Peach blossom cake

Peach blossom cake

(Favourite of S.K)

Ingredients

190g butter, at room temperature,
chopped
1¼ cups white sugar
¾ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1½ cups plain flour
¾ cup cornflour
1½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
6 egg whites
1–2 drops rose pink food colouring
ICING
1½ cups icing sugar
10g butter
2 tbsp boiling water
Few drops of rose pink food colouring

Method
1. Preheat the oven to slow (150°C). Grease a 20cm (base measurement) round, deep cake tin (see note). Line the base with baking paper.

2. Cream the butter and sugar in the small bowl of an electric mixer until white and fl uffy. Gradually add half the milk to help dissolve the sugar, and beat well. Beat in the vanilla. Transfer to a larger bowl.

3. Sift the flour, cornfl our, baking powder and salt together 3 times. Fold into the butter mixture, then add remaining milk (don’t worry if it appears curdled at this stage). In another bowl, use clean beaters to beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Fold half the egg whites into the cake batter, then fold in remaining egg whites.

4. Transfer 1 cup of the mixture to a smaller bowl, and stir in 1–2 drops food colouring. Take about ¾ cup of the white mixture, and spread over the base of the tin. Take half the pink batter, and spoon it in a ring about 1cm in from the tin edge – it should be about 1–1.5cm wide.

5. Very carefully spread half the remaining white batter over, taking care not to disturb the pink ring. Spoon the remaining pink batter into the centre of the tin, making about an 8cm round. Spoon the remaining white batter over the whole top, again taking care not to disturb the pink round.

6. Bake for about 70 minutes, until the cake is springy to a gentle touch in the centre and comes away from the sides of the tin. It may appear slightly cracked in the centre, but will settle flat on cooling. (If not, gently press the top fl at with your fingertips.)Turn out onto a clean tea towel lined with a sheet of baking paper. Leave to cool.

7. To make the icing, combine the ingredients until smooth. Spread over the top of the cooled cake, and leave to set.