A peach of a cake

I had a brief career as a pastry chef and still have two big bins filled with specialty baking tins and equipment. Going through some old photos I came across a couple of snapshots that brought back memories of those days when I thought nothing of spending an afternoon making a show-stopping dessert at home. I rarely use any of these items but the spring form or tart pans these days, but I haven't as yet been able to bring myself to jettison anything. I keep thinking I will make plum puddings or Yule logs or charlottes or madeleines one of these days and so there they all sit.

Among all these baking items is the mold I used to make "peach' cakes. It's a pan that is intended to be used to make cakes that can be decorated to look like baseballs for a kids' birthday party. You put two cakes together to make a round shape. But I bought this pan with another idea about how to use this curvaceous shape.

I'd clipped an article from Food and Wine magazine where Judith Olney, a creative cook and baker whose books and ideas I love, made a giant peach cake. She baked two big rounded cakes in metal bowls and united them with whipped cream as you can see in the magazine clipping on the left in the image below. But when I saw the baking tin above I thought, why not make cakes that looked like peaches since it was peach season? 

I used a mix for the cakes. After baking, I very lightly brushed the curved side of the cakes with a thinned down apricot jam and then rolled them in pink, yellow and orange sugars. The two halves are "glued" together with cream cheese flavored with honey and orange rind. Mint leaves stand in for the peach leaves.

I put each peach cake into one of the purple paper cupcake-type holders that peaches came in when I bought a hand basket of them the way I always used to do at my local grocery store. I filled my basket when it was empty of real peaches with the peach cakes and brought it to work as a birthday surprise for the grand dame of our office.

At the end of the day I discovered how real my peaches looked when a co-worked mentioned that she didn't like peaches so she didn't have one. She never realized they were cakes and not fruit! This is not the kind of dessert you make more than once or twice in a lifetime, but it's peach season now so it might be the moment to try my hand a some fancy baking again. 

Comments

[Loree / danger garden]

Oh the image with all those pans! Such beauties, I couldn't get rid of a single one. Love the idea of a peach cake and the image makes it even more enticing.

[Lisa at Greenbow]

You are a true artist. You are also such a tease and you are making me hungry. I think your collection of tins are worthy of display space. One might be encouraged to do some baking if they were out where you could see them. Or they might as well be filled with fond memories.

[Frank]

I was a little worried when I read 'curvaceous' and wasn't sure where you were gong with the shape but the peaches are awesome!
I think there are plenty of other things I would get rid of before losing those interesting pans, but then I love that kind of well-made specialty stuff.

[Peter/Outlaw]

Your peach cakes look great and sound like they tasted even better. I'm a big fan of peaches. Well, all of the summer fruits like strawberries, cherries, etc. that only have a limited season are favorites. Maybe they're special because they're only really good for a brief time each year.

[Linda from Each Little World]

​Frank — I think you've nailed it: These tins are so heavy and well-made. Much higher quality than most of what you find today. In my former house there was great display space in the kitchen so maybe I need to figure out how to display them in this house. Make them earn their keep!​