Peach & Blueberry Batter Cake

Back to school heralds the return of the schoolbag and shoe obstacle course in the hallway.  Kitchen cupboards too are feeling the strain as lunchboxes and drink bottles fight for space.  But the fruit bowl is delighted with herself.  Never has she been more colourfully adorned as a result of my over zealous purchase of fruit.  She started the week laden with an array of shapes and colours; grapes, strawberries, apples and bananas, which all proved popular and bit by bit the pile began to shrink.  However, come the weekend the kitchen was filling with the unctuous waft of over-ripening peaches.  With a not very pleasant furry skin to bite through and a large stone in the middle, unsurprisingly they hadn’t been picked as a school lunch box filler.  A punnet of blueberries in the fridge had also been ignored all week and by Saturday were past their use by date.  The following recipe is one that I’ve used before for blackberries and apples and it turned out to be the perfect way to get the kids to eat the left-over peaches and blueberries.

(This is delicious on it’s own or with a blob of cream or ice-cream).
You Will Need:
350g self raising flour
280g caster sugar
225g unsalted butter
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
brown sugar to sprinkle on top
4 ripe peaches
125g punnet blueberries
Method:
Heat the oven to 180C
Grease a deep baking/pudding dish with butter and line the base with parchment paper.
Peel, stone and slice the peaches.  Rinse the blueberries.
Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer.
Sieve the flour and baking powder together and then add to the mix alternating with the eggs until all are added. 
Add the vanilla extract.
Spread half of the mix into the dish and scatter the fruit on top.
Spread the remaining mix on top and sprinkle with some brown sugar.
Bake for 45-55 minutes and test with a skewer.
Enjoy. 

Til next time, Sheila
p.s.(every Thursday in September will feature a one pot dinner recipe)