Greening Austin Daily

Recipe Tuesday – Peach Trifle

29th June, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

Usually we like to show off a vegetarian recipe on Tuesdays, but for something different we thought we would share a dessert and some tips for “greening” this recipe.  This year is supposed to be the best in several years for Texas peaches (see this Statesman article) and local and/or organic peaches are plentiful in the stores now.  You can do small things to further “green” this recipe, aside from buying local and/or organic peaches – just switching out one ingredient for organic (like trying out organic butter or organic cream cheese  (not a big price difference from non-organic) or buying organic eggs (more of a cost difference than conventional eggs)) makes a difference. You could also probably try out whole wheat flower or some sugar substitute, but I’ve not tried that myself.

This is from Martha Stewart and when I made it for a potluck, people really loved it.  Here is the original recipe, but I would change a few things if I made it again (more peaches, lemon mousse was too much work), so my ingredients are slightly different, plus I used this recipe for the pound cake, which was the highlight of the trifle:

Ingredients for peaches and whipped cream:

• 10-16 local Texas peaches, halved, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch wedges. (I used 8 small peaches and it wasn’t enough, but if you have large ones, 8 may be plenty)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 cups organic heavy cream
• powdered sugar (optional)

Ingredients for cake:

• 1 (8 ounce) package organic cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups organic butter
• 3 cups white sugar
• 6 eggs, organic, cage free
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions for cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C) grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy.
3. Add eggs two at a time, beating well with each addition. Add the flour all at once and mix in. Add vanilla.
4. Pour into a 10 inch tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees F (160 degrees C) for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Check for doneness at 1 hour. A toothpick inserted into center of cake will come out clean.

Directions for peaches and layering:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss fruit with sugar. Roast fruit on 2 rimmed baking sheets, rotating their positions halfway through, until caramelized and juicy, 15 to 17 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, with juices. Let cool slightly.
• Whisk cream until soft peaks form. Add powedered sugar to taste.
• Layer a third of the cake in the bottom of a 12-cup bowl. Cover with a third of the whipped cream. Spoon a third of the roasted fruit over whipped cream. Repeat twice with remaining cake, whipped cream, and fruit. Refrigerate trifle at least 2 hours or up to 1 day. Enjoy!