I love Whole Foods Market.  We live very close to one and I go at least twice a week.  We are fairly healthy eaters and I try to buy products that I feel good about – organic when possible, sustainable and non GMO.  I found this recipe in their flyer at the beginning of the summer and am just now getting around to trying it out.  I don’t usually go for these short cut things but this was kind of fun and turned out to be quite delicious.

It calls for melted gelato as the sweetener and partial liquid in the batter.  The original recipe called for Caramel & Sea Salt flavor but I opted for hazelnut (which is one of my favorite gelato flavors). Brown and I went and picked peaches from Mr. Haushka’s trees back in August. Mr. Haushka is the father of my friend Katharine who I went to culinary school with.  He lives in the next town over and has an AMAZING garden, he grows all sorts of fruit, keeps bees and makes his own jam. The peaches were little, completely organic and perfectly ripe.  I pealed, chopped and froze them and knew I would be using them for a fun recipe later – and here we are!

Melted Hazelnut Gelato Cake with Peaches
yield = one 8 or 9 inch cake

1 1/2 cups (9 oz.) MELTED Whole Foods Market Hazelnut Gelato (I imagine any brand will work – but try to find one with clean, whole ingredients).
1/4 cup olive oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (sifted)
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb. chopped or sliced peaches
2 Tbsp. brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (convection setting if you have it). Spray an 8 or 9 inch round cake pan and line bottom with a circle of parchment.  In a bowl, whisk together melted gelato, oil, eggs and vanilla.  In another bowl whisk together flour, b.s., cinnamon and salt.  Fold flour mixture into gelato mixture till just combined.  Fold in half the peaches and pour into the prepared pan.  Scatter the remaining peaches over the top and sprinkle with brown sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes, rotate the pan and bake for another 30.  Edges should be deep golden and center set. (mine was pretty juicy for a while in the middle, the cake should be dry with no puddles of juice).