What is a Vampire's Favorite Fruit?

Last Friday, I woke up at 6:30 am for the specific purpose of baking a cake for breakfast.  I love early morning baking; there are just so many things that make it feel right.  The kitchen is quiet, and I have it all to myself.  It's still outside, and the heat hasn't quite reached the sweltering point that early in the morning.  Also,  I'm just in better mood when I've started my day doing something productive and creative.

 

So this is what I made last Friday, a Nectarine Golden Cake, or really, and Nectarine Buckle.  We had five nectarines in our Green Grocery delivery the week before.  I was very excited, only to find out that my husband does not share my enthusiasm for the smooth-skinned stone fruit.  Gasp!  My oldest seemed to share his sentiments, and with all the other fruit in the house, my youngest and I were not going to finish them off.  Several sat there neglected until I decided that while they might not like them raw, they will probably like them baked.  

Buckles are so named because you place your fruit on top of the batter in the pan, and as the cake bakes, the fruit buckles underneath.  You start with something like this:

And end up with this:

It's sweet, but not too sweet, so you can easily justify it for breakfast with a hot cup of coffee or tea.  I found the recipe here,  It's been adapted from a recipe featured in Gourmet.  I pretty much followed her adaptation, with the exception of using turbinado sugar to sprinkle the top.  It gives it a little more shine and a nice crinkly crunch.