Peach Crumble Cake and a top 5 over at Less Is More

Sorry, this is a day late and I hope it was worth waiting for, it's a cake which can also be a pudding. Serves 12 for a cake and 6 for a pudding:

Peach Crumble Cake

350g (12oz) self-raising flour
2 level tsp mixed spice
175g (6oz) butter, cut into pieces
150g (5oz) golden caster sugar
8 tbsp buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
415g can peaches in syrup, drained
Icing sugar, for dusting

18 x 28cm (7 x 11in) tin, lined with baking parchment

Set the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5. Put the flour and spice into a food processor with the butter. Pulse to form crumbs.

Add the sugar and 3 tbsp of the buttermilk. Pulse to make a very coarse, clumpy crumble. Tip out into a bowl, then put two-thirds of the mixture back in the food processor and set aside the rest.

Add the remaining buttermilk and the vanilla extract to the mixture in the processor and blend to a smooth consistency. Spoon into the prepared tin and smooth the top.

Arrange the drained peaches evenly over the cake mixture, then spoon on the reserved clumpy crumble, leaving some of the fruit uncovered.

Bake for 50 mins (see note below) or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake mixture comes out clean.

Cut into chunky slices and dust with icing sugar to serve

Things I do: 

Firstly, and most importantly, this is a Woman's Weekly recipe and I struggled with the timing given - and it seems I'm not alone, given comments on their website. The 20 minutes in the original recipe is certainly not long enough - it's more like 50 minutes, you just have to keep checking. I hate not being able to give precise timings but larger cakes do depend on the important skewer test. I hope this won't put you off trying as it's a really yummy cake - next time I'm going to make it as a dessert when friends come round. I reckon it can be made in advance and gently reheated when cut into portions in the microwave.

Do line your baking tin, even if it's non-stick - because it's a long quite flat bake it's tricky to handle when removing from the tin. I didn't bother dusting it with icing sugar BTW.

You can substitute any canned fruit you fancy, I've wondered about pineapple chunks, rhubarb (could be a bit too wet) or pears - but sliced peaches work perfectly and the two-legged mouse says he can't imagine other fruits so will I 'please not play around' with the recipe :)

Believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever used buttermilk - I had to search for it in the supermarket.......... it's where the fresh cream is on display :)

Enjoy!

Stop Press - OMGosh - I made the Less Is More Top 5 with this:

I'm truly 'pickled tink' as they say, thank you so much Chrissie and Mandi :)

Di

x