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Tequila agave sponge cake with peaches, strawberries and cherries

Hello everone ! It's been a while, since I'm on vacation. But I have a load of recipes to upload that I've been promising, so let's get started. Yes, I am that crazy person with a laptop at the pool. 

First of all, I'm in the USA for vacation (and work) and it's been soooo great, especially after having been under lockdown for several months in France. It's been heart-warming to be reunited with family and also to discover that I can bake from my parent's kitchen; they have a lot of the equipment I tend to use. 

Of course, there are some essential things missing so I've had to be inventive. For example, a springform pan, or a flat baking sheet. But, my parent's oven is fantastic, really keeps perfect temperature so no guessing or prolonging baking time like what I have to do at home. Not one burnt cake, of course you never see those posted :) 

I had a lot of views and comments on this cake so here's the first recipe, where I decided to use ingredients from the Sonoran Desert or the southwest, so that's been fun working in ingredients ("fun" covering a large spectrum of things, getting bug bites, learning to use mixers and having things fly off, not to forget making sure nothing is poisonous). In the upcoming recipes you'll see agave or prickly pear, sampaguita or jasmine flowers from our back yard, lime or other citrus from my parent's trees, and bushels of guava from my cousin's trees, tequila and other ubiquitos spirits (also agreable for taste-testing). 

Here's what you'll need for this tequila sponge cake  : 

3 large eggs
3 cups flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup agave sugar (or honey)
1/4 cup tequila

Topping : 2 tablespoons of confectioner's sugar, 1 peach or nectarine, 1 cup cherries, 1 cup strawberries Optional : scoop of ice cream or custard cream Custard cream : Half a rectangle of cream cheese (4 oz) 

Method : Preheat oven 350 degrees F / 175 degrees C. Grease and flour a round pan (bundt or similar). Mix eggs with sugar until creamy and you obtain a light yellow color (mixer for 2 minutes). Add all wet ingredients. Then all dry ingredients. Pour into pan and bake for 35-45 minutes or until the center is cooked (test with a pick that should come out clean). Allow cake to cool on a wire rack about 2 hours. 

Once cool, sprinkle evenly with confectioners sugar. Cut fruit in thin slices, removing seeds from cherries and halving, and just before serving, decorate with the mixture of fruits. Serve with a custard cream or ice cream. 

Enjoy, everyone !

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