Peach and almond cake

It’s been a disaster of a day, mainly because of the water cut which started last night. I’d planned to do a couple of loads of washing, put the dishwasher on, wash up the pots and pans that don’t fit in the dishwasher, and wash my hair – all standard Sunday activities, all thwarted.

 

Although the water came back on just after lunch, it almost immediately went off again, presumably nicked by someone refilling their private reservoir.

 

Meantime I’d started the dishwasher up but had to turn it off again and trap all the dishes inside.

 

Then it started to rain which meant I couldn’t relieve my frustration by doing some gardening.

 

Clive, meantime, had soldiered away at peeling the mountain of tiny peaches we’ve accumulated. He proceeded to turn them into a 3-kilogramme cake.

 

Peach and almond cake

At least something good came out of today.

Here is his recipe.

 

RECIPE FOR PEACH AND ALMOND CAKE

• 1000g (1kg) of peach slices
• 200g shelled whole almonds
• 700g ’00′ flour (plain)
• 600g sugar
• 525ml olive oil (sunflower oil will make a lighter cake)
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tablespoons of salt

All quantities are approximate!

Thoroughly grease large oven dish

Separate large peach pieces from pulpy bits such that you have about 300g of peach pieces and 700g of peachy pulp

Mix together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a large container (I used a wok!)

Add olive oil and mix until all dry content has been blended in with the oil

Add eggs and peach pulp

Blend together (I used a hand blender) until mixture is very liquid and a bit lumpy from the peach pulp

Stir in the almonds and peach pieces until well distributed into the mix

Pour into oven dish and cook on very low heat (I used around 160C) for about an hour (although check after 45 mins)

Turn out and allow to cool

Fallen peaches

Peaches - some fallen, some attached

The wind is knocking our peaches down to form little puddles of gold on the steep slope.

The tree grows out of the slope about half-way down. It was spared, along with the fig tree just below it, during the earth-moving project that allowed the burying of the septic tank.

The slope is very steep indeed. Sitting on it, I have to wedge either my seat or my feet in order not to slide down.

It’s so steep that the twigs of the peach tree not only touch it, but actually lie along it. With the result that fallen peaches and peaches that are still attached are in some places indistinguishable.

But I’m certainly not looking a gift horse in the mouth. This is the first year that we’ve had a significant crop on this tree, since I started serious treatment of its leaf curl, and the peaches, though not large, are particularly juicy.

Broken peach tree

Disaster!

Last night, just as it was getting dark, I found the branch of a peach tree almost completely ripped off. The sounds of sawing (to finish the severing) and hammering (to put in the peg for a guy rope to keep the tree upright) plus blasphemy could be heard in the dark orchard.

I set the neighbours’ dogs off barking, followed by ours. 

The branch was heavy: it had more than a hundred small peaches on it, not quite ripe. We stripped them off and made jam.

No prizes for guessing that the weight of the fruit caused this. I’d put various props and supports in place already but had not spotted this particular branch as being in danger. It’s now one very lopsided tree.

A fruitful peach tree

The photo is of the tree’s ‘sister’ which brought its crop successfully to term a few weeks ago.