Fruity Slab Cake

This cake is perfect to me. It is endlessly adaptable, comes together really quickly in one bowl and is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser! I like to use whatever fruit is in season and then tweak the recipe slightly to suit it. In the summer, it's nice to use fresh berries and add some zested citrus to the batter before baking. Wintertime calls for sliced apples or pears, warming spices and a streusel topping. I encourage you to play around and find the flavour combination that works best for you.

Recipe is adapted from Marian Burros' plum torte recipe.

---

Serves: 10

Ingredients:

• 100g / ½ cup white sugar

• 284 g / 1 ¼ cup unsalted, softened butter

• 170g / 1 ½ cups flour

• 110 g / 1 cup almond flour

• 2 ½ tsp baking powder

• Pinch of salt

• 5 eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla

• ¼ tsp almond extract (optional)

• Fruit of choice - stone fruit, apples, pears, berries, etc.
  

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F

2. Lightly butter an 8” x 12” baking tin and coat with salt-sugar mixture (generous pinch of salt + 3 or 4 tbsp of white sugar)

3. Cream sugar and butter together in a large bowl

4. Sift flours and add to the creamed butter along with baking powder, salt, eggs and extracts. Beat thoroughly.

5. Dollop spoonfuls of batter into the pan and spread out carefully with a spatula

6. Place fruit on top of batter

7. Top with extra brown or white sugar, little pieces of butter and fresh lemon juice. I’ve also made a delicious streusel version by pouring ½ cup heavy cream (mixed with a little sugar and vanilla) over the fruit and then topping with the streusel.

8. Bake for 50 minutes to one hour. Serve with a soft dollop of vanilla whip or a scoop of ice cream.

Notes:

• You can easily cut the recipe in half for a smaller group and use a 7” x 7” or 8” x 8” baking tin instead.

• Swap out some of the flour for a different kind of flour, if you feel like it. I think cornmeal, buckwheat or whole wheat would all be really yummy.

• This cake freezes really well! Slice it up beforehand and store in the freezer for whenever you need a sweet treat.