Recipe Notes: Summer Peach Cake

20 September 2018

Recipe from Cook's Baking Book, America's Test Kitchen, 2013, p. 252.

There aren't many things better than a tree-ripened peach, one where the juice runs down you chin when you bite into it. This juiciness, however, is a challenge when you bake peaches in a cake. As the cake bakes the juices are released from the fruit into the batter making for a sodden, gummy cake. America's Test Kitchen took on this challenge and developed a recipe for a summer peach cake. Did they succeed in getting lots of peach flavor into the cake while maintaining a good texture?

I bought peaches at the supermarket rather than using local tree-ripened peaches. I assumed the recipe was developed using peaches that are more widely available at the market. The recipe includes peach schnapps to provide additional peach flavor; I used an orange liqueur rather than investing in peach schnapps for just this one use. Peaches were cut into ½-inch wedges and tossed with the liqueur, lemon juice, and a little sugar. The wedges were cut into thirds and roasted to remove some of their juice. They were then coated with panko bread crumbs. The batter was made by whisking together brown sugar, granulated sugar, and eggs. Melted butter was whisked into this mixture followed by sour cream, vanilla, and almond extract. Finally, a flour mixture (flour, baking powder, and salt) was whisked in until just combined. Half of the batter was added to a greased springform pan. The roasted peaches were layered on top of the batter. The remaining batter was poured over the peach layer. The top was decorated with more peach wedges plus a topping made with sugar mixed with almond extract. This was baked at 350°. The estimated time in the recipe is 50-60 minutes but I didn't take it out until after 70 minutes; even then a tooth pick was not coming out completely clean. Total time from start to removing the cake from the oven was about 2½ hours.

I served the cake at a meeting and received many compliments, people did enjoy the cake. I enjoyed it too, but being the baker I was a little more critical. I thought the cake was too moist, even a little gummy, despite the steps taken to minimize moisture from the peaches. Perhaps I didn't have realistic expectations for how the cake would turn out, and I was a little disappointed because of my fondness for peaches.