Flourless White Chocolate Cake with Fresh Ontario Peaches

The peaches are ripe in Ontario right now and I was fortunate enough to be given five baskets of them.  So the ideas for recipes began to flow. The result? A flourless white chocolate cake with a white chocolate ganache topping and lightly cooked peaches.  This turned out to be a great pairing, and not overly sweet like many white chocolate desserts can be.

Other bonuses to this cake:  no icing sugar and you can get away with using coconut sugar instead of cane sugar, no nuts (if that's required) and NO WHEAT OR GLUTEN.  You can also change up the topping to any fruit that you like, such as blueberries, strawberries or cranberries.

Here is the recipe:

Flourless White Chocolate Cake with Ripe Peaches Recipe:

For the cake, you need:

• 10 ounces of white chocolate
• 1 cup(1/2 lb) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar (you can replace with organic coconut sugar)
• 4 eggs (cold)
• the scrapings of 1 vanilla bean (or 1/4 tsp ground vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp real vanilla extract)

For the topping, you need:

• 4-5 cups of pealed and sliced peaches
• 1/2 cup of sugar (you can replace with agave or organic coconut sugar)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice

For the white chocolate ganache, you need:

• 5 ounces of white chocolate
• 1/4 cup of whipping or heavy cream.

Instructions to make the flourless white chocolate cake:

1. Prepare a 9" or 10" springform pan by lining the bottom with parchment paper and greasing both the sides and the paper with butter.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Chop the butter into cubes and place in a stainless steel or glass bowl over double boiler (a pot with about an inch of steaming (not quite simmering) water in it) on your stovetop.
4. Add the 10 ounces of white chocolate and stir the butter and white chocolate constantly until it melts together. Take it off the heat while you still have a few lumps in it and stir until smooth. You may experience some separation of the cocoa butter from the white chocolate, which is normal for white chocolate, but your room temperature sugar and cold eggs should recrystallize the cocoa butter and bring the mix back together.
5. Add the 1/2 cup of sugar and stir.
6. Add all four eggs at once and immediately - using a hand mixer or stand mixer - blend on low or medium until the mixture is slightly lighter in colour and completely mixed.
7. Toss in the vanilla bean or extract and stir.
8. Pour the entire mix into your prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes it looks slightly puffy and cooked on the sides, about 1 inch in from the edges. If should still be jiggly in the middle, but if it still looks too wet and undercooked in the middle, add five more minutes to your cooking time. Then, turn off the oven and let the cake sit with the door closed for 5 more minutes.
9. Remove from oven.  Let cool for one hour, then refrigerate until cold.
10. Place your cake on a serving plate and continue to chill until you are ready to top it with ganache.

While your cake is cooking, prepare the peach topping:

1. Place sliced peaches in a pot with sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon and place on stovetop.  Cook at a slight simmer for 10 minutes.  You can cook for longer (15 to 20 minutes) with 1 tbsp. cornstarch for a thicker, fully cooked topping, if you wish.
2. Remove from heat and let sit until it cools.  Then refrigerate so that your topping is cold when you place it on the cake.

Once your cake is cold, prepare the white chocolate ganache:

1. Place your 5 ounces of white chocolate in a microwavable bowl.
2. Cook on medium power for 1 minute.  Stir until smooth.
3. Pour the mixture onto the cake and spread just to the edges.
4. Chill the cake for at least 1 hour before adding the peach topping.
5. Once chilled, top with the now-cold peach topping.  You can decorate it with swirls of melted white chocolate or chocolate shavings, or whatever you like! 

You can cut this cake in quarters, then cut each quarter piece into 3 slices to get a good-sized piece per serving. Since this cake is rich, you can also cut the cake in quarters, and then cut each quarter into 4 pieces to get 16 small servings.

Best served within 1 to 2 days. Consume within 4 days.