Buttermilk Cake with Nectarines and Cinnamon

I have a bit of an obsession with reading food blogs. Lynsey and I bond over our shared love for all things food and food blogs often. I recently came across the Feast for All Seasons blog, recommended by a former coworker from the bookstore. The blogess is his wife and her blog was recently nominated for a 2011 Blogger Award. As I said to him on Facebook, he is spoiled with all the goodies she cooks and bakes. I bought some buttermilk last week with the intention of making some buttermilk biscuits but when I came across Sarah’s Buttermilk Cake with Nectarine and Thyme recipe, I decided to try this one out first.

I love nectarines in the summer. For half the year, I opt for bananas and mandarins, but when summer comes, nectarines replace mandarins. The recipe calls for ripe nectarines and I highly recommend them actually being nice and ripe or you’ll be working hard to remove the pits without shredding the flesh into pieces. I’m a big fan of lemon zest in baked goods so I modified the recipe accordingly. It gives whatever you’re baking an extra kick. Here’s a little secret about me: while I love sweet baked goods, I don’t like them sweet to the point where different flavours are drowned out by sugar. This cake is a perfect blend of sweet, flavourful and not cavity inducing. Also, it got the ringing endorsement of success from my sister.

Note: I’m one of the last 4 people on the planet who doesn’t own a fancy D-SLR camera. (Lynsey is another). I promise the photos will get better. Learning food photography is on my bucket list.

Buttermilk Cake with Nectarines and Cinnamon

(adapted from this recipe at Feast for All Seasons)

preheat the oven to 350 degrees

1/2 cup + 1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 teaspoon of lemon zest, minced

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

pinch of salt

1 -1/4 cups buttermilk

2 ripe nectarines, pitted and sliced

pinch of cinnamon

Butter an 8″x8″ baking dish. Set aside.

Cut the nectarines in half, twisting to release the pit. With the cut side down, slice each of the four halves into 8-10 slices. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar. I used the Magic Bullet since I don’t yet have a mixer. (I moved recently.) Add the 2 eggs and beat until the mixture is smooth. Add the vanilla and lemon zest, and mix with a spoon.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the egg and butter mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the buttermilk (dry, wet, dry, wet, dry) mixing as little as possible.

The batter will puff almost immediately as the acidic buttermilk reacts with the leavening. Pour batter into the buttered baking dish. Insert the nectarine slices into the batter so some of the fruit remains exposed. Sprinkle with cinnamon and the remaining teaspoon of sugar.

Bake for  about 50 minutes until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Enjoy!

-Stef