Recipe: This Peach Blackberry Pudding Cake is a celebration of summer’s bounty

An abundance of fruits, vegetables and herbs provides beautiful and delicious relief from hot and sweltering summers in Texas. Peach season is in its prime and will last for at least another month. Local wild blackberries are sweet right now, too, rich with vitamins and phytonutrients. This is also the time of year when I crave sweet treats and my desire to bake kicks into full gear. 

But even a die-hard cook like me does not want to spend too much time in the kitchen, so I gravitate toward easy and fast recipes. Try baking early in the morning, even before you eat breakfast. Your kitchen will smell wonderful all day. 

MORE FROM ANITA JAISINGHANI: A blueberry muffin recipe with less sugar and more fiber

This mix, pour-and-bake pudding cake recipe is simple, quick and, given that it has 8 to 10 cups of fruit, a true celebration of the summer bounty. Enjoy it with just a drizzle of fresh unsweetened cream. The batter is just there to hold the fruit together, and the only real work involves coring and slicing the peaches.

Anita Jaisinghani is the chef-owner of Pondicheri restaurant in Houston. Her website is india1948.com . Her cookbook, “Masala” (Ten Speed Press), is out now. Email: anita@pondicheri.com. 

Peach Blackberry Pudding Cake

2 cups (270 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ¾ sticks (200 grams) unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups (300 grams) sugar, plus more for lining the pan

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

¾ cup (170 grams) plain whole-milk yogurt

½ teaspoon baking soda

6 to 8 cups (roughly 2 pounds whole peaches) sliced firm peaches (unpeeled), fresh

1 pound or 2 cups whole blackberries 

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a shallow baking pan, roughly around 12-by-8 inches. Sprinkle it with a bit of sugar.

In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, baking powder and salt. Set aside.  

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, and sugar and mix on medium-high speed until smooth until creamy, and almost white in color. This will take about 3 to 4 minutes at least.

Lower the speed and add the vanilla extract and eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. 

In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the yogurt with the baking soda, stirring constantly, just until it is warm to the touch and it begins to bubble. This goes very quickly, so watch over it carefully.

Add the dry ingredients, alternating with the warm yogurt mixture, beginning, and ending with dry ingredients. Pour half the batter into the greased and sugared baking pan and scatter half the fruit on top. Spread the remaining batter on top of the fruit and scatter the remaining fruit over the batter. Bake for an hour, or a little longer depending on the fruit. The cake should feel firm when the center is tested. Rest the cake for at least a couple of hours before serving.  

Notes & variations

•  Firm, unripe peaches work best. Figs, nectarines, or other berries can replace the peaches and blackberries. Just try to not pick fruit with too much liquid or the cake might become soggy.

•  The activation of yogurt with baking soda makes for a fluffier, pudding-like consistency in the cake.

• For a sweeter finish, sprinkle 2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar on top of the fruit before baking the cake. 

From Anita Jaisinghani