Friday, October 8, 2010

Sour Cream Pound Cake with Lavender Peaches




Another fabulous peach dessert! I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of floral stuff...most flowery perfumes, air fresheners, etc. just make me sick and in my food? Forget it. But THIS was outstanding! The lavender complemented the peach flavor just perfectly and I enjoyed pretty much the entire recipe singlehandedly. :) Word to the wise: don't serve it with the lavender syrup, or at least not more than a tablespoon or so. I ate my first serving with a bunch of syrup on it and it was way too sweet. FYI! Enjoy!

Cake
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Lavender Syrup and Peaches
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons dried lavender blossoms
• 4 medium firm but ripe peaches, pitted, cut into 3/4-inch wedges
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
Preparation
Cake
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Butter an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4-inch metal loaf pan. Dust pan with flour; tap out excess. Sift 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl;scrape in seeds from vanilla bean (reserve bean for lavender syrup). Using an electric mixer, beat sugar mixture until fluffy. Add egg, egg white, and vanilla extract; beat until mixture is pale and thick, about 2 minutes. Beat in sour cream. Add flour mixture; beat just until blended. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 56-58 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes. Turn cake out, then turn top side up. Cook completely.

Lavender Syrup and Peaches
Combine 2 1/4 cups water, sugar, lavender and reserved vanilla bean in a saucepan. Boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; cover and let steep 10 minutes. Strain syrup into medium bowl; discard lavender. Pour 2 tablespoons lavender syrup into small bowl; reserve for whipped cream. Cover and chill. Return remaining syrup to same saucepan; add peaches and lemon juice and bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer about 5 minutes. Transfer peaches to bowl.

Boil syrup in pan until reduced to 1 cup, 12 to 14 minutes. Pour over peaches. Chill uncovered 2 hours.

Beat cream and 2 tablespoons reserved syrup in medium bowl to soft peaks. Slice cake. Serve with peaches, syrup, and cream.

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