaos of Lisbon’s quaint and otherwise picturesque streets. But after a few days, this bustling little city of crazy taxi drivers and steep narrow cobbled streets started to really show it’s appeal. The people are very friendly and proud of their country, and if you look beyond the fading paint and crumbling facades, you start to realise and experience Lisbon’s bubbling and vivid culture. It drew me in and by the time I left Lisbon, I was promising to return again.

If you are ever in Lisbon, then there is a restaurant that I highly recommend you visit. I ate at a few different joints during the week (restaurant surfing being my idea of a great vacation – I’ll visit a restaurant over a museum any day!). And although none were bad, I’ll forever have wonderful memories of Petiscaris Ideal (Rua da Esperanca 100, Lisbon, Portugal) in the thriving Baixa district. This restaurant represents everything I personally believe a restaurant should encompass: An informal and energetic atmosphere where the food and the company you are sharing are just as important as each other.

The cuisine concept is much like Spanish tapas, where the food is continuously brought out while you share each dish with the rest of your group. This is my heaven as it takes the pressure away from choosing off the menu and gives you the opportunity to try several dishes. And the food was divine – earthy, satisfying, plain good food. We also dined at a Michelin star restaurant while we were in Lisbon but I would choose Petiscaris Ideal over the Michelin star restaurant any day, hands down. It’s not that the Michelin star restaurant was bad, but for me eating out is about the whole experience – enjoying great company and having fun – not worrying about proper etiquette or picking at minuscule portions of expensive cuts of meat or deciphering obscure ingredients. But hey that’s just me.

But enough of that, this recipe post has absolutely nothing to do with Lisbon or Portugal, but everything to do with good satisfying home cooking. And this I think is the perfect autumn dessert – summer fruit in a warm pudding. Just the thought is making my mouth water … perhaps I’ll whip up another one tonight with the plums sitting in the fridge …

And I have to apologise because this is yet another Annabel Langbein recipe. I haven’t had much luck lately with some of the other recipes I’ve tried from other cookbook authors, whereas I almost never have trouble with anything from Annabel. No wonder I’m such a fan of hers!

What I like about this dessert cake is that it rises up enough for it to be light and fluffy at the same time as being melt in the mouth and slightly gooey – it’s certainly not dry which no dessert cake should ever be. You can use whatever summer stone fruits you wish for this one – here I’ve used peaches. But I’ve also made it with plums from my boss’ garden and you could easily use nectarines, apricots, or even cherries if you can still find some.

Summer Fruit Dessert Cake

Serves 10

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Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

1 hr

Ingredients

6-8 peaches (or 12 plums/apricots)
300g butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup yoghurt or buttermilk
3 1/2 cups self raising flour
icing sugar to dust

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
Grease a large springform cake tin or roasting dish and line with baking paper.
Halve the peaches or whatever summer stoned fruit you are using and discard the stones.
In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Next, gently add one egg at a time, beating in between.
Add the lemon zest and vanilla and combine.
Slowly pour in the yoghurt or buttermilk while still beating.
Finally add the flour and stir until just combined – do not overmix at this stage, or else the cake won’t be light and fluffy.
Poor the batter in to the cake tin or roasting dish and spread it out evenly using a spatula.
Arrange the fruit halves evenly on top, cut-side up – don’t press the fruit into the batter as the fruit will naturally sink while in the oven.
Bake for 50-60 minutes until golden – you can test if it’s cooked by inserting a skewer in the centre. If it comes out reasonably dry then you know the cake is cooked.
Let the cake cool in the tine for a couple of minutes before turning out onto a board or serving platter.
Dust the cake with icing sugar and serve while still warm – you could also serve it with custard or runny cream on the side. But the cake is also moist and delicious enough to serve alone!