Ginger peach lemon cake

Threw together a version of this cake for the tea break at my yoga course this week and enough people seemed to enjoy it that I thought I’d share the recipe. The ingredients are chiefly dictated by the pantry clearing process that I’ve strictly instituted due to the move to Berlin in a few weeks, as well as curiosity about aqua faba. I’d heard wonders about whipping up chickpea water and this is my first foray into this phenomenally fluffy territory. I used it here for additional moistness and to lighten the texture. I’m pretty happy with the result, although I’d need to bake a version without the aqua faba to be sure of the effect.

The cake turned out moist with a well-balanced crumb – denseness from the whole-wheat flour (I even used graham, as that’s all I had on hand) balanced by the lighter flours and aqua faba. It’s down to earth and satisfying in an unfussy way, with the ginger, fresh peaches and lemon bringing in just enough interesting flavour without being too loud; and particularly delicious with a good dollop of maple whipped soy or coconut cream. With some coffee or tea while reading a good book. On a gray 1 August.

Ginger peach lemon cake

Makes one 23cm round cake (around 12 servings)

Peach topping
1 large or 2 small peaches (250-300g)
15g coconut oil
15g birnel/maple syrup/agave syrup
5g grated ginger
20g large sugar crystals, for topping, optional

Dry mix
100g coconut flour
100g white flour
70g whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
100g natural cane sugar
pinch of salt

Wet mix
90g coconut oil, melted
350ml soy milk
30ml lemon juice
zest of 3 lemons
100ml aqua faba
25g grated ginger
80g candied orange peel or 50g chopped crystallized ginger, optional

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line the bottom of a 9-inch/23cm spring-form pan with baking paper and then grease it with a little coconut oil. Combine the soy milk and lemon juice and let stand for five minutes until thickened. Cut the peach into ~0.5-1cm thick slices. Combine the coconut oil, birnel/maple syrup/agave syrup and grated ginger for the topping in a pan over medium high heat and cook for a minute or two. Remove from heat and toss the peaches to coat with the syrup.

Sift all the dry ingredients into a big bowl. Whisk the aqua faba until white and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk the rest of the wet ingredients until completely combined. Pour the wet into the dry ingredients and scoop in the whipped aqua faba. Fold in the wet ingredients with as few strokes as possible, until just combined.

Pour the batter into the spring-form pan. Arrange the peach slices on top and sprinkle the large sugar crystals, if using. Bake for about 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean (a few crumbs are ok). I err on the side of under-baking rather than over-baking this cake, to avoid it getting too dry and crumbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before removing the spring-form ring and letting it cool completely. Serve with some maple whipped cream.