Everyone appreciates fresh, homemade baked goods -- especially cakes made from scratch. And while chocolate tops the list, cakes made with fresh fruit run a close second. The use of fresh fruit makes for a moist, mellow-tasting cake with good keeping qualities. When you add the right nuts and frosting, you have a prize winner.
Semantics plays a big role regarding this finicky baked good; referring to the confection as a fruitcake, as opposed to a cake made with fruit, was a mistake I made only once when offering test pieces to neighbors and friends.
It was pretty obvious that no one was interested in the well-known holiday cake dense with candied fruits and nuts, but a two- or four-layer cake spiked with pears and toasted hazelnuts and cloaked in caramel icing -- that was a different story.
Unlike an upside-down cake, in which a distinct layer of fruit and caramelized sugar is covered with batter, this type is made by adding finely chopped fresh fruit (and nuts) to the batter, which is then poured into two standard 9-inch cake tins and baked in the oven.
Consumers tend to classify cakes with terms like "decadent," "light," "rich," "moist" or "heavenly," but bakers categorize cakes, in part, by their basic formula and the method with which they are mixed. One method, called creaming or conventional, often applied to butter cake, also works for those made with fresh fruits.
The components of this particular cake batter -- flour, sugar, eggs, butter, sour cream, fruit, nuts, leavening agents and spices, are separated into three categories: butter-sugar-egg mixture, dry ingredients and liquid ingredients.
A smooth, emulsified batter is made by alternating dry ingredients (added in three parts) with the wet ingredients (added in two parts) to the butter-sugar-egg mixture.
Based on the fact that flour helps the batter absorb the liquid ingredients, this mixing method is especially useful in cases where substantial amounts of juicy, wet ingredients (such as fresh fruit) are included.
Although the components are combined in stages, the process is very simple and straightforward; there are no tricks, complicated steps or special techniques required for making this rewarding cake.
Inspired by the popular apple cake, I started out with the well-liked, established duo of fresh pears and toasted hazelnuts for the first recipe. The classic Southern-style sweet potato pie translates beautifully into an exceedingly moist and rich cake made with deep-gold-colored yams, buttery-tasting pecans and maple syrup-flavored frosting.
