Peach Inside-Out Cake
(It's not exactly upside-down)
It was supposed to be upside down, but the peaches floated upward after the batter was added, ruining the pretty swirl design I’d painstakingly created from the peachy-delicious slices.
I was concerned about how this was going to come out, given that. I needn’t have been. The cake is mouthwateringly delicious, decadent even. So good. I can’t even tell you. You have to try it for yourself.
It wasn’t pretty, though. I added strawberry slices, a ring of blueberries and a ring of raspberries for the photo.
Here’s the recipe. Warning: It’s super sweet, and I’m pretty sure brown sugar is a little bit of a cheat since it’s super refined. Also, this cake doesn’t need the icing at all. It’s already super sweet.
It can also be made without adding the brown sugar or any sweetener at all to the peaches before layering them in, and I’ve noted that.
Peach Inside-Out Cake
Ingredients
4 peaches, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup brown sugar (optional)
3/4 cup soy or almond milk, unflavored & unsweetened
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
3 teaspoons vanilla
2 & 1/4 cups whole grain flour* (I swear by a white but whole grain, gluten-free flour blend you can find here.)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
Method
Preheat to 350º
You’ll need a 9” round cake pan, preferably silicone
First, mix the batter. If you do the peaches first, they’ll brown. Besides, the flax needs a minute to swell. So make the batter first.
Pour all the liquids (milk, syrup, vinegar, vanilla) and the flaxseed meal into a bowl. Whisk well, set aside.
Put the flour, baking powder, and salt into a separate bowl, whisk together so the powder is distributed evenly throughout the flour, then dump the dry stuff into the wet stuff, and again, stir very well.
While the batter rests, go ahead and peel and slice your peaches into a shallow bowl. Slice them on the thin side, so they’ll cook thoroughly. Then pour the 1/3 cup brown sugar over them, if using, and stir just to mix. You can skip the brown sugar and make this way healthier.
Arrange the peaches in a single-ish layer (overlapping generously) in the bottom of a 9” round silicone (or parchment lined, but seriously, silicone) cake pan.
Immediately pour the batter over the peaches.
Immediately put the cake pan into the already hot oven.
If you do the above two parts quickly, maybe the peaches won’t float to the top, but maybe they will anyway. I have to try that out.
Bake this for 45 minutes, testing it with a toothpick, adding 5 or more minutes if needed.
When you remove it from the oven, leave it in the pan for at least one hour. Two is better.
To remove from a silicone cake pan: Lay a flat cake plate or other flat plate face down on top of the cake in its pan, after it has cooled for at least one hour. Flip it over. Now, press your palms to the outsides of the silicone on opposite sides, then pull the silicone outward a little. Do this all the way around the cake pan, pressing in, pulling out. Then gently lift the pan, wiggling it on the way if needed, right off the cake.
The Icing (optional and unnecessary)
I did make icing for this, even though it’s already plenty sweet without it, mainly because I had to take a picture of the cake and it was butt-ugly out of the oven. (Again, freakin’ delicious, though.)
Simple Icing Recipe
1 cup raw sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
A few tablespoons water
Put the raw sugar (also called Florida crystals) into a powerful blender and process into powdered sugar. I didn’t know that would work until I tried it. You can make your own powdered sugar, but it’s brown, not white.
Mx about 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar with the vanilla and a tablespoon of water and stir very well. Then add more water, a tablespoon at a time, stirring thoroughly after each addition until it’s thick, but still liquid enough to pour. If you get it to thin, add more powdered sugar to thicken it up.
Pour the icing over the thoroughly cooled, de-panned cake, letting it drizzle down the sides.
Garnish with fruit or nuts as desired, slice, and serve.
So good!
This stuff is SO freaking good you’ll eat too much of it. The cake is heavy, like a sponge cake, and when the peaches floated up into the batter, that meant you got bites of peach here and there to counter that denseness with the softer texture of the peach. It’s just perfect in every way for a summer dessert, especially here in the northeast where peaches are in season.
Scroll down for news about my brand new novel!