Fall is my favorite season (and not just because my birthday’s in September!). I love it when evenings feel a little cooler, trees begin to show off their bright autumn colors, and pumpkin spice makes its annual appearance on the Starbucks menu. It’s time to dig out those comfy sweaters, put a big pot of chili in the crockpot and curl up with a piece of warm apple pie to watch the new batch of Bake Off contestants vie for the coveted glass cake plate.
Just as the 2024 season of The Great British Bake Off hits the airwaves, I’m returning from nearly a year’s hiatus from this blog — mostly due to a kitchen remodel but prolonged by my daughter’s summer wedding (no complaints on either front!). Now I’m back and starting to bake through the 2017 season of The Great British Baking Show.
Again this year, I’ll be choosing one or two challenges to bake from each episode. The first episode is always Cake Week, so my first bake of the season is the Signature Challenge: a fruity cake. The brief was to make a family-sized cake using fresh fruit, so I decided to create a cake version of that classic dessert — Peach Melba.
Peach Melba was invented by the famed Chef Auguste Escoffier in 1893 while he was chef at the Savoy Hotel in London. The Duke of Orléans commissioned him to prepare a dinner in honor of Dame Nellie Melba, an opera singer who was performing at Covent Garden in the opera Lohengrin.
Escoffier created a dessert of poached peaches and vanilla ice cream, which was topped with a spun sugar nest and served in a silver bowl nestled in an ice sculpture that was shaped like a swan — a reference to the swan-shaped boat which figures prominently in the opera. At the time, he dubbed the dessert Pêche au Cygne (peach with the swan). It was seven years later, after he opened the Ritz Carlton restaurant in London with his partner and former general manager of the Savoy, Cesar Ritz, that Escoffier replaced the spun sugar with a raspberry puree and christened the confection Peach Melba.
My peach melba cake plays on those simple but classic flavors of peach and raspberry but swaps out the vanilla for almond and a hint of nutmeg, which I find enhances the brightness of the fresh fruits. To make it more of an autumnal, comfort-food dessert, I sandwiched the layers with a spiced mascarpone/whipped cream frosting, using a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom to warm the palate.
Adapted from this recipe in New York Times Cooking, this cake uses the reverse creaming method, also sometimes called the paste method of mixing a cake. Instead of creaming the butter and sugar together first, the butter and dry ingredients are mixed together until they resemble wet sand, and then the eggs and liquid are added in. The theory behind this method is that coating the flour with butter limits gluten development, resulting in a tender crumb and more even texture.
According to King Arthur Baking, cakes made this way are slightly more dense than those made with the traditional creamed method; they tend to be flatter, with less of a dome; and they are sturdier, good for stacking or soaking with syrup. The denser texture, in this case, helps to support the fruit, which is not only folded into the batter, but also arranged on top of the layers before baking. The peach melba cake, as a result, has the consistency of a buttery pound cake studded with peaches and raspberries, which not only add moisture but a burst of flavor in every bite.
Peach Melba Cake with Spiced Mascarpone Frosting
Frosting recipe adapted from: OfBatterAndDough.com
For the cake:
- 3 medium peaches, just ripe but not too soft
- 2 t. lemon juice
- 6 oz. raspberries
- 1¼ c. unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temp.
- 3 c. all-purpose flour
- 1¾ c. sugar
- 2 t. baking powder
- ¾ t. kosher salt
- ½ t. baking soda
- 3/8 t. nutmeg
- 2 large eggs, room temp.
- 1 c. plain, whole-milk yogurt (not Greek yogurt), room temp.
- ½ t. almond extract
- 2 t. turbinado sugar (optional)
For the frosting:
- 1 c. mascarpone cheese
- 1/8 t. salt
- ¼ t. cinnamon
- 1/8 t. nutmeg
- 1/8 t. cardamom
- 1-1¼ c. heavy whipping cream
- 1–1¼ c. powdered sugar
- Pink and orange gel food coloring
Directions
- Peel two peaches and cut into small cubes. Place in a bowl and toss with 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Slice the third, unpeeled peach into ¼-inch slices and brush or toss with the remaining teaspoon of lemon juice. Rinse raspberries and lay them out on paper toweling to dry.
- Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and line the bottoms of two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda and nutmeg. Add butter, a piece at a time, and beat with electric mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until all the dry ingredients are coated in butter and the mixture resembles wet sand.
- Add eggs and beat about 1 more minute, until all ingredients are well-combined. Add yogurt and almond extract and beat for 3 minutes, until smooth and creamy, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Gently fold in the cubed peaches and half the berries. (Reserve remaining berries for decorating the cake.)
- Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and spread it out, smoothing the top. Arrange the peach slices on top of the batter, creating a pinwheel pattern. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar, if desired.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached. Transfer pans to two racks to cool for 10-15 minutes. Turn them out onto a plate and then flip them back over onto the rack again, so the peaches are on top. Leave to cool completely before assembling.
- To make the frosting, use an electric mixer to beat together the mascarpone, salt and spices for a minute or two to blend and aerate.
- With the mixer on medium-low speed, slowly pour in 1 cup of cream. Continue to beat until soft peaks form. Be careful not to overmix or the frosting will look curdled or split. (If that happens, don’t panic. Continue mixing on low speed while adding a little more cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the frosting returns to a creamy, cohesive consistency.)
- Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and mix on medium-low speed to blend. Check the consistency and, if needed, add a little more powdered sugar. (It needs to be able to hold its shape when piped.) Store in refrigerator until ready to use.
- To decorate the cake, use a food-safe paintbrush to paint a stripe of orange food coloring and a stripe of pink food coloring on the inside of a piping bag fitted with a small, open star tip, starting at the tip and working upward. Carefully fill the piping bag with frosting.
- Place the bottom cake layer on a serving plate. Pipe small stars around the edge of the cake, working inward until the top is covered with frosting. Arrange half of the reserved berries around the outside edge of the cake, as well as one in the center. Carefully place the top layer on top of the berries, and pipe more stars around the outside edge of the top layer, leaving the pinwheel of peach slices in the center exposed. Arrange the last of the berries around the edge of the cake. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to serve. (Because it’s a butter cake, bring it out of the refrigerator about half an hour before serving so it has time to soften up.)
Up Next: Chocolate Mini Rolls
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This sounds delicious! So grateful you’re baking again!❤️
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