A Cake for Midsummer

A lot of firsts for me during these past two weeks, Friends! Where shall I begin?
1. I finally got my hands on Ripe, Nigel Slater's much-anticipated sequel to his much-adored Tender.
2. I finally ate at Gjelina. (Possibly the best oysters ever?)
3. I finally visited the Venice canals. Have you guys been? Yet another interesting, didn't-know-these-were-here part of L.A.
3. I finally had my first Intelligentsia coffee. Delicious.
4. Matt got soaked from head to toe while wearing normal, non-bathing-suit attire by what he refers to as a "rogue wave" in Malibu. (We have video of it because, yes, he was filming, and yes, it's hilarious.)
5. In case you missed it, I went to Paris with Tim from Lottie and Doof on a very special mission.
6. And finally, I successfully navigated myself from the east side of town to LAX via a slew of interstates—an experience that left me, after 7 years of having lived here, in a complete state of awe at the sheer breadth of this city.

Or, in other words, we had visitors in from out of town! Matt's parents to be exact. It was lovely, as it always is. In fact, Matt and I were so sad to see them go, I had to bake this cake a second a time just in order to cope.

Nigel has a way with recipe titles and this one is no exception. And though it's no longer exactly midsummer, it's been brutally hot here and there are still beautiful peaches everywhere—which I substituted for the apricots—so I feel perfectly fine in adjusting the title thusly: a cake for mid-to-late summer.

And since I've purchased the expensive bag of ground almonds and have almost an entire bag left of self-rising flour, I think I'll make this cake well into Fall.

Now, if you'll excuse me, Mavis and I need to go for a walk. Remember Mavis?

A Cake for Midsummer via Ripe
serves 8 to 10

3/4 cup butter
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons golden baker's sugar (I used "golden brown sugar.")
7 oz. (4 or 5) ripe apricots (OR 2 fairly large peaches)
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups self-rising flour
a scant cup of ground almonds
2 tablespoons milk
6 oz. raspberries (The second time I made this, I skipped the raspberries and added an extra peach. And it might've been even better!)

Line the bottom of an 8-inch springform cake pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350F.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer until pale and fluffy. Halve, pit, and coarsely chop the apricots/peaches. Beat the te eggs lightly, then add to the creamed butter and sugar a little at at a time, pushing the mixture down the sides of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula. If there is any sign of curdling, stir in a tablespoon of the flour.

Mix the flour and almonds together and fold in, with the mixer on a low speed, in two or three separate batches. Add the milk, and once it is incorporated, add the chopped apricots and the raspberries. Mix together with the spatula.

Scrape the mixture into the cake pan and bake for an hour and ten minutes. (If you have a convection oven, it might only take 40 minutes!) Test with a skewer; if it comes out relatively clean, then the cake is done. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes or so in the pan, then run a thin spatula around the edge and slide it out onto a plate. decorating as the fancy takes you.