Peaches and Cream Cake

I don't usually make my own birthday cake. As a twin, I typically make one for my sister, and my mother makes one for me. But that's rather a lot of cake, so this year we decided just one in the house would suffice, and I volunteered to make the lone dessert. Unfortunately, it turns out this is bad birthday karma, because the cake-baking process was somewhat of a disaster. The cake was not completely baked through when I had to leave for my dentist's appointment (a dentist's appointment on my birthday? Why not.), and then the final product, while fully cooked, fell apart when I removed it from the pan. We served it sliced, candles stuck into our respective pieces, to save guests from murmuring about the cake's unusual appearance.

A buttered-and-floured-pan- not well greased enough, apparently!
Also uncharacteristic this year, I chose the cake recipe with little ado. Instead of scouring cookbooks and memories of past birthdays for a cake that encapsulates how I feel about the coming year, I found a recipe for Peaches and Cream Cake during an absent-minded flip through a cooking mag. It looked delicious and my sister had no objections, so down went peaches and sour cream on the grocery list.

I had to leave for the dentist even as batter still clung to the knife as it emerged from the monstrosity of a cake. Before heading out the door, I turned off the oven, leaving the cake in there to cook in the slowly dissipating heat. When I returned, the cake was fully cooked, but not cooled, and I was too eager in taking it out of the pan. Several chunks from the cake's top were torn away as it slid onto the plate. Note the convenient lack of pictures of the cake in its whole state. Luckily it tasted fine, particuarly when doctored up with some Haagen Dazs pistachio ice cream. Whipped cream would also do the trick, I think. Next time, I might add extra peaches as well. Despite being coated in flour, which should prevent the peaches from sinking to the bottom, most of the fruit was clustered in sections of the cake, leaving some batter-heavy parts.

This piece stayed whole!

Adapted from Everyday Food Magazine, Issue 93
Peaches and Cream Cake
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups plus 2 TBSP unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 peaches, peeled, pitted and diced small
2 cups sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:
--Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 14-cup bundt pan.
--Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, coat peaches in 2 TBSP flour. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy and pale yellow. Beat in eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in two parts, alternating with sour cream. Beat until combined. Add peaches and vanilla and mix gently. Pour batter into prepared pan, tapping pan firmly on counter to remove any air bubbles.
--Bake until a knife inserted in cake comes out clean, one hour. Transfer pan to wire rack. Let cool 30 minutes. Using a knife or offset spatula, loosen cake from pan and gently invert onto cake stand or plate. Serves 16.