Not being a baker, I kind of need a reason to do something as challenging as baking a cake. But recently I’ve felt like celebrating — and not just the fact that I have a case of glorious Palisades peaches sitting on my kitchen table, although if you live in Colorado, you know this is a cause for celebration worthy of a cake in and of itself. But I was also celebrating a few other things: I’m finally feeling better (I had Covid and then some post-Covid suckiness that had me feeling surprisingly crappy for a good chunk of the summer), my kids are in good places emotionally and physically (to say that this has not been necessarily the norm since spring of 2020 is a massive understatement), and finally, I was celebrating the fact that the summer is over.

Yep, that’s right, I’ve finally figured out why I have so many emotions around summer ending: it’s because summer always leaves me kind of sad. It goes by too quickly, and I always feel like I’m not enjoying it as much as I should be, or as much as everybody else is. (I’m not posting enough “rosé all day” or “amazing family hike” photos.) It seems to me that, by the time I get on top of my summer plans (forget even a remote semblance of a routine), it’s at least July 4. And then we go on vacation followed by the “I-didn’t-do-my-summer-homework” back-to-school panic, which I of course predict and brace myself for every year. Then, all of a sudden, with the summer fleeting too fast, I want to savor it. I try to cram in every iconic summer thing I didn’t do enough (or any) of — pool days, farmers market trips, picnics, ice cream, backyard cocktails, and yes hikes — which kind of kills the lazy-summer-days vibe, right?

So, yeah I’m actually glad Labor Day has come and gone. Both kids are in school, one far away in college (sigh) and one a senior in high school (another sigh). I’m working on the aforementioned routine and extremely thankful for my good health. All of which seems like reason enough to bake a cake, don’t you think? Oh, and peaches.

This recipe is super simple and adapted from one of the most popular recipes The New York Times has ever published — one it has reprinted every year since 1983 to mark the end of summer: Marian Burros’s Original Plum Torte. The recipe calls for 12 small Italian plums, which I replaced with peaches. I made some minor other changes to the recipe as well, including doubling it, randomly adding vanilla and leaving out cinnamon, and (I think) not mixing the batter as well as I should have. Have I mentioned I’m not really a baker? So, considering all the things that could have gone wrong, the cake turned out beautifully. I even made it again for my book club. This is a recipe that would be nice to have on hand to make with any kind of fruit (berries, apples, pears would all work great) and can easily be whipped up to celebrate anything, or nothing.

Palisade Peach Cake
(Adapted from “Original Plum Torte” by Marian Burros, The New York Times)
Ingredients (again, I doubled the recipe and it made one normal-sized cake)
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened (original recipe calls for unsalted, I used salted and I’m not sorry)
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
Hefty pinch kosher salt
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (this is not in the original but I added it; the original called for cinnamon, which I left out)
3 large ripe peaches, sliced 1/4-inch thick

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the sugar and butter in a bowl. Add the flour (if you, like me the non-baker, don’t have a flour sifter, just measure the flour into a fine mesh strainer and gently tap it over the bowl to sift the flour; works like a charm), baking powder, salt, eggs, and vanilla and beat well. (This wasn’t very clear in the recipe, and I think you want to use an electric mixer, not a wooden spoon like I did.) Spoon the batter into an 8-, 9-, or 10-inch springform pan (or cake pan, pie plate, or even a cast iron skillet). Arrange the peach slices on top of the batter as Pommes Anna style. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake approximately 1 hour (mine took about 1 hour 10 mins. — I used a toothpick to check if it was done; again the printed recipe wasn’t too clear on this.). Remove and cool. Serve plain or with whipped cream.