[Recipe] Peach and Blueberries Melba Cake

If you know me by now, I hardly bake... cakes or muffins or cookies. There are a few reasons :

- I have to have the mood to bake. Which rarely comes.
- I have a family that isn't into such desserts so it doesn't make much sense to bake just for myself.
- It has to be really easy peasy because it will be a complete waste of time and effort if I don't get the consistency right.
- and lastly, the washing up of the stubborn greasy tins.

And then, this melba cake recipe caught my eye as I was browsing through some food magazine at the library one day. I glanced at the familiar ingredients and super doable method. I was motivated! Now seriously, if I find it really easy to make, trust me, it's really easy.

The texture is like pound cake and with the tangy pieces of fruits in each bite, makes it really refreshing to have. Even my not-a-really-big-fan-of-pound-cake-husband enjoyed it and went for.... 2, no 3, no 4 helpings! I'm a happy wife. Consider baking one this weekend!

For this bake, I actually halved the recipe because I really don't need a big portion of cake to satisfy my cravings. But I will be sharing the full recipe that I read in the magazine (dang, I wish I remember what it's called so that I can give proper credit. Will make a trip to the library to find out and update it here.)

Preparation time : 10-15 minutes    Baking time : 1 hour - 1 hour 10 minutes

You will need a 10" square tin or similar for the full recipe. I used a 6" for half of the recipe.

Ingredients :
- 250g unsalted butter
- 300g caster sugar (I chose to reduce this by one quarter so that it's less sweet)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 200g self-raising flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 50g ground almonds (Optional. I did not add this into mine)
- 2 peaches, sliced into wedges. (I used canned ones though fresh is recommended)
- 100g raspberries (I used blueberries instead)
- a handful of flaked almonds (I've opted out from this)
- 1 tbsp of icing sugar, to finish (I've opted out from this)

Method :
- butter the baking tin.
- set the oven to 180 degrees celcius
- melt butter in a large pan and let it cool for a few minutes.
- add sugar, vanilla and eggs.
- beat the mixture with wooden spoon till smooth
- stir in the flour, ground almonds (optional) and salt.
- pour the mixture into the tin and scatter the berries and flaked almonds evenly on the top.
- lay the peaches on top as well.
- bake for 1 hour - 1 hour 10 minutes, covering with foil after 40 minutes.
- using a skewer to test, the middle should have a hint of squidgyness.
- cool in tin for 20 minutes then lift it onto a cooling rack.
- once cooled, you can dredged it with icing sugar (optional), then slice into portions before serving.

I enjoyed mine served slightly warm. It was heavenly! And I'm also pretty sure that it will go very well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! This will be my go to fail proof cake recipe if I ever have any gatherings to contribute to. 

Till the next post, have a wonderful day!