The Best Easy Peach Cake Recipe

This Peach Cake is the perfect summertime dessert if those warm months have you craving fresh, juicy, sweet peaches. Or, maybe you have a lot of peaches on hand and you’re wondering what to make with peaches? Check out this peach cake recipe for a simple dessert and lots of peach recipe ideas.

Making this Recipe for Peach Cake

My neighbor gave me a bag of peaches from his tree and then his wife gave us another. We are in peach heaven! They are so juicy and sweet and the perfect size for snacking. I haven’t eaten a single dry, mealy peach from the bunch.

We’ve enjoyed eating them over the weekend, but I knew I wanted to bake something sweet with them as well. And I needed to, because there were so many there is no way we’d eat them all in time and I definitely didn’t want to waste such beautiful peaches.

This recipe originally called for plums, but I had a lot of fresh peaches that my neighbor had given me from his tree so I decided to test it using peaches.

I’ve always wanted to make this recipe in Baking: From My Home to Yours called Dimply Plum Cake, but every time I have plums I would forget.

I added some almond extract as well, because I love almond and peaches together. I also doubled the recipe and used a 9×13 inch pan instead of 8 inch square pan. The cake was the perfect back drop for the juicy peaches! And it turned out really moist too. It is a great cross between dessert and brunch.

If you haven’t checked out this cookbook yet, I encourage you too. It is a great baking bible with lots of beautiful photos and amazing recipes.

Easy Peach Cake Ingredients

This recipe for Peach Cake is relatively simple when it comes to the ingredients, however the fresh, juicy, ripe peaches are what really make the cake. To prepare this recipe, you’ll need the following items:

Dry Ingredients

• All Purpose Flour
• Baking Powder
• Salt
• Cardamom
• Granulated Sugar
• Brown Sugar

Wet Ingredients

• Unsalted Butter
• Large Eggs
• Olive Oil
• Lemon Zest
• Vanilla Extract
• Almond Extract
• Peaches

For the complete ingredient list and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FREE printable recipe card.

Peach Cake Ingredient Substitutes

Typically I don’t recommend making a bunch of substitutions when preparing a new recipe. When making substitutes, you won’t know if you don’t like the recipe or if the recipe didn’t turn out due to a preparation mistake, an ill effect from the substitute, or something else.

However, if you do choose to make substitutions in a recipe, I recommend only making one substitute at a time so you don’t have a building effect of multiple poor substitutions.

I prefer simple substitutions, such as trying a different fruit zest, adding a different extract or spice.

I Don’t Have Peaches. What Fruit Can I Substitute?

If you don’t have peaches, you can definitely prepare the recipe as originally intended and use plums.

However, many other stone fruits would also work well in this peach cake recipe. Stone fruits are fruits that have a large pit, or “stone,” in the center.

My suggestions for different types of fruits to substitute in this recipe are:

• Nectarines
• Plums
• Apricots
• Pluots (or other hybrids: Plumcots, Apriums)
• Cherries (though you’ll have to pit them and use a lot more than you would peaches)

Can I Substitute Canned or Frozen Peaches for Fresh?

I have not tested this recipe for peach cake using canned or frozen peaches, but my instinct is “why not?”

Your flavor won’t be as good as if you had used fresh peaches. Nothing can beat that! But I think using unsweetened, drained canned peach halves would work okay.

For frozen peaches, I would recommend thawing the peaches first and draining any excess liquid so you don’t add unnecessary extra moisture to the cake.

I Have an Almond Allergy. Can I leave the Almonds Out?

Yes, if you have an almond allergy then I recommend eliminating the almond extract from this Peach Cake recipe.

You can simply eliminate it or you can increase the vanilla extract to compensate for the loss of the almond extract. Either will work fine and it is up to you.

How Do I Make a Gluten-Free Peach Cake?

I have not personally tested a Gluten-Free Peach Cake for this recipe, but with similar recipes I have used a combination of Cup4Cup Gluten Free Multi-Purpose Flour and Almond Flour to create gluten-free recipes.

In my opinion, it would be best to test it out by experimenting with 1/2 of each flour. So, for instance, if this Peach Cake recipe calls for 3 cups of flour, to try it gluten-free I would use 1.5 cups of Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour and 1.5 cups of Almond Flour as a starting point.

However, If you have a nut allergy and cannot use Almond Flour, then I would look for a substitute for that, such as a gluten-free oat flour, cassava flour, or chickpea flour.

How to Make Easy Peach Cake

This recipe is really simple to prepare, that’s why it’s called Easy Peach Cake. Here is a quick overview of the method:

1. Preheat oven and grease your pan. You could also line a pan with parchment paper. Set the prepared pan aside.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and cardamom. Whisk to combine and set aside.
3. Beat the butter until soft and creamy, then add both types of sugar and continue to beat. Scrape the sides down as needed.
4. Add the eggs and beat after each addition, scraping the sides of the bowl.
5. Then, stir in the oil, zest, and extracts. Stir in the flour mixture.
6. Pour batter to the pan, spread to smooth, and arrange the peaches on the top of the cake batter.
7. Bake until the top is golden and puffed around the peaches.
8. Make sure to cool before cutting

The above is simply a quick summary of this recipe. Check out the full recipe in the free printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for all the detailed instructions.

How Long Does this Recipe for Peach Cake Last

This Easy Peach Cake will keep for about 2-3 days at room temperature. Unfortunately, this is not a recipe that freezes well, so you’ll want to eat it within a couple of days.

Also, I do not recommend preparing this recipe more than a day in advance.

What is the Best Way to Store Leftovers

The best way to store leftover peach cake is wrapped with plastic wrap or under a cake dome. Make sure it is completely cooled first so the cake doesn’t develop condensation once covered. This could cause leftovers to be soggy and mold quickly.

The Best Peach Cake

3 reasons why I think this is the best Peach Cake recipe:

1. This moist cake with peaches is an easy dessert recipe with easy to find ingredients!
2. Peaches are one of the best summer fruits and the simple ingredients in this recipe let the natural peach flavor shine. Another reason to love peach season!
3. This peach cake could just as easily be served at a brunch like a coffee cake as it can as perfect summer dessert after dinner.

Try this Easy Fresh Peach Cake Recipe!

Next time you’re looking for the perfect way to enjoy the abundance of fresh peaches during summer, give this peach cake a try! Did you love this summer dessert? Leave a comment below and give it a review for others to see what you thought of this delicious cake recipe.

On Instagram? Share your photo and tag me with @goodlifeeats and #goodlifeeatsrecipes. I’d love to see your photo of this peach cake!

What Else Can I Make with Peaches?

Looking for more recipes to make with your summer peaches? Here are a peach desserts, or you can check out all of the peach recipes in the recipe archives.

This Peach and Mixed Berry Cobbler is topped with homemade sour cream biscuits. Serve it with vanilla ice cream and this is the ultimate end of summer dessert!

This Homemade Peach Syrup can be enjoyed atop pancake, waffles, ice cream, and more! It’s so easy to make and is a great way to use up fresh peaches.

Have you ever grilled peaches? Try these amazing Grilled Peaches with Mascarpone Whip and Raspberry Sauce for a summer dessert that doesn’t even require turning on the oven.

Don’t see what you’re looking for here? You can always head over to check out the recipe index to look for more recipes.

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