Summer Fruit Cake

This fruit cake works with any summer fruit you have around – apricots, plums, nectarines, peaches. It takes under 10 minutes to make, has more fruit than cake, and when you use brown sugar you get a honey-like aroma. Simply beautiful.

Easy Summer Fruit Cake

4 apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines – ripe but not too soft
1 egg
½ cup brown sugar – tightly packed
½ cup milk
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour + 1 teaspoon baking powder – sifted

Preheat oven to 350f / 180c.

Oil a 9” / 22 cm tarte pan using a little butter and sprinkle lightly with sugar.

Beat the egg and sugar in the mixer for 8 minutes.

Slice the fruit into 6-8 pieces, depending on its size. Taste, if the fruit are a bit sour, sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of sugar on top.

When the egg-sugar mix is light and fluffy turn down the mixer speed and add:  oil, milk, orange peel and vanilla extract. Add the flour and baking powder and mix until batter is even.

Transfer to a pan and smooth the batter out. Arrange the fruit pieces nicely on top, pressing them lightly into the batter.

Sprinkle some brown sugar on top. Or not.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake is browned and a knife tip comes out clean.

To make it easier to remove, release the edges while still hot and wait until cool to remove the rest.