From midsummer on, we hear friends asking, “Have you bought any Palisade peaches yet?” The sweet, juicy fruit grown and harvested in Western Colorado is just as beautiful as it is flavorful. Warm, sunset-colored mounds of peaches at the market beg for place in my shopping bag. I’m glad to comply and enjoy them fresh in slices over morning cereal, tucked among greens in a salad, or incorporated into a special dessert. With this summer’s peach harvest, I returned to a cake recipe I’ve been making for years. Since I had Colorado fruit on hand, it became a Palisade Peach Pudding Cake.
Southern Recipe Roots
This recipe first came to my rescue several years ago when I was facing an overly abundant harvest from a peach tree in our yard. I had given away bags of fruit, made peach jam and peach butter, frozen peach slices for future use, but still had some beautiful fruit yearning to star in a dish. The solution came via a recipe in the August 2007 issue of Bon Appétit. It appeared in the RSVP section, where the writer requested the recipe for “the best dessert [he’d] ever tasted—a peach-buttermilk cake.” The restaurant that served the memorable dessert was the Hyde Park Bar & Grill in Austin, Texas, and to this day Wom Kim’s Peach Pudding Cake is on the menu and still collecting rave reviews.
Disappearing Peaches
This Palisade Peach Pudding Cake is an upside-down cake of sorts, except that it starts right-side up. And it’s actually easier to assemble than a typical fruit upside-down cake. With this treat, a layer of vanilla-scented cake batter first goes into the baking pan, and then thinly sliced unadorned peaches create a shingled top.
Once the raw peach layer is complete, you seal the whole cake pan in foil. This technique allows the moisture captured inside the foil to steam the batter while the cake begins baking in the oven, creating a luscious, rich layer.
Once the foil comes off, you see that the peaches have sunk beneath the batter. They seem to have disappeared, but they are really working naturally sweet magic as a bottom layer.
The cake returns to the oven to continue baking, creating a caramelized crust around the edges.
Meanwhile the house fills with the scent of vanilla cake and sweet peaches.
Serving the Cake
I like serving this cake with a slightly sweetened whipped cream. Confectioner’s sugar and a bit of vanilla extract sweeten the flavor. Adding a small amount of Greek yogurt helps to stabilize the topping and adds a bit of tang.
I mix in the yogurt, sugar, and vanilla extract after the cream has whipped to soft peaks. Very quickly, it whips into a stiffer mixture, just right to dollop on top of the cake. The whipped cream stays light and fluffy for 24-48 hours, allowing you to prep this step ahead of time.
The cake needs to cool for about an hour before you serve it. Warm squares topped with cold whipped cream offer the best of two flavor worlds: Each bite reveals that this dessert really is a blend of cake and pudding. The cake is light and fluffy yet velvety. Every forkful offers a ribbon of sunny, sweet peaches tempered by the slightly tangy whipped topping.
Palisade Peach Pudding Cake is at its prime the day you bake it. But it is good the next day (and the day after that as well). When we have leftovers, I cover the cake with wrap once it has cooled and leave it at room temperature. I refrigerate the whipped topping until serving time.
While this recipe makes a pretty big cake, it slices very neatly and is easy to share. I’ve also successfully halved the recipe and made it in an 8 X 8 baking dish, reducing the baking time a bit.
Wherever you live, if peaches are in season, this is a great summer dessert to showcase them.
Palisade Peach Pudding Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- Nonstick vegetable cooking spray
- 1 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 4 cups peeled Palisade peaches or other fresh peaches, cut into ¼-inch thick slices (from about 2 pounds)—See instructions below
Whipped Cream Topping
- ¾ cup whipping cream
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt --any fat ratio will work
- 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat bottom and sides of 13X9X2-inch glass baking dish with nonstick vegetable cooking spray.
- To peel the peaches, bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Make sure the water is deep enough to totally submerge a peach. Cut a small X in the bottom of every peach (about ½-inch long). Lower each peach into the boiling water for 15-30 seconds, then lift out and drain. Transfer to bowl. Remove the peach skin and slice thinly when ready to top the batter.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.
- Beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually mix in the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to mix well after adding each one.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour in 3 steps, alternating with the buttermilk, beating well and scraping the bowl after each addition.
- Pour batter into the prepared baking dish, spreading it evenly. Place the peach slices atop the batter in close rows, overlapping them if necessary. Coat the dull side of a piece of aluminum foil larger than the baking pan with the nonstick spray. Cover the baking dish with the foil, sprayed side down. Seal tightly around the edges of the baking pan.
- Bake for 45 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil (and don’t worry if a bit of cake sticks to it). Return the baking pan to the oven and bake and additional 25-40 minutes. The top will become golden brown, the edges will be browner, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake will come out clean.
- Cool the cake in the pan for 1 hour. Slice and serve warm with the whipped cream topping.
Whipped Cream Topping
- Beat the whipping cream in a medium bowl until it forms soft peaks. Sprinkle the confectioners sugar over, add the vanilla and yogurt. Continue beating the cream mixture until stiffer peaks form.
I remember when you were overloaded with peaches! Your peach items were little gems of yumminess! This cake looks like it would be fabulous! The recipe seems very easy! I like how the peaches tuck themselves away! I also didn’t know about your little yogurt tidbit! I could almost smell this baking! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
I hope you get a chance to try this cake soon. The yogurt trick is helpful. Confectioner’s sugar also lends more stability to the whipping cream.