Fruit... Custard... Pie... CAKE! with CREAM!! Grand Slam Summer Birthday Cake.

Another blindfolded feat of culinary improvisation! What can I say, necessity is the mother of invention, and I think it's absolutely necessary to make everyone's birthday cake beyond their heart's desire. So, this month, it was Handsome Consort's turn. (April: Jon's Cheeseburger. June: Trey's MegaChocolate. August: Lindsay's trendy red velvet request... ideas for spicing up red velvet?)

The problem is, Handsome Consort isn't only handsome but also a bit contrary. He's not a big cake guy. Especially in summer, I think he's pretty well devoted to the delicate delights of seasonal fruit. Pies, cobblers, and *horrors, gentle recipe reader!* fresh fruit are his picks. What a maroon, right? Cake 4 lyfe!

Well, I think I came up with a compromise he downright loved, which wasn't too heavy and rich for a party on a summer evening, but could be presented with the grandeur and tradition appropriate to someone's THIRTIETH BIRTHDAY. Oh, my, that's a big one!

So. This cake is three layers. Peach, Blueberry, Peach — The summer's two rarest gems... I think it must be fate that HC was born at the peak of their seasons and that he loves them best. I crossed myself and said a few Hail Julias before venturing into the Vons... but WHEW! The fruit was right on target.


And oh, hey! Weird! The blueberry pints were all the same price and all, but from three different towns. So, California localvore born and bred that I am, I decided to have a little taste-off. The Watsonville berries were the best. The Visalia ones were big but kinda flavorless, and the third ones I forgot about already. Anyway, they were all fine for baking, so into the clafouti they go!

Clafouti is a baked fruit custard with lots of fruit and a fairly firm body, in a buttered dish. I guess, to be correct, it's only clafouti with cherries. What I made is, technically *groan*, a flaugnarde. I would never eat flaug or nard anything, though, so this is a blueberry clafouti. Deal. I really wanted to make it in my Dutch oven, but I was concerned it might not match the cake's outside layers, so I made it in a cake pan instead. Here is the recipe I used. It's really very simple. It looks a-like-a DEES:



The other two layers would be peach upside-down cake, with plenty of peachy goodness. So, I cut the peaches in sixths to be sure they were fat slices, and laid melted butter, brown sugar, and the fruit into two pans.



Then I divided the cake batter and spread it onto both peach pans.


To tell the truth, I think this recipe came out too heavy. I'm not sure why. I would have liked a fluffier cake. But here's how they looked — beautiful!



The scary part was DEFINITELY inverting the clafouti layer. Whew!



Then, number three, right on top. I was glad I used the same pan for all three, so they were sure to fit prettily.




For icing, I made a simple whipped cream with vanilla and brown sugar, for a light tasting topping that would pair well with the baked fruit.



Old-fashioned birthday charm, full of fresh delicious summer fruit, and one of a kind. I'm proud of it. It went over very well, indeed, and I think Handsome Consort was the biggest fan, which is the reward I was after. XOXO.

The media pairing? Well, we happend to celebrate HC's birthday by watching a movie from his birth year: Forbidden Zone! Woooo-WEEEEE-Oooooo!!!!