Peachy Keen! And I Enjoyed Them Both!

Post # 40           Today I did two things I haven't done in months....I baked a cake from scratch and I read a book!  My mind and concentration abilities have been lost in the depression fog and for the first time in my life I have not been able to read a book ... in months...words just float and I have no idea what I have read, no idea what the story is, my eyes end up skimming the page until I just don't want to try anymore.  Well, my name was on the waiting list for Joanna Fluke's new book,  Apple Turnover Murder, and Casey picked it up for me.  It's due back in a few days so finally, yesterday, I decided I was just going to read it, It's pretty much fluff, so I should have been able to read it in one evening but it took me two days, and reading in bits but I did it..  I enjoyed it, except I knew who committed the murder about halfway through the book and I love it when I can't figure it out until the end.  And calling it fluff is not meant as a derogatory thing...that is why I like cozy mysteries...they aren't intense or hard to follow, when I read for entertainment and stress relief I don't want to read War and Peace, I want a cozy mystery. Her books are full of recipes...the character owns a cookie shop...and one of the recipes was for a peach cake.  It sounded so good...and we are in the beginning of a cold front, we were down to 86 today so I thought we could stand to have the oven on...so I asked Casey to go to the store for the ingredients.  I thought it was luscious, Mason didn't like it and I don't remember what Becky said.  Everyone else ate too much dinner to try it.  All 4 of my kids and my grandsons were here for dinner.  Trey made steak fingers and the best gravy I have had in a very long time; Becky chopped all the veggies so Casey could make her pasta salad,  and we had mashed potatoes,yellow squash, green beans, & corn on the cob.  I made the cake.

Here is the recipe from Joanna Fluke's book Apple Turnover Murder:
Rose's Peachy Keen Cake
Preheat oven to 350 
4 egg whites
1/4 t. cream of tartar
3/4 cup softened butter
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 cups white sugar
3 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 beaten eggs
1/2 t. almond extract
1/2 t. vanilla extract
 peaches - fresh, canned or frozen
2 & 1/2 cups flour
1 cup finely chopped blanched almonds
Beat egg whites & cream of tartar until they form soft peaks, set aside.
In a large bowl beat butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy.  Add baking powder and salt, mix thoroughly.  Add the 2 beaten eggs, the almond and the vanilla extracts. Mix well.  Peel and slice the peaches then zoop them in a blender, squash with a potato masher or mash with a food processor until pureed.  Measure out 1 & 1/2 cups of pureed peach and mix in with the butter mixture.  Gradually add the flour beating at low speed.  Stir in the almonds by hand.  Gently fold in the egg whites.  Spray a bundt pan with Pam, the dust lightly with flour.  Pour the cake batter in the pan and bake 50 - 60 minutes.  Test with a toothpick.  Let cool on a rack in the pan 15 minutes, then loosen edges & invert on a plate.  
Glaze
1/2 cup peach jam
1/2 cup powdered sugar
   Scoop the jam into a microwavable bowl or two cup glass measuring cup. Heat for 20 seconds.  If it is melted you are done, if not then heat another 20 seconds.  Stir in powdered sugar by the spoonfuls until it is the consistency to pour on the cake.
I didn't have the almonds or the extract so I used 1 t. of vanilla extract.