Upside down peach and blueberry sponge

OK, so we’re in June and summer’s here (sort of). I know I shouldn’t be making a cake using tinned peaches and serving it warm with custard but what can I say? I’m a contrarian baker!

This recipe is on the lines of a pineapple upside down cake, but made with peaches. I used the blueberries as they provided a lovely colour contrast but also because I love the flavour and texture of a cooked blueberry.

This cake is a whopper! The tin only just contained it, hence my comment in the method that if you have a bigger tin you might want to use it! Here it is from the oven, so upside down to how it’s served:

Is there a more pleasing piece of fruit than a tinned peach half? It’s so perfectly smooth and round and such a beautiful colour. It made me forget that you only get a measly 6 halves per tin!

Mr CC is well trained in baking matters now. He found himself in Norfolk this week for work and came back with a rather special gift:

This is flour is from Letheringsett Mill, Norfolk’s only flour producing water mill. There has been a water mill at Letheringsett as far back as the Domesday book...that’s 1086! The flour was beautiful – incredibly fine and soft, almost like talc.

We had the cake warm, with custard, on the day of baking. The next day it was equally delicious eaten at room temperature with thick cream:

Ingredients:

For the topping:

2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 tablespoon plain flour
small punnet of blueberries
3 cans (400g each) of peach halves, drained

For the sponge:

250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
280g self raising flour
250g golden caster sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs
150ml natural yoghurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Blueberries left over from the punnet listed in the topping ingredients

To serve: ice cream, cream or custard (depending on whether you serve hot or cold)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180˚C/ fan oven 160˚C/350˚F/Gas mark 4.

Line a 20cm x 30cm roasting/baking tin with baking paper - make sure it’s a deep tin, although if you wish, you can use a slightly bigger tin.

Sprinkle the tin with the sugar and flour.

Place a blueberry into each peach half and then place the peaches, cut side down, in the tin.

Now make the sponge: place all the ingredients into a bowl and beat together until smooth and lump free.

Spoon the batter over the peaches, taking care not to dislodge the peaches.

Level the surface then gently push any leftover blueberries into the batter.

Bake for approximately 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the sponge comes out clean.

Leave to cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes then turn the cake out. If you leave it too long, the caramelised peaches may stick to the paper.

Serve either warm with ice cream or custard, or at room temperature with cream.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.