.almond nectarine bundt cake with honey vanilla glaze.

I am a creature of habit. Most days for breakfast, I have a bowl of plain Greek yogurt with fruit and honey. In the summer, stone fruits are in abundance in my house, so nectarines are a frequent add-in to my usual breakfast.

I actually came up with this recipe while I was eating breakfast, and I was simply inspired by the way the nectarines slight tartness matched perfectly with the honey drizzled on top. Both of these flavors are stunning on their own, so I wanted to create a simple cake that would accentuate both the nectarine and honey.

Here in Ohio, the weather has been pretty mild lately, save for a few overnight storms, so I wanted to make a dessert that would scream summer! My mom was begging me to make these apple cheesecake bars (which are amazing by the way), but I wanted to take advantage of a bright summer fruit instead.

This cake starts with a simple vanilla bundt cake, and if you don't have a bundt pan, any cake pan will do with a something adjustment of the baking time.

Next, comes the nectarines. In this recipe, it definitely helps to use fruits that are a little under ripe, so that they don't turn to mush when you're cutting or baking them.

I want to know what your favorite summer fruits to use are, and some of your go-to summer desserts!

I really needed to add an earthier flavor underneath, so I opted for almond extract over vanilla in the cake. Unlike vanilla, almond extract can get out of hand pretty quickly, so make sure you measure, measure, measure! You could totally add chopped or sliced almonds into the batter or on top if you want, but I am not too big a fan of the texture in desserts.

Bundt cakes are sometimes really hard to judge for doneness. It was finished at around 45 minutes, but I would definitely check at 30 minutes and watch it every five minutes or so. It's even harder to wait until it's cool enough to flip and remove from the pan to avoid a crumbly mess.
My mom was really eager to eat, but it took about 30 minutes to cool before I felt sure enough to remove.

The glaze is pretty basic. Powdered sugar. Milk. Honey. Vanilla. I don't like too much glaze, so you could totally double - even triple - the recipe if you want. And it totally tastes better the next day when all of that glaze has seeped into the cake! (I had a piece for breakfast this morning).

This cake is 100 percent a perfect pairing with a nice scoop vanilla ice cream on top. Actually, that should be a requirement.

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almond nectarine bundt cake with honey vanilla glaze

ingredients

cake
1/2 cup of butter, softened
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup of milk
1 1/2 teaspoons of almond extract
2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
3 medium nectarines, chopped into centimeter cubes

glaze
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 tablespoon of milk
1 1/2 of honey
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

instructions
preheat oven to 350°. butter and flour a bundt pan.
in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
chop nectarines coarsely and set aside.
beat butter on medium speed on smooth, add sugar and eggs and mix for about two minutes on medium speed.
add in milk and almond extract. blend together on low speed.
gradually add dry ingredients into wet ingredients on low speed.
stir in nectarines with a spatula.
pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 42-45 minutes.
while cake is in the oven, prepare the glaze by combining all ingredients in a bowl and stirring until smooth.
let cake cool in pan for 30 minutes, then invert onto a plate. let cool for an additional 10 minutes.
drizzle glaze on top of the cake and serve.