Lemon & Almond Cake with Peaches & Cream

Over the weekend I couldn’t resist the piles of peaches, plums, apricots and greengages on sale at the fruit store in Alresford. Going to Ballymaloe has really made me appreciate seasonal produce and so it seemed only right to buy as much stoned fruit as possible as ‘tis the season and I adore peaches.

The peaches were the doughnut variety and so sweet and delicious that I pretty much ate four back to back. Then I decided to make a lemon and ricotta cake. Which turned into a lemon and almond cake as nowhere had ricotta (I am trying to avoid supermarkets but that has it’s pitfalls!). I decided to fill and top the cake with the beautiful peaches and lemon verbena cream. The sponge was perhaps a little dense for layering (ricotta would have been lighter) but everyone loved it and it tasted of summer.