Amy Ho’s new book Blooms and Baking is a stunningly beautiful book with some gorgeous recipes to match. This recipe is a unique take on a light cake and though Amy uses peaches native to her, us here in the South have our own abundance to choose from.
“I am very thankful that local British Columbia peaches are some of the best peaches one can find. During summertime, I eat at least one peach a day, amazed each time by the flavor and sweetness of the fruit as if it were my first time tasting a peach. In this recipe, sweet, juicy peaches are cooked down and tucked between layers of fluffy chamomile cake. Peaches add a brightness to the earthy floral sweetness of chamomile.” — Amy Ho
Reprinted with permission from Blooms and Baking by Amy Ho, Page Street Publishing Co. 2020
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease three 6-inch round cake pans and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. To prepare cake, bring milk to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and steep 3 bags chamomile tea in milk for 10 minutes. Remove tea bags and allow milk to return to room temperature. Set aside.
3. In large bowl, whisk flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and tea leaves of remaining tea bag together. Set aside.
4. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until mixture is soft and fluffy, about 1 minute. While mixer is running, add egg whites, one at a time, letting previous egg white incorporate before adding the next. Add half flour mixture to butter mixture. Add chamomile milk mixture, sour cream, and vanilla. Mix on low until ingredients are just combined. Add remaining flour mixture and mix until no more streaks of flour remain.
5. Pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans. Bake 28 – 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.
6. To prepare peach filling, melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add peaches, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Allow to cook, undisturbed, 2 minutes. Continue to gently cook, stirring occasionally, 20 – 25 minutes, until peaches have broken down and juices have become thick. With fork, coarsely mash peaches, leaving some larger pieces intact. Remove from heat and let cool.
7. To prepare buttercream, beat together butter and mascarpone in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment over medium speed until mixture is smooth, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and slowly add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Add milk and vanilla. Increase speed to high and beat until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Transfer 1 cup of mixture to pastry bag fitted with large round piping tip.
8. To assemble, trim off tops of cake layers with serrated knife if tops are rounded. Place first layer of cake on cake stand or plate. Pipe thick ring of buttercream around edges of cake. Fill center with 1/3 cup peach filling. Place second layer of cake on top of first and repeat preceding steps. Place final layer of cake cut side down. Frost top and sides with remainder of buttercream and decorate with fresh chamomile flowers and other flowers of choice.
Note: The amount of sugar you will need for peach filling depends on how sweet the peaches are.
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