Very Peachy Cake

This cake is adapted from Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan, is very easy to make. The brown sugar coffee cake is flavored with grated lemon zest with a pinch of cardamom. In this recipe it calls for plums and orange zest, but I used peaches and lemon zest instead. The peach halves bake into the batter and has a jammy and dimple appearance on the top of the cake along with a beautiful honey brown color.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Scant 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon (optional)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup flavoeless oil, such as canola or safflower
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 purple or red plums ( in the fall, use Italian prune plums), halved and pitted

Preparation
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan, dust the inside with flour, tap out the excess and put the pan on a baking sheet.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom, If you are using it, together.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until soft and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat for another 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition. On medium speed, beat in the oil, lemon zest and vanilla. The batter will look very light and smooth, almost satiny. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated.

Run a spatula around the bowl and under the batter, just to make sure there are no dry spots, then scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Arrange the peaches cut side up in the batter-jiggling the peaches a tad just so they settle comfortably into the batter.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the top is honey brown and puffed around the plums and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 15 minutes-during which time the peaches juice will return to the fruit-then run a knife around the sides of the pan and unmold the cake. Invert and cool right side up.