Almond Cornmeal Cake With Peach And Berry Compote Recipes

ALMOND CORNMEAL CAKE WITH PEACH AND BERRY COMPOTE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F and butter an 8 1/2- by 4 1/2- by 3-inch loaf pan. Put a 24- by 3 1/2-inch strip of wax paper lengthwise down center of pan (to facilitate unmolding), leaving an overhang on each end.
• Whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Finely grind almonds with 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor and stir into cornmeal mixture.
• Beat butter and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until combined well. Beat in eggs 1 at a time until just blended, then beat in vanilla. (Mixture will look curdled.) Add cornmeal mixture and stir and fold until just combined.
• Transfer batter to loaf pan, smoothing top, and bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes. Loosen edges with a knife, then use strips to carefully lift cake from pan onto rack.

LEMON CORNMEAL CAKE WITH LEMON GLAZE AND CRUSHED-BLUEBERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• For glaze:
• Combine powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice in small bowl. Stir with spoon until smooth and paste-like, adding more lemon juice by 1/2 teaspoonfuls if glaze is too thick to spread. Set aside.
• For cake:
• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides; line bottom with parchment. Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in large bowl; whisk to blend. Whisk buttermilk, eggs, lemon peel, and vanilla in small bowl. Pour buttermilk mixture and melted butter into flour mixture. Using rubber spatula, gently fold liquids into flour mixture until just blended (do not stir). Scrape batter into pan; spread evenly.
• Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean and cake pulls away from sides of pan, about 30 minutes.
• Immediately run knife around sides of cake. Place rack atop cake in pan. Using oven mitts, hold pan and rack firmly together and invert cake onto rack. Remove pan from cake. Place another rack on bottom of cake; invert 1 more time so that cake is top side up. Stir glaze until blended. While cake is still very hot, drop glaze by tablespoonfuls onto cake; spread to within 1/2 inch of edge (some glaze may drip down sides of cake). Cool completely. Serve with Crushed-Blueberry Sauce.

ALMOND CAKE WITH PEACHES AND CREAM

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and lightly flour a 9- or 10-inch springform pan.
• Place almond flour and confectioners' sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add egg white, almond extract and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and process until it all forms a paste.
• Add granulated sugar to the food processor and pulse until everything is well combined and crumbly. Add butter and vanilla, and continue processing until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. With the machine running, add eggs one at a time, processing until smooth between eggs.
• Stop the machine, scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula, and add flour, baking powder and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pulse a few times, until the dry ingredients are just integrated. (Be careful not to overprocess.)
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake is golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 60 to 70 minutes for a 10-inch pan and 70 to 80 minutes for a 9-inch pan. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cake cool completely before unmolding and serving.
• Put the peach slices in a bowl and taste a slice. If they seem tart, sprinkle peaches with a little confectioners' sugar.
• Just before serving, dust the top of the cake with confectioners' sugar. You can serve slices of the cake with the peaches and cream on the side or dollop some whipped cream on top of the cake and top with the peaches before cutting.

BLUEBERRY, ALMOND AND LEMON CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/200 degrees Celsius. Grease a 9- or 8-inch/21-centimeter loaf pan with butter, line it with a parchment paper sling and butter the paper. Set the pan aside.
• Place butter, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed for 3 to 4 minutes, until light, then lower speed to medium. Add eggs in three additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times as necessary. The mix may split a little but don't worry: It'll come back together once you add the dry ingredients.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and almond flour. With the stand mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in three additions, mixing just until no white specks remain. Fold in about 3/4 of the blueberries by hand, then scoop batter into the prepared loaf pan.
• Bake for 15 minutes, then sprinkle the remaining blueberries over the top of the cake. Return to the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes, until cake is golden brown but still uncooked. Cover loosely with foil and continue to cook for another 25 to 30 minutes (less for a 9-inch pan, more for an 8-inch pan), or until risen and cooked, and a knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside in its pan to cool for 10 minutes before removing cake from pan and placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
• When cake is cool, make the icing: Add lemon juice and icing sugar to a bowl and whisk together until smooth, adding a bit more juice if necessary, just until the icing moves when you tilt the bowl. Pour over the cake and gently spread out. The blueberries on the top of the cake may bleed into the icing a little, but this will add to the look. Let icing set (about 30 minutes), slice and serve.

PEACH AND BERRY COMPOTE

Steps:

• Blanch and peel peaches. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick wedges.
• Simmer peaches, wine, and sugar in a 3-quart saucepan, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes, then remove from heat. Immediately transfer mixture to a bowl and add berries, tossing to combine. Cool compote completely.
• Serve compote chilled or at room temperature.