The beautiful oral tones of honey can make baked goods sing. Slices of nectarine top these tender little cakes, but you could also use peach, apricot or plums

During the summer months when stone fruits are cheap and plentiful, you can buy fruit in bulk, slice, lay out on a tray, freeze and then transfer it to zip-lock bags. You can then use the slices in
smoothies. Or, lightly stew and freeze in containers to later use in pies, tarts and crumbles – there’s nothing like pulling out a container of summer fruit to make a pud in the midst of winter.

Nectarine honey cakes

Makes 9 (Gluten-free)

75g butter, diced
60ml honey
80g ground almonds
45g ne brown rice our
2 tbsp arrowroot or gluten-free organic corn flour
1 tsp gluten-free baking powder
Finely grated zest of 1 small lemon
60ml (1/4 cup) almond, rice or coconut milk
1 large free-range egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 medium nectarine, thinly sliced

1 Preheat oven to 160C/Fan 140C/310F. Grease a nine-hole friand tin generously with melted butter. Place butter and honey into a small saucepan and set over a low heat, stirring often until the butter has just melted. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
2 Place ground almonds in a medium bowl and sift over the brown rice flour, arrowroot or cornflour, and baking powder. Add lemon zest and whisk well to evenly distribute flours. Whisk milk, egg and vanilla extract in a separate bowl.
3 Add to dry ingredients along with melted butter and honey. Whisk to form a smooth batter. Pour some batter into each friand hole and top with a couple of slices of nectarine.
4 Bake for 15–20 minutes or until golden – a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean. Remove from oven and set aside for 5 minutes. Run a thin knife around the outside of each cake, then gently remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool further.

Cakes are best eaten on the day of baking; however, they will store, airtight, for 3 days.

Recipe from A Year in My Real Food Kitchen by Emma Galloway (HarperCollins)