Rick came home from the store the other day with a buttload lot of nectarines. Who asked him to get any nectarines? I didn't. Once I got close to the bag of said nectarines, I knew exactly why he bought them. They smelled heavenly. But they were all ripe, so I had to spring into action and figure out how to use a bunch of them fast. There was no way we could eat them out-of-hand fast enough.
A quick search located this really great recipe.
Fruit Topped Golden Summer Cake (my name, not theirs)
1 cup flour (thanks to my friend Patty's recommendation, I used King Arthur's White Whole Wheat)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp Fiori di Sicilia (this is my addition to the recipe and I must say that it made a huge difference, but it is completely optional -- you could try some lemon extract instead or leave it out entirely)
2 nectarines, cut up
1/2 TBSP sugar mixed with 1/2 tsp nutmeg.
Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs and mix completely. Add flour, baking powder and salt, stirring to combine. Turn into greased 9" x 9" pan. Scatter fruit over the batter and sprinkle with sugar/nutmeg mix. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.
I know what you're thinking: those don't look like nectarines! and that isn't a square pan!
The first time I baked this cake, I used nectarines, but had to double the recipe to be able to use more than 2 nectarines! The next time I baked it, not only did I double it, but I was finally running low on nectarines, so I added a bunch of fresh cherries -- a delightful combination! The latest version (in the photos) uses both blueberries and cherries -- another delightful combination!
I really overloaded it with fruit, which doesn't seem to affect the recipe, but the berries did sink a bit. I don't see this as a problem.
This cake is especially good topped with some vanilla ice cream.
