Picnic Cake with Buttermilk and Summer Fruit

Bites of sweet summer fruit peak from the buttery Picnic Cake with Buttermilk and Summer Fruit. Picnic Cake with Buttermilk and Summer Fruit is a sweet way to use up leftovers from binge buying too much summer fruit.

“It’s a pleasant little stream that gurgles through the Alisal against the Gabilan Mountains on the east side of Salinas. The water bumbles over round stones and washes polished roots of the trees that hold it in. The smell of azaleas and the sleepy smell of sun working with chlorophyll filled the air. On the bank the Ford car sat, still breathing softly from its overheating. The back seat was filled with azalea branches.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Picnic Cake with Buttermilk and Summer Fruit announces summer to everyone who shares a slice. Bites of sweet summer fruit peak from a buttery, buttermilk laced cake lightened with whipped egg whites. This cake is a sweet way to use up the odds and ends leftover from binge buying too much summer fruit. This is a versatile cake recipe, adapted from a vintage church cookbook. Any type of stone fruit or cane berries can be used, apricots, plums, peaches or nectarines. Cherries and cane berries, whatever you would like to use.

Essentials

Picnic cake, snack cake or sheet cake, it’s all the same type of cake. Fill an oblong pan with cake batter, frost or not, slice and serve with enough to share. The term sheet cake is the current trendy term. I’m partial to Picnic Cake. It evokes summer with a setting, a place to relax and share. Pick the name that brings joy, and make Picnic Cake with Buttermilk and Summer Fruit.

I’m always amazed at those who are oblivious to summer fruit. I’ve got nothing against bananas and apples but how can in season peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots be ignored? What about cane berries or melons? Be bold, just like the intensity in political views that blast out their extreme ideology. Scoop up all the summer fruit you possibly can, it won’t last as long as our current political nightmare. Then make a Picnic Cake with Buttermilk and Summer Fruit. I used a few Blenheim apricots, plums, Loganberries and boysenberries but any one kind or combination of summer fruit will make a fabulous Picnic Cake with Buttermilk and Summer Fruit. Summer has arrived, enjoy!

1. Heat the oven to 350°. Line a 12” x 8” oblong baking pan with parchment.
2. Thinly slice the fruit into bite size pieces. Gently toss the fruit with a tablespoon of lemon juice.
3. Sift the flour, baking power, baking soda and salt together.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter and sugar together until light, creamy and pale yellow, 4-5 minutes. Separate the eggs. Add the yolks to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time. Mix throughly between the addition of each yolk. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl making sure the batter is well combined. Mix in the flour mixture and buttermilk in three additions, starting with the dry ingredients. Mix in the extracts and lemon zest. Mix only until combined.
5. If using the stand mixer to whip the egg whites, scrape the batter into a large bowl. Throughly clean and dry the mixer bowl of all batter residue. Any butter left in the bowl will hamper beating of egg whites. Fit the mixer with the whipping attachment and add the egg whites to the bowl. Beat on low until foamy, gradually increase speed as the egg whites become opaque. Then beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
6. Add the egg whites to the batter in three additions. Fold the egg whites into the batter completely before adding more to the bowl. Resist the temptation to rapidly stir in the egg whites. This will deflate the egg whites and make a denser cake. There should be no streaks of egg whites in the batter when finished. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it in an even layer. Place the fruit on top of the batter in a single layer. If using plums or tangy apricots add a sprinkle of sugar on top of the fruit. Bake for 35-40 minutes. When ready the cake will be golden brown and have pulled away from the sides of the pan, a cake tester will come out cleanly. Let cool in the pan for thirty minutes. Then the cake can be lifted from the pan using the parchment as handles. When cool dust with powdered sugar.