Liqueured Peach Cake

This is going to be a long post. Not because of a recipe actually. More because now that I've got a platform to say something, I really want to say something I've got on my mind.


It all started with that Indira Nooyi article. I'm sure you've all read it. Well, if you're Indian and you're on Facebook, you have. After all, she's the most famous Indian female in the corporate world. Someone all girls in the country are supposed to look up to. We don't have too many idols besides movie stars and rubbish politicians. Then she comes out with a story how women can't have it all. I guess we're all caught up in Sheryl Sandberg's 'Lean In'. Frankly I don't have the inclination to listen to either of them. I maybe female, I could belong to the working class, but we all have our battles and no two of them are the same. But none of this matters to me. What mattered most to me in Indira Nooyi's article was the milk incident.





The milk incident brought home to me, how lucky I am to have a mother like mine. Of course, she'd expect me to work hard, do my best, manage my home, cook well, be gracious and all of it. I'm not married so I can't say anything about the husband and kids part. But, even if my mother sent me out in the middle of the night to get milk (which she wouldn't) and insisted I had to do it right then, when I got back and gave my mum the good news about being promoted or something special that happened in my life, I'm sure she'd never give me a spiel about being just a daughter, mother, wife and cook at home. She'd be happy for me. Happy that all my effort got recognized. Happy that even though I had some special news, I'm ok going out to get milk in the middle of the night. She'd probably get cake out, or some chocolate, or make me an omelette cos eggs make me happy anytime of the day. Yes, I am thankful my parents are the way they are. Happy with my little joys, unsettled by my little miseries and yet horribly practical and straight forward and just what I need to get me on track when I'm lost. Thank you!

My friend gifted me this darling sauce pot. Thanks Poornima!

I kept thinking about the whole milk thing and my parents when I was making crème anglaise. The bloody thing curdled the first time. I had to make it again. But the whole while I was making it I kept thinking that even if I curdled, if I tried making it again and I tried and tried again, it would be alright, cos one day I'd just get it right. Not that I had to try that many times, crème anglaise really needs only attention and patience. Once I made the sauce, I had to have something to go with it. I wanted cake, with a boozy punch. I picked out a sticky date pudding from David L's blog and just removed the sticky part and the dates part. Oh! so what do I get? Possibly plain cake right? But I added a whole lot of liqueured peaches which I'd been stocking up since last year with the intention of a fresh fruit X'mas cake I'd never gotten around to.

I wish Chetta hadn't kept that silly bag there. Or that I noticed it earlier.

The cake doesn't taste as boozy immediately, but slowly develops it over a couple of days. I left it in the oven after the prescribed one hour. My excuse being I fell asleep. That, plus the slightly excessive soda gives it a darker colour. I think I'll cut down on the soda next time and more importantly take it out in time.


Ingredients

55g             butter
3/4 cup       sugar
2                 eggs
11/4 cup     flour
1 tsp           baking powder
1 tsp           baking soda
1/2 tsp        salt
180g           liqueured peaches finely chopped*

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a cake tin. I used a pie tin cos that's what I had at that time.
Cream butter and sugar till it becomes nice and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time and beat in
Sift flour, baking powder, soda & salt together
Fold in dry mix and peaches in to the creamed mix, starting with flour, peaches and then flour.
Bake for 55-60 mins.
Don't forget to take it out of the oven in time.


Serve with crème anglaise, whipped cream or ice cream.

*Liqueured peaches are the ones soaked in alcohol and sugar for a while that it absorbs a little bit of the flavours of both. I have these things cos I make a lot of alcohol fruit infusions. I never throw the leftover fruit away; figure they will come in handy sometime or the other. Also, as long as you store them in clean containers, these guys dont spoil that easily. I've had these peaches for over a year now and it keeps getting better with time.