Where I am, this is a hard time of year. The novelty of winter has started to wear off but it is still bitterly cold, and we are ready for some really good fruits and vegetables but the only thing that is technically in season is jam.

The solution to this problem can be found in a can. While you will never mistake canned peaches for fresh ones, in a cake they are a bite of sunshine and reminder that warmer days will come.

Makes: One 8 inch cake

Ingredients:

• Topping
  • 2 tbsp (28 g) unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 tbsp (25 g) sugar
  • About 1/2 can canned in juice (not syrup) – enough to cover the bottom of the cake pan
• Cake
  • 1/2 cup (122 g) whole milk
  • 1/4 cup (50 g) butter
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 2/3 cup (133 g) sugar
  • 1 cup (120 g) AP flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tbsp canola oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees f
2. Prepare pan and topping
   • Oil baking pan and line bottom with parchment
   • Stir together melted butter (2 tbsp) and sugar (2 tbsp)
   • Spread half of the butter mixture evenly along the bottom of the pan
   • Arrange the peach slices on the bottom of your pan – you can be as artistic here (or not) as you like
   • Pour the rest of the butter mixture over the peach slices
   • Refrigerate while you are preparing the rest of the ingredients
3. Prepare cake
   • Heat milk (1/2 cup) until hot but not boiling
   • Add butter 1/4 cup) to milk and stir until it melts, set aside to cool
   • Beat eggs (2) and sugar (2/3 cup) together for 5-7 minutes (yes really)
   • Stir together flour (1 cup), baking powder (2 tsp), cardamom (1/2 tsp), and salt (1/4 tsp)
   • Gradually add flour mixture and the milk and butter to the egg mixture, mixing just enough to combine
   • Stir together vanilla (1 tsp) and canola oil (1 tbsp) and add to the rest of the batter
   • Beat together for just 5-10 seconds (just long enough to make a smooth batter)
4. Assemble and bake
   • Pour batter over peaches in pan
   • Bake for 45+ minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean, the cake is looking well-tanned, and it has started to pull away from the edges of the pan – this could take a while since there is a lot of moisture in the fruit
   • Let cool for 15 minutes before inverting cake onto a platter

Notes:

• Canned peaches are wetter than fresh ones, and add a lot of moisture to the cake. I suggest blotting them with paper towel before laying them out in the cake pan.
• Don’t worry if the peaches aren’t nicely browned when they are finally revealed. This is easily fixed with the oven broiler, just make sure to watch them carefully as the distance from nicely browned to black and smoking is shorter than you might expect.