Cake for Breakfast

Stone Fruit Skillet Cake

We went for an early walk to pick flowers today and came back home with nowhere to be and nothing to do.  So rare, too rare, precious.  In honor of this, I decided to make cake for breakfast.  A friend had given me a big bag of plums from her garden and I remembered this recipe for a cast iron cake with fruit.  Mmmm!  Slow mornings.  I love them, and cake for breakfast too.

I ate mine in a nearly-civilized way, with a 2nd flush Darjeeling and the paper.  But notice I couldn't wait for the cake to cool, allowing me to slice it nicely.  Nope, straight from the oven immediately to plate and mouth.  Only slightly more civilized than the DH who ate his with his fingers while standing over the cast iron skillet.  

 

Here's the recipe.  I may play with it some more and see if I can get it to work on the the grill, covered.   Gotta love the flexibility of cast iron!  My recipe, below, has been changed extensively from the original - adding whole wheat, reducing the sugar and veganizing.  It works great in vegan form!  If you'd like to see the non-vegan, white flour original, go and visit with Martha.

Stone Fruit Cast Iron Cake for Breakfast

(I've enjoyed this with plums and nectarines and I think any stone fruit would do well)

Ingredients:

*4 Tbsp vegan "butter" plus enough to grease the pan

*An 8-9" cast iron skillet

* 1 cup whole wheat flour

*1/2 tsp baking powder

*1/4 tsp baking soda

* A dash of salt

* 1/2 cup sugar (down from 3/4 originally) plus 2 Tbsp for the top

* Egg replacement for 1 egg - I used 3 Tbsp water + 1 Tbsp flax seed meal, let sit 5 min

* 1/2 cup non-dairy milk + 2 tsp lemon juice, let sit for 5 min

* 2 - 4 ripe (but not mushy) stone fruit, stones removed and sliced thinly

Ready for the oven
The next time, I'll use more fruit and fill much of the top

Make the cake:

* Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

* Grease and flour the cast iron skillet

* Make the egg replacement and add the lemon juice to the non-dairy milk; set aside

* Whisk together the dry ingredients

* Beat vegan "butter" and 1/2 cup sugar until fluffy; stir in egg replacement

* Add 1/3 of the flour and 1/3 of milk - mix gently and repeat until you have a batter; do not over mix

* Pour into cast iron skillet and smooth with a knife

* Add stone fruit in a pattern of your liking; I try to make mine skin-side-up so the color shines through after baking

* Sprinkle 2 Tbsp of sugar over the top; don't skip this, it makes a nice crunchy topping

* Bake for 30-35 min, until a toothpick comes out clean

* Technically, you should let it cool for a few min before cutting into the thing; I never do that