Pretty Little Summer Fruit Cakes

I took another round of pottery classes this Spring, and finally got most of the pieces I made all of those months ago back from the studio (the plates in this post). Making pottery is a good exercise for me. It is one that requires a lot of patience, which I find myself in short supply of these days. With pottery there is a lot of waiting: waiting for things to dry to trim, waiting for things to dry to fire, waiting for the bisque fire, then glazing, then the glaze fire. Then sometimes, you get to the end of all of it, after hours and hours of work, and your shit breaks at the very last moment (like the cracked green plate below). It is unavoidable and it happens to the most experienced potters. It is a craft that requires a lot of humility.

Baking comes much easier. It feels natural and simple and I can generally bake things really, really fast - very little patience required. These little summer fruit cakes are that kind of easy treat: quickly thrown together, but quite pretty and tasty. Use any small fruit you like for these cakes, my favorites of the ones pictured were the cakes with little slices of apricots and blackberries, but use whatever you have around. It is a great way to use up little bits of things you may have kicking around in the fridge.

Pretty Little Summer Fruit Cakes

makes 8-15 cakes, depending on the size of the molds

I used about 10 small brioche molds and 2 mini loaf pans here and a combination of lots of odds and ends of fruit that were left in my fridge. Any summer fruit, cut into thin slices or berry sized chunks would be great here. I don't mind the flavor of almond extract in almond cakes, but I know it is a divisive ingredient so feel free to leave it out if you aren't a fan.

6 ounces high quality butter, softened but still cool

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups assorted summer fruit (berries, halved and pitted cherries, sliced apricots, peaches or nectarines, and currants are all great options)

Preheat oven to 325 and great and flour your pans. Put the pans on a baking sheet so they will be easy to move in and out of the oven.

Sift the dry ingredients together, press on the almond meal to help it through the sifter if necessary.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth, then slowly stream in the sugar with the mixer on medium speed. Turn the mixer up to medium-high and cream the butter and sugar together until light, fluffy, and smooth. About 3 minutes.

Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each egg. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the extracts.

Reduce the speed to low and alternately add the milk and flour mixture. Mix until just combined, being careful not to over mix. Pour the batter into the pans and top each cake with a few pieces of fruit. Bake the cakes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20-40 minutes depending on the size of the pans.

Cool for 20 minutes, then remove the cakes to a rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioner's sugar and an additional berry or two just before serving.

Red Fruit Galettes

I know it's coming to a close, but here's a hot tip for summer: keep a batch of pie crust in your fridge or freezer at all times. Then, when you spot some pretty fruit at the farmer's market, you'll always have something to tuck it into at the ready.

Just about the easiest thing you can make with fruit and pie crust is a galette. Galettes are casual open faced tarts and their charm is in their imperfections. It's okay if the fruit leaks all over the baking sheet and there is no futzy crust crimping for the folks who find that part of pie making frustrating. I even know someone who likes to make them at 3AM after a night of drinking, so you know they are easy.

These particular galettes were born when I had lots of little bits of different fruits left over from another project and I used roughly equal amounts of sour cherries, red currants and raspberries. This particular combination of red fruits turned out visually stunning and totally delicious, but don't feel limited by these fruits! You can make a galette with just about any fruit you have hanging around.

This is more of a formula and a process than a recipe that needs to be followed to the letter so feel free to swap the crust or the fruit or the jam for anything you like. And it's the best kind of recipe to have in your back pocket for all those times when you just need dessert last minute. Get invited to dinner? Galette. Going to a picnic or barbecue or rooftop party? Galette. Celebrating a birthday? Galette. Tuesday? Galette.

Happy Summer!

Red Fruits Galettes
yield 2, 9-inch galettes

Feel free to swap out my pie crust for your favorite recipe, but please make sure to bake the galettes until they are deeply golden brown and caramelized. Say no to soggy crust!

Crust

12 ounces all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
9 ounces cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
4 ounces ice cold water
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Use your fingers or a pastry cutter to cut in half of the butter until it is the size of peas, then cut in the other half until it is the size lima beans. Some of the butter will be completely worked into the flour, but you should have lots of visible pieces of butter in the dough too. Add the apple cider vinegar to the water and make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Use a gentle hand or wooden spoon to mix the water into the flour until just combined. If the dough seems very dry, add more water a couple of teaspoons at a time. You have added enough water when you can pick up a handful of the dough and squeeze it together without it falling apart. Press the dough together, then split it in half, form into discs and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least one hour before using, or overnight.

Filling

about 2 pounds of assorted red fruits (raspberries, cherries, sour cherries, sweet cherries, currants, etc)
1 3/4-2 3/4 ounces granulated sugar depending on the sweetness of the fruit (for example: currants will need more, sweet cherries less)
4 ounces apricot, raspberry or strawberry jam
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
pinch salt
1 tablespoon flour (only if the fruit seems very juicy)

1 egg beaten with a pinch of salt for egg wash
1 3/4 ounce crunchy sugar like demerara or turbinado for sprinkling

Work with one piece of dough at a time and on a floured surface, roll the dough into a roughly 13'' circle, 1/4-1/8'' thick. Transfer the rounds to two large, parchmentlined sheet pans. Store in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

Pit the cherries and remove the currants from their stems. In a large bowl, rub the lemon zest and salt into the sugar. If you're using flour, now's the time to add it. Add the fruit to the sugar mixture and toss gently to combine. 

Remove the pastry from the fridge and spread each round with about 4 tablespoons of jam, then divide the fruit evenly between the disks, leaving a 1 1/2'' border around the edges. Fold the edges of the pastry over the filling and gently brush the egg wash between the folds to seal. Chill the formed tarts until the dough is very firm.

While the tarts are chilling, preheat your oven to 400º. When the tarts are nice and cold, remove them from the fridge, gently brush the pastry with egg wash and sprinkle the pastry and the fruit with coarse sugar. Bake until the fruit juices bubble and ooze and the pastry is a deep golden brown, about 30-40 minutes. Let cool before serving.