Peach & Almond Pie

You honestly can't beat Summer fruit. As much as I love the crunchy apples and juicy pears of Autumn and Winter, they simply can't compare to the colourful abundance of apricots, peaches, melons and berries you get in the warm season. My greengrocer yesterday was displaying such a variety of Summer fruit, all smelling enticing and sweet, that I suddenly got an urge for baking a peach pie! I decided to follow the recipe I use for making plum and walnut cake (which may sooner or later end up on the blog, too!), which is Nigel Slater's; however I implemented a few changes, such as roasting the peaches in honey before incorporating them to the cake batter; using self raising flour; and substituting the chopped walnuts with flaked almonds. Yum! Half of it's already gone...not all eaten by myself alone, mind you!

INGREDIENTS (for 6-8 people)

• 150 gr butter
• 150 gr golden caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 75 gr self-raising flour
• 100 gr ground almonds
• 50 gr of flaked almonds
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 8 ripe peaches
• A loose-bottom cake tin

Peel your peaches and cut them into quarters. Drizzle with honey and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, take a sheet of baking parchment and put the bottom of your cake tin on top of it; trace its circumference with a pencil and cut along it using scissors, so that you end up with a disc of paper. Using some butter as glue, line the bottom of the cake tin with this baking parchment disc.  

Beat the butter and sugar together until it is really creamy and fluffy, and resembles vanilla ice-cream. 

Break the eggs in another bowl and beat them lightly with a fork; incorporate them into the sugar and batter mix bit by bit, then fold in the flour and ground almonds. Lastly, add the flaked almonds.

Now, add in your roasted peaches, that you would have left to cool first - don't add the peaches hot out of the oven to the mixture or they'll start to cook the eggs and mess up the delicate chemical process that is baking a cake!

 Pour the batter into the cake tin and put it in the oven, still at 180°C (I don't use the fan-assisted function for cakes as I find it dries them too much), for 40-45 minutes. Insert a skewer in to test whether it's ready; if it comes out clean, then it is. 

Leave it to cool for about one hour before removing from the tin. Serve alongside vanilla ice-cream or in a deep bowl, with cream poured all over it!