STRAWBERRY, ALMOND AND NECTARINE CAKE

Internet shopping for groceries has been a bit of a learning curve and there's definitely a knack to it.  We frequently tend to over shop.  In part it's stocking up a little more than usual in case next week we're ill and self isolating or if there are no click and collect slots available.  It's also partly because you never know how much of what you order is actually going to be supplied.  After one or two strange surprises we now allow no substitutions and instead order other alternatives in addition ourselves.  The upshot of all this is that our fridge is constantly well stocked and we have never eaten so well in our lives.  Hence the "lockdown waistline"  situation.

So, with some fruit to use up before the next lot arrived I decided to make a cake that I had seen on a fellow blogger's blog, "What do you make of my cake?".  In it Jo posted about a BBC Good Food recipe for a raspberry Bakewell cake which she adapted to use up some rhubarb as you can see here.  I adapted it even further to make this cake, using some strawberries and a nectarine. 

I used almond extract instead of vanilla and just for the sake of it mixed in about a tablespoon of Amaretto as well for extra almondyness. 

It was moist and delicious.  We had a slice of it with a cup of tea, another slice with a glass of rosé, some as pudding with cream and a few extra strawberries on the side and, last of all, some as pudding with my new found delight, instant custard.  Deplorable habit but it is what it is!

This is definitely a cake to add to my repertoire of favourite cakes that can be adapted to whatever you have in the house, my kind of recipe.  Thanks to Jo for introducing me to the cake in the first place and you can see the original here.

Ingredients

140g ground almonds

140g butter, softened (I used Country Life Spreadable straight from the fridge)

140g golden caster sugar

140g SR flour

2 eggs

½ tsp almond extract
1 tblsp Amaretto liqueur
a handful of strawberries, halved
1 nectarine, chopped
2 tblsp flaked almonds

Method

Butter and base line a 20cm round, deep, loose bottomed or springform tin.  Preheat the oven to 180 C / 160 fan / gas mk 4.

Put all the ingredients except the fruit and flaked almonds into a food processor and blitz until well combined.  (I used a hand held mixer to do the job instead of a food processor.)

Spread roughly half of the mixture into the tin and scatter the fruit on top.  Dollop the remaining mixture over the fruit and carefully spread out  as evenly as you can using the back of a spoon or by hand.  Scatter the flaked almonds over the top of the cake.

Bake for 50 minutes until done and cool in the tin. 

Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Cuts into 10-12 slices.