Peach cardamom coffee cake

Baking the day away as a way of surviving the news.

I am grateful for this cake and for The Contrarian. For this week’s recipe, I had to take time to bake and photograph the cake and then write about it, which meant I couldn’t listen in real time on Thursday to that snuffling, wheezing bulldog of a health secretary defend at the U.S. Senate his demented views on vaccines and his destruction of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

(I have since watched some of the heated questioning by Sens. Mark R. Warner, Raphael Warnock and Elizabeth Warren with some satisfaction.)

What a week of news it’s been, from Florida preparing to change its name to the Smallpox State to Texas passing a snitch law that allows private citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, transports, or provides abortion-inducing drugs to Texas. And then there was me nodding along in agreement with Marjorie Taylor Green as she promised to “say every damn name” on Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged list of clients. I nearly dropped my space laser when I realized what I was doing.

All of these things help explain why you find here a recipe for a comforting coffee cake with a spicy cardamom-scented streusel. Even though September means the publication of my new cookbook, “The Secret Life of Chocolate Chip Cookies” (shameless plug!, plus: preorders are 25% off at Barnes and Noble through today with the code preorder25), I am still trying to hold onto summer and every last peach I can buy. Peaches can get a bit iffy by September, and though many are juicy exemplars of the fruit, some stay hard as rocks, and others soften into mealyness. Because the peaches cook along with the cake in this recipe, any imperfections are erased, and the result is a sweet, lush layer of fruit atop a buttery cake.

The floral spiciness of cardamom (along with a little back up from its close friends ginger and cinnamon) in the streusel enhances the peach’s sweetness. If you aren’t a fan of cardamom, feel free to add more ginger in its place.

Peach Cardamom Coffee Cake

Makes one 9” cake

You’ll need a 9”x 2” round or square pan. For a prettier presentation, use a springform pan.

What You’ll Need:

For the streusel:

1 cup (120 grams) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (106 grams) brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

¾ teaspoon-1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Large pinch of salt

6 tablespoons (85 grams) butter, room temperature

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups (180 grams) all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

4 tablespoons (56.5 grams) butter, room temperature, cut into 8 pieces

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) milk

2 large peaches (about 500 grams or 16 ounces), pitted and sliced into half-inch slices

What You’ll Do:

1. Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Grease and flour the baking pan.

2. Make the streusel: Whisk together the 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, the ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and salt. Cut in the butter with two knives, or, use your finger tips to mix in the butter until small and large crumbles form. Set aside.

3. Make the cake: In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl at least once.

5. Add the egg and the lemon and vanilla extracts and beat until combined.

6. Add half the milk and mix in fully. Mix in half the flour mixture until just absorbed. Repeat with the rest of the milk and then stir in the remaining flour by hand until just blended. Spread the batter into the pan, top with the peaches and then sprinkle the streusel evenly over the peaches. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until golden on top and a toothpick poked into the middle of the cake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Serve warm or room temperature.

Marissa Rothkopf Bates writes about food for the New York Times, Newsweek (RIP) and Publishers’ Weekly among others. Her newest book, “The Secret Life of Chocolate Chip Cookies,” is available for pre-sale wherever fine books are sold. Find her on Substack here.

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