One of my favorite summer fruits is the nectarine. You get all of the juicy peachiness without all of the fuzz. Don’t get me wrong, I love peaches, too! But the fuzz? It’s weird sometimes. Too…fuzzy? Like trying to eat a nectarine that’s wearing clothes or something!

The other day, Maria at Two Peas and Their Pod posted this Peach Almond Cake. I knew right away that I that I wanted to make it. And I'm so glad I did--it’s delicious! I didn’t like the peaches at Trader Joe’s that day, but the nectarines looked perfect. So Nectarine Almond Cake it was! No shirt wearing peaches for me, thank you very much.

I also had to make it vegan. This would be my first adventure into vegan baking. I knew I could do it--I’ve been baking for along time. So with the help of Ener-G Egg Replacer and Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, I was ready to go. I can even make vegan buttermilk by adding some lemon juice to almond milk. Ha! I can do this, no problem.

But you sure as hell don’t have to make this vegan-style. Just use regular eggs, butter and buttermilk!

Nectarine Almond Cake

1/2 cup AP flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (1/2 cup) Earth Balance Buttery Stick, softened
2/3 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling over the top
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer, mixed with 2 1/4 TBSP warm water
1/2 cup almond milk (or your choice of milks) mixed with 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice (and set aside for 10 mins)
nectarines, chopped (I used 3)
almonds, chopped (about 3/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a 9" round cake pan.
Whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, set aside.
Beat the butter and sugar until nice and fluffy.
Add in the extracts, and mix.
Add egg replacer and mix well.
With mixer at low speed, mix in flour and milk like this: some of the flour, half of the buttermilk, half of the remaining flour, remaining buttermilk, last of the flour--mix just until combined.
Spread the batter in the pan, smooth the top, and scatter the nectarines and almonds, then sprinkle with sugar.
Bake till golden brown and a cake tester poked in the center comes out clean--25-30 minutes.
Set aside to cool, then serve.

Note: You could totally "pretty this up" by slicing the nectarines and arranging them neatly. I'm far too lazy, I guess, hehe.
Also? cinnamon would be perfect sprinkled over this when you're adding the sugar!

This was a huge success, so thank you, Maria!

And look who was trying to swipe a piece while I was taking photos. Silly puppies! Not happening!