Getting creative with 1 of my 5 a day...

Peach and raspberry "coffee" cake

I've had a bit of a fitness burst in the past couple of weeks.  With a three times a week kickboxing purchase off of groupon (I only go 1-2 times), tap class, my normal gym visits, and my 1-2 weekly yoga sessions, my normal 3-4 times per week workouts have been randomly upped to 5-6 since the beginning of July.  This waranted Mama Cupcakes asking me last night if I was "addicted to exercise". I laughed - because of course I'm not.  But then, I gave it a think for more than 2 seconds and realised it's not the exercise I'm addicted to...it's...well...cake.  Linked to the increase in exercise has been an increase in treats coming out of my oven.  I'm not sure whether or not they are directly correlated, but regardless it's probably for the best (the excessive exercise, not cake making).

I really should give more away at work, but with the office running at about 20% capacity (all of Norway and my fellow Norwegian colleagues here in London seem to be off) there's actually just too much cake to go around at the moment.

Last night's cake making was my standard Silver Palate "coffee cake" but with a number of delicious peaches and raspberries added to the mix.  Just after I started making it I realised I was missing a few key ingredients... just shy of the right amount of butter, not enough sugar...I filled in the blanks with a few other ingredients (e.g. brown sugar instead of white) and added 1.5 cups of the fruit to the cake batter resulting in some interesting textures and tastes.  In its virginal Silver Palate state it's a classic but with the adjustments it was part crumb-like and part delicious fruity and moist bread pudding like.  I'm not sure I could repeat in the same exact way again (I didn't measure very much), but I will keep in mind the addition of fresh seasonal fruit. It's a very palatable way to get one of your five a day I say!