You’re gonna wanna turn on your oven for this one folks! Brown sugar, fragrant cinnamon, and fresh peaches are swirled throughout a simple no nonsense cake batter. It’s then topped with powdered sugar to make it a lil’ festive and add some more sweetness. This cake is the perfect last dessert to ring out summer!
This cake was adapted from Ina Garten who is exceedingly famous for her baking and cooking. Like y’all have seen that meme of her which says “If you can’t flames directly from Hell, then store bought is fine.” We all know that’s over the top but it does really represent her spirit of cooking wherein she only uses the finest ingredients.
I’m not Ina Garten. I don’t know what “good” olive oil is and I get my balsamic vinegar based on price not origin. However I know when someone else knows their sh*t and Ina knows her sh*t. BUT. I could not help but play around with her peach cake recipe just a little -more like a lot- bit.
First I swapped brown sugar for white. I mean white sugar is cool and all but it is all sweet and no flavor whereas brown sugar is just so damn caramel-y. Then I swapped sour cream for fat free yogurt which is like sacrilegious HOWEVER I added one extra tbs of oil to compensate. I also changed the pan sizes because there is just no damn way this would have baked properly in a 9 inch pan, the cake is too big -I REPEAT- the cake is too damn big! Lastly I omitted pecans because 1. they are expensive 2. it’s summer, not fall (which is the season I associate with pecans) and 3.pecans would have just interrupted the creamy texture of the cake
Now let’s talk about how this cake tastes! The cinnamon sugared peaches layered throughout the middle and top of the cake make it moist, oh so moist. Legit, the cake tastes like you layered cream cheese in it! It reminded me of a cinnamon roll in a way with those gooey rolls only in this case the cake had some gooey layers.
It feeds 8 but my boyfriend and I demolished it in like 3 days, or 2. Depends on how honest I wanna be with myself ya know. This also goes to show why I don’t post many desserts. My boyfriend and I loose all self restraint when tempted by baked goods. It’s and issue and we’re working on it…not that we’re making any progress or whatever.
I hope you save some peaches and make this absolutely decadent -yet still lightweight- cake! It’s perfect for sharing and is perfect way to meet your fruity summer cake quota.
Ina’s Brown Sugar Swirled Peach Cake
Tender cake swirled with brown sugar, fragrant cinnamon, and fresh peaches. Adapted from Ina Garten.
Ingredients
- baking spray for cake pan
- 1 stick unsalted butter, room temp 1 stick = ¼ pound
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar, divided loosely packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup fat free greek yogurt Note 1
- 1 tbs canola oil Note 2
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups AP Flour measured correctly, Note 3
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp table salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 5 medium peaches peeled, pitted, and diced (you want 2-3 cups peaches total)
- powdered sugar, optional for dusting
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 11×5 inch baking pan with baking spray.
-
In a large bowl whisk the butter and 1 CUP of brown sugar (the remaining .5 cup is used elsewhere) until mixture is light and creamy. Beat in one egg at a time, the yogurt, tbs of oil, and vanilla until mixture is creamy and combined.
-
In a different mixing bowl combine your dry ingredients (except the cinnamon) and mix together. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients to the wet batter until fully combined.
-
Now it's time to mix up the remaining .5 cup of brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside
-
Spread half of the batter in the baking pan. Add half of the diced peaches and half of cinnamon sugar mix. Add the remaining batter and top with the leftover peaches and cinnamon sugar.
-
Bake for 45-55 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes then top with powdered sugar if desired. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Note 1: In her original recipe, Ina used full fat sour cream. I only usually carry fat free greek yogurt so I subbed it and added 1 tablespoon of oil to make sure I still kept the fat content.
Note 2: Only add the tbs of oil if you use fat free yogurt/sour cream.
Note 3: To measure flour correctly, fluff the flour up by mixing it. Then use the spoon and level flour technique to make sure you don’t pack in too much flour. This site has a video showing the technique.
This recipe was adapted from Ina Garten’s Fresh Peach Cake.
This cake looks so tasty! I like to use brown sugar in baking too.
Thanks for commenting Alica! Yep, brown sugar in baking is the best!