We left the island heat to be welcomed by tropical temperatures in the city. After four amazing weeks in Malta we’re back in Berlin, and apart from the fact that there isn’t the sea in sight, it doesn’t actually feel so different. It’s hot here, so much so that I decided to take it easy this weekend and leave my work aside and stay in my kitchen most of the time. My culinary life in the Mediterranean focused on seafood and countless wonderful nights in restaurants with friends and family, so now that I’m back, I feel like experimenting again. On the first night I felt too tired to lift a finger or a knife, but the next day I made my beloved fennel orange salad (just without the octopus) and a beetroot carpaccio that was so good that I definitely have to share it with you soon. Yesterday, I revisited my olive oil ice cream with sea salt, I had almost forgotten about it but thanks to Gillie from Yahoo Food, I remembered my luscious frozen treat. She asked me to join their Ice Cream Week on their Instagram next week which I really look forward to. I’m sure it will be full of great inspiration to help cooling off in the next few days!

It’s been over a year since I turned a generous splash of olive oil into ice cream and I wanted to make sure that the recipe is still as good as I remembered it. There’s no doubt about why I was so ecstatic about it, it tasted amazing and felt like velvet. After the cooling sweet a cake was next on my list, a simple breakfast cake with lots of juicy peaches and a crunchy cinnamon sugar crust. The fruits sunk deep into the spongy dough and spread their juices with the first bite. But the sweet crusty topping was the secret star, I sprinkled the cake so generously with cinnamony sugar before I put it in the oven that I was a little worried if I went overboard. But it was so, so good, so I felt no regrets!

This cake is a variation of my Apple Breakfast Cake.

Cinnamon Peach Cake with Sugar Crust

For a 20cm / 8″ loose bottom springform pan you need

sugar 100g / 3 1/2 ounces plus 2 tablespoons for the topping
cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon, for the topping
plain flour 130g / 4 1/2 ounces
cornstarch 30g / 1 ounce
baking powder 1 heaped teaspoon
a pinch of salt
butter (at room temperature) 160g / 5 1/2 ounces plus a little butter for the springform pan
organic eggs 3
large peaches, quartered, pitted and sliced, 2

Set the oven to 180°C / 355°F (fan-assisted oven) and butter the springform pan.

Combine 2 tablespoons of sugar and the cinnamon for the topping in a small bowl and set aside.

Combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time and continue mixing for a few minutes until the mixture is thick and creamy. Mix in the dry mixture until well combined. Fill the dough into the buttered form and arrange the sliced quarters of the peaches in circles on top. Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar and bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden on top. Check with a skewer, it should come out clean. Let the cake cool for a few minutes before you take it out of the springform pan.