This rustic cake is bursting with one of summer’s most delectable stone fruits, ripe and vibrant peaches, swathed in coconut sugar caramel and mounded with a cornmeal-nubbled shortcake. Though a Old World peasant preparation, similar to a French Tarte Tatin with the fruit lining the base, this simple cake offers the quintessential Americana ingredients of corn and peaches, which, like many foods that are in season together, are also harmonious flavor-wise.
Feel free to eat this for brunch or breakfast-perhaps paired with some thick, homemade yogurt, or, more lush, whipped cream-as the nutritional ante is maximized by “soaking” the flour. In my experience, soaked baked goods can turn out rather heavy but this version reduces the density by cutting in a small amount of buttermilk with the butter and allowing the mixture to rest overnight rather than drenching the flour with liquid. Additional buttermilk and eggs also lighten the texture but the real pleasure of this skillet cake comes from the balance of an toasty, humble grain against the brightness and sweetness of caramel-enrobed peaches.
- Dry Batter:
- 1½ c. heaped, freshly ground soft whole wheat or spelt
- ½ c. coarse ground cornmeal
- ½ tsp. sea salt
- ¾ c. coconut sugar
- 2 tbs. buttermilk
- 10 tbs. unsalted butter
- Base:
- 4 peaches
- ¼ c. coconut sugar
- ¼ c. butter, melted
- Wet Batter:
- 2 eggs
- ¾ c. buttermilk
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- Pour flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, butter, and 2 tbs. buttermilk into a food processor, pulse 12-14 times or until butter is pulsed into roughly pea-sized pieces. Leave to "soak" overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Sprinkle skillet with ¼ c. coconut sugar and ¼ c. melted butter.
- Halve, peel, and slice each peach into 8-10 wedges, layer over butter and sugar.
- Whisk eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla together, pour over dry ingredients and add baking powder. Whisk thoroughly but lightly, pour batter over peaches and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Anna lives Buffalo, NY surrounded by a cityscape of both blight and hope. She receives inspiration from the next-door urban farm and loves nothing more than to spend a lazy summer Saturday perusing the lush stalls of a farmers market with her two lively children and husband. Cream and butter are two of her most adored ingredients.
She is devoted to sustainable food sourcing and to encouraging others to find the links between simple, beautiful food and thriving health. Some of her major influences include Alice Waters, Sally Fallon, and the More-With-Less cookbooks. She enjoys challenging herself with serving large gatherings, living with intentional restraint, and engaging her children in the creative world of food.
Above all, she values relationships and finds joy in bringing people together around the table.
You can find her blogging at eastsidepicurean.com .
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Is this really “fermenting” the grains as Sally Fallon suggests?
I was just wondering because it sounds like a great recipe.
Thanks,
bob raymond
columbus, ms
Hi Bob,
I’m definitely not an authority but seeing as the acid medium is well distributed throughout the flour and then left to do it’s work overnight, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be just as effective. But, personally, I just enjoy the challenge of learning to work with healthy, traditional ingredients and am finding that it’s been worlds different from white flour/white sugar baking. Hoping to pick up little tricks along the journey…:)
This would be the perfect end-of-summer dessert! I love cornbread and peaches, so I think I would thoroughly enjoy this. And so would everyone else!
Thanks! 🙂
Thanks for this recipe for caramelized peach cornmeal skillet cake. It sounds quite tasty!