Goat Cheese Cake with Peach and Blueberry Topping
I have to admit I a very visual eater. I think that’s why I love food blogs so much. I see a great picture of food and I want to try it. You could show me the same recipe without a picture and it wouldn’t peak my interest nearly as much.
This actually leads to difficulties for me when looking for cookbooks. In Jen’s world, all cookbooks would have a full color photo for each recipe.
So I actually surprised myself when I decided to make this recipe. Hubby and I had done some peach picking and I was searching for good peach recipes. None of the cobblers, crumbles, or pies were popping out at me even with their delcious looking photographs. But somehow, this little recipe caught my eye.
I think I was intrigued by the combination of goat cheese, peaches, and blueberries. Other than just eating with my eyes first, I also like to know what to expect. So many recipes out there produce different textures or colors, so it’s just nice to know ahead of time what you’re going to get.
I felt really silly when I took this cake out of the oven to see that it was like a cheese cake. Now that might sound like a crazy comment since the name of the cake is goat cheese cake, but in all honesty, by calling it goat cheese cake instead of goat cheesecake, I was not expecting a cheesecake.
What I was expecting was more like a yogurt cake. As most of you know, yogurt is a common ingredient used in cakes to keep things really moist. I just figured that the goat cheese was used in place of the yogurt to produce a denser version of a yogurt cake. Even the batter supported this theory. It looked and tasted like I figured it would.
But like I said, I was shocked when I took it out of the oven. It had risen up quite a bit and browned similar to a cheesecake. It even deflated as it cooled. I was still perplexed until I actually took my first bite. It was totally a DUH! moment. The cake tasted like a lighter version of a cheesecake with a bit of tanginess from the goat cheese. And it was heavenly.
The fresh fruit piled on top provided the perfect amount of sweetness to counter that tanginess. This recipe might just become my go-to cheesecake recipe, it was that good. And I can eat it since it doesn’t have pounds and pounds of cream cheese in it!
I think from now on, I’ll stick with recipes that have pictures so I know what I’m getting into! What do you guys think? Do you prefer recipes with pictures or are they just an added bonus?
One Year Ago: Indian Spinach and Chickpeas
Two Years Ago: Eclairs
Goat Cheese Cake with Peach and Blueberry Topping
Yield: 12
Ingredients:
3/4 pound fresh goat cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla
6 eggs, separated
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 large peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
1/2 cup blueberries
Powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan and dust it with 1 tablespoon of the sugar.
Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine the goat cheese with the 3/4 cup sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until smooth. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, incorporating each one completely before adding the next. Turn the mixer to low and add the flour.
In another bowl, using clean beater, beat the egg whites until firm. Beat one third of the egg whites into the cheese mixture. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake is a deep golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Do not underbake. Cool for 15 minutes on a cooling rack. Remove the cake from the pan and cool completely.
In a bowl, mix the peaches and blueberries together with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. (You may need less or more sugar, depending on the sweetness of the fruit.) Set aside.
When ready to serve, invert the cake onto a serving plate. Dust with confectioners' sugar, and spoon the fruit on top of the cake, leaving a 1-inch border all the way around. Cut and serve, garnishing each piece with a little whipped cream, if desired.
Recipe from Food Network
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I love the idea of perfect party minicakes!! They look delish! Great job! That flour picture is so funny. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done that – flour on the counter, on my KA, in my hair, on my face!
Clara @ I♥food4thought
Yum! Love the raspberry/lemon combo, and the mini cakes are adorable 🙂
Well done – what an innovative variation. They look so cute!
I can totally relate to the slippery effect.
Your cake looks beautiful!
You did a lovely job on all your mini cakes.
Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go
Adorable! Your KA and mine would be best friends. ‘Chuck’ is always filthy. Poor guy. He gets cleaned up, just to be coated again. 😉
How cute! Making mini-cakes is a great idea. Next time I make this cake I will try that, I still have a HUGE cake in the fridge I need to eat :-/
Cheers!
Great idea on the mini cakes. They are really cute. Great job. To the next challenge we go.
beautifully done!!! love it!!!
I love the little cakes! Plus the raspberries! Yummy!
The mini cakes look really amazing!
The minicakes are wonderful! Now, you’ll need my address to send one…Libby 😉
Love the idea of the mini cakes, that’s so adorable!
Mini-cakes are definitely more work than one large cake! They’re so cute though.
What a cute idea! They look adorable!
I love desserts in miniature and your mini cakes look beautiful. I think I will most definitely be making mini cakes sometime in the near future – thank you for the wonderful idea!
~gail
I’m loving the mini versions! The cake looks fantastic. Mmmmm!
I made mini ones too. I hate to tell you but it is way easier to frost a whole cake than mini ones. 🙂
Looks great.
Beautiful!! You did a gorgeous job :O)
These individual cakes look pretty…well done!
Really cute idea to make individual cakes, I love that. Great job!
I adore your minicakes. V lovely.
j
Oh! the minicakes are just the best idea ever. I probably should have done that with my oh-so flat cakes. How great.
Mini cakes -what a great idea! I think I’m going to have to try that here pretty soon. Looks like a delicious lot of fun. Especially the part where you get to eat the scraps. I think this cake was some of the best I’ve had.
What cute little mini cakes! Aren’t things just better when they’re mini?
Great work!
I love the little cakes and the picture with the raspberry and lemon zest is so enticing!
Perfect!
xoxo
Gabi
Another messy baker here! And I love the mini cakes – I’m nice to see its as low-tech as cutting circles out of larger pieces rather than trying to bake a bunch of cakes in miniature pans.
Jen,
Your little cakes are gorgeous! I too love swiss buttercream … congratulations on a job well done!
wow, that takes some patience, putting all those cakes together! They are just the cutest though. ~ JMom
so petite and cute!