The Friday List (returns) and a gluten-free almond cake

1. The season’s first fig crop is all but finished so we might have to wait until Autumn to make this beautiful halva and this honey’d fig and goat’s cheese ice cream
2. A simple raspberry vinegar from Miss Foodwise
3. And strawberry, vanilla syrup from Butterfly Foodie
4. Here’s some armchair travel for market lovers; New Zealand’s Matakana market via The Selby and South Korea’s (amazing-looking) Garak Shijang market via a la mode.
5. I dream of one day going to Magnus Nilsson’s Swedish restaurant Fäviken but for now am content to ‘visit’ via this photo essay via Nowness. Oh my god.
6. A pretty little cherry cordial from Goop.
7. Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up to this baked peach pancake tomorrow morning! Or these classic stuffed peaches to finish off Saturday lunch. 

Peach or rhubarb almond cake

This dense, nutty cake is based on a recipe from River Cafe Cook Book Easy, and is just beautiful. Yesterday we made two, filling one with rhubarb and the other with peach. Both were well received but the rhubarb slightly more so.

One thing to note; if you fail to line your cake tin properly (like I did) and then struggle to release it from said tin (like I did), you can always make up a sort of ‘plate trifle’ by cutting out chunks of the cake, arranging them on a platter and topping with whipped cream (like I did last night).

500g peaches (sliced thinly), rhubarb (cut into cubes) or any other seasonal fruit
1 orange
50g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod

cake
150g unsalted butter
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup buttermilk
180g freshly ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder

topping
Finely grated zest of one orange
30g butter
25g brown sugar
1/2 cup slithered almonds
Icing sugar, to dust

Finely grate the rind and squeeze in the juice of the orange. Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a cake tin with baking paper. Place the fruit, orange rind and juice and sugar in an ovenproof dish and toss to combine. Bake for 20 minutes and then scrape in the vanilla seeds.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one by one. Fold in the buttermilk, almond meal and baking powder and spread into the prepared cake tin. Push the fruit (with its juices) into and over the cake and bake for 1/2 hour.

For the topping, finely melt the butter and stir in the grated zest and almonds. Spread this over the half-baked cake, lower the heat to 160C and bake for a further 20 minutes. Cool the cake in the tin and then top with the almonds and dusting of icing sugar before serving.