Peach Coffee Cake
By Katie LeairdPublished on April 23, 2018
Time
1½ hours, plus 30 minutes macerating and 2 hours cooling
Yield
Serves 8
Ingredients
Peaches
2 peaches, halved, pitted, and cut into ½-inch wedges, or 12 ounces frozen sliced peaches, thawed2 tablespoons granulated sugar¼ teaspoon saltTopping
½ cup (2 ½ ounces/71 grams) all-purpose flour¼ cup packed (1 ¾ ounce/50 grams) brown sugar½ teaspoon ground cinnamon⅛ teaspoon salt3 tablespoons unsalted butter, meltedCake
1 ½ cups (7 ½ ounces/213 grams) all-purpose flour¾ cup (5 ¼ ounces/149 grams) granulated sugar2 teaspoons baking powder1 teaspoon salt½ cup sour cream2 large eggs4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract¼ teaspoon almond extract½ cup peach preservesBefore You Begin
You can use either light or dark brown sugar in this recipe. If you have anything less than peak-of-the-season fresh peaches, it's probably best to opt for frozen peaches.
Instructions
- Toss peaches, sugar, and salt together in bowl. Let sit at room temperature until peaches exude juice, about 30 minutes. Drain peaches in colander set over bowl; reserve 2 tablespoons juice.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9-inch springform pan.
- Stir flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in bowl. Stir in melted butter until clumps form. Set aside.
- Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in bowl. Whisk sour cream, eggs, melted butter, vanilla, almond extract, and reserved peach juice together in large bowl. Add flour mixture to sour cream mixture and stir until just combined (batter will be quite thick). Stir preserves into batter until just combined (some chunks of preserves may be visible; this is OK).
- Transfer batter to prepared pan and spread into even layer. Arrange peaches in concentric circles over batter, overlapping slightly as needed. Sprinkle topping over peaches.
- Bake until topping is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out with few crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool completely, about 2 hours. Run thin knife between cake and side of pan; remove side of pan. Cut into wedges and serve.
for the peaches
for the topping
for the cake
Time
1½ hours, plus 30 minutes macerating and 2 hours coolingYield
Serves 8Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
Our aim here was twofold: a perfect coffee cake and a strong peach presence. Coffee cake should be moist but neither too light and fluffy nor too dense. For the cake, we auditioned different types of dairy: milk, heavy cream, and sour cream. While they all worked, we found that sour cream added the most moisture and richness and gave the cake the best texture. To rid our cake of the pesky gummy layer that formed beneath the peaches, we tossed the peach slices with sugar and a touch of salt and let them sit before arranging them on the batter. This helped pull out the extra moisture that was gumming up the works. To boost the peachiness throughout, we added peach preserves to the batter along with a dash of almond extract, which we found complimented and intensified the peach flavor.
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