Roasted Apricot and Peach Cake

Instructions

Roasted Fruit

1. Preheat oven to 425F degrees. Line a baking sheet with foiil.
2. Cut in half and take the pit out of the peaches and apricots and place them cut side up on the baking sheet.
3. Put a dab of butter onto each half of fruit then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.
4. Roast for 25-30 minutes or until they are hot, soft in the middle and begin to brown.
5. Allow to cool completely.

Apricot filling

1. In a small bowl combine the roasted apricots, brown sugar, butter and vanilla. Mix togehter with a whisk until completely incorporated.
2. You want to mash up any pieces of apricot and remove any skin that is still in large pieces. The goal of the filling is to be the consistency of jelly.

Peach Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line 3 8-inch round cake pans with grease, parchment paper and flour.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl periodically.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
5. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar and mix until incorporated.
6. In small parts, add the flour and with the mixer on medium-low speed mix until all the flour has been incorporated. DO NOT OVER MIX.
7. Dice the roasted peaches into 1/4in chunks and remove any skin that comes off the peahces easily. Fold the peaches into the batter. Scrape the bowl down to make sure everything has been incorporated evenly.
8. Distribute the batter evenly in the three prepared pans.
9. Bake for 25-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean.
10. Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

White Chocolate Buttercream

1. Chop the white chocolate into small chunks and place in the pan of the double boiler. Melt the chocolate over medium heat until smooth. Set aside to slightly cool but not set.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the sugar and butter together until smooth.
3. Pour in the cooled chocolate and and mix until combined. Add the salt, vanilla and 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and beat until smooth.
4. Add up to 1/4 cup more heavy cream until you get your desired consistency. Beat on high for 3-4 minutes or until fluffy.

Assembly

1. NOTE: Coloring the cakes green and orange are optional. I've detailed the process to get the frosting the colors I have freatured here. Feel free to leave the frosting white.
2. Reserve at least 1/2 the white frosting and set aside. Separate the remaining frosting into two bowls.
3. To make the peach, combine equal parts of lemon yellow and pink. Remember to start with less color, you can always add more. Mix until smooth and combined. Set aside.
4. To make the mint green combine 1 part leaf green, 1 part yellow and 2 parts blue. Start with less... add more color as needed. Mix until smooth and combined. Set aside.
5. Place one cake on your cake plate. Pipe white frosting along the outside edge of the flat top of the cake to create a border for the filling. Fill the top of the cake with a generous layer of apricot filling until it just reaches the top of the frosting border.
6. Place a second layer on top gently and repeat the filling process.
7. Finally, lay the third layer of cake on top.
8. Crumb coat the entire cake and freeze for 20 minutes or until the frosting has set.
9. Frost the outside of the cake generously. Use a straight edge to make smooth.
10. To create the orange & green look, frost the top 1/3/ of the cake with orange frosting, the middle 1/3 with white and the bottom 1/3 with green. Use a straight edge to blend them together.
11. For more on decorating, visit this post with details.