Simple, sweet, and packed with ripe fruit — a cake that tastes like summer. I developed this cake in an effort to make the best of a friend’s blackberry patch and the luscious peaches on my counter.   The cake is buttery and tender but just dense enough to support the ripe stone fruit and berries that might sink into a lighter cake.  This beautifully textured cake would also take kindly to fresh blueberries, raspberries, plums, sweet cherries, apricots, nectarines, or a combo of what you have on hand.  A dollop of whipped cream makes it a perfectly easy summer treat.

Summer Fruit Butter Cake

2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
7 oz (1 cup) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
9.5 oz (2 cups) all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
5.5 oz (2/3 cup) buttermilk
about 3 cups fresh summer *fruit, in chunks
(optional) cinnamon sugar:  2 TB granulated sugar and 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 350, and grease and flour a 9-inch round spring-form baking pan.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition.   Add vanilla extract and beat to combine.

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  Add flour and buttermilk to butter mixture and mix on lowest speed until batter just comes together.  Scrape down bowl and give the batter a couple of gentle turns with the spatula.  This is a thick batter.

Spread the batter into the prepared ban.  Scatter the fresh fruit on top of the batter.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, if desired.  This is optional.  Bake for 50 – 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.  Let cool to room temp and serve with lightly sweetened whipped heavy cream.

* use any fresh ripe stone fruit, pitted and cut into 1 inch chunks, and/or berries.  Try peaches, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, nectarines, apricots, cherries, pluots, plums.  Let me know what combination of fruit you enjoyed!