Peach, raspberry and ricotta crumble cake

Nothing inspires baking quite like a rainy day.

In the middle of summer, with a bowl of ripening peaches on the bench and raspberries in the freezer, I took advantage of a turn in the weather to make this divine crumble cake which I found in the latest edition of Australian Gourmet Traveller (Feb 2013).

It's part cake, part crumble, part pudding, and served warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, it will bring sunshine to the soggiest of days.

What's your favourite rainy day recipe?

Larissa

Peach, Raspberry and Ricotta Crumble Cake

(Recipe from Australian Gourmet Traveller Feb 2013)

220g sour cream

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

300g plain flour

220g raw caster sugar

160g softened butter

30g almond meal

Finely grated rind of 2 limes

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

3 ripe peaches, halved and thinly sliced

125g raspberries, plus extra to serve

200g firm ricotta, coarsely crumbled

Pure icing sugar, for dusting

Vanilla lime syrup:

330g caster sugar

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Juice of 3 limes and finely grated rind of 11/2

Method:

Stir sour cream and bicarbonate of soda in a jug to combine and set aside to foam (2-3 minutes).

Preheat oven to 180C.

Pulse flour, sugar, butter, almond meal, lime rind, vanilla, baking powder and 1/2 tsp sea salt in a food processor until crumbly.

Transfer 1 cup of mixture to a separate bowl and set aside.

Add eggs and sour cream mixture to food processor and pulse until just smooth then spread half in the base of a 20cm square cake tin, greased and lined with non-stick baking paper.

Scatter with half the peaches, half the raspberries, half the ricotta and one third of the reserved crumb mixture.

Spread remaining sour cream over and smooth top. Scatter with remaining peaches, raspberries, ricotta and crumb mixture and bake until golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean (1-1 1/4 hours; cover with foil if cake begins to brown too much).

Set aside to cool in tin for 15 mins then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Serve dusted with icing sugar, with vanilla lime syrup and extra raspberries. (For good measure, I added a generous scoop of vanilla bean ice cream).

For syrup, stir sugar, vanilla and 200ml water Ian saucepan over medium high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and cook to infuse (5 mins). Remove from heat. Stir in lime juice and rind, transfer to a jar, set aside to cool and refrigerate to chill.