| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 20 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Cook: | 1 hr |
| Yield: | one 9-inch cake |
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 4 medium peaches or nectarines, pitted and cut into 6 wedges each
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole almonds
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- Vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a 9-inch-round cake pan. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add 3/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon water and cook, stirring occasionally, until smooth and deep golden brown, 8 to 11 minutes. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and tilt to coat the bottom. Arrange the peach wedges snugly in the bottom of the pan in a single layer, cutting to fit if needed.
- Combine the flour, almonds, baking powder and salt in a food processor and pulse until the almonds are finely ground.
- Beat the remaining 7 tablespoons butter and 3/4 cup sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts. Beat in the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour mixture; beat in each addition until just incorporated.
- Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool 30 minutes. Invert onto a plate and let cool completely. Serve with ice cream.
Reviews
Marvelous cake!! For those having trouble with step one-you are not alone. Caramel is tricky! The best help I ever got is to keep the sugar, water and butter on super low heat, watching for the sugar to dissolve. Once you have a clearish liquid, you can turn up the heat and simmer WITHOUT STIRRING. until it turns golden. If your concoction crystallizes (which it tends to do if you simmer before dissolving) and is gritty, it will never turn into beautiful caramel. It’s worth the work for this lovely cake. My family adored it and the delicate blend of peach and almond is a winner.
I made the caramel with just the sugar and water. Then I put the butter into the hot caramel right before I put it into the pan. Worked great.
I have the problem with the baking time, I only bake it for 35 minutes and it was done and golden brown and a little dry, I live in Mexico, maybe the temperatures here must be less, does anyone have this issue?
For those saying step one didn’t work, you have to be patient it will turn dry and seem like its going to be a mess but keep stirring and eventually that dry clumpy mess will turn into smooth perfect golden caramel. I had an advantage as I make caramel flans and the first step is the same for them. This was super easy, and super delicious, you must use ripe fresh peaches though!
I too had the same issue with their caramel recipe, I had to throw out the first batch and just used another recipe for it, PLUS added sea salt to it to make it a salted caramel and the results were AMAZING. I also used sugar plums interspersed with the peaches. This is in the recipe box, along with a different caramel recipe.
I too had problems with step one where you melt the butter, sugar and water. It never became “smooth” or “deep golden brown” and I cooked it way beyond the 8-11 minutes (about 20) waiting for that smooth, golden brown state. All I had was a mass of wet, or maybe it was greasy, sugar. Definitely not something I could “pour”, or “tilt the pan to coat.” So not knowing how to fix such a mess I threw it out and got out my Joy of Cooking cookbook and used the brown sugar/butter part of the recipe for Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and then proceeded with this recipe as written. In the end it was very good, but probably not the same as it might have been if I had followed the recipe as written, so I deducted two stars because of the aggravation factor in that first step.
LOVED LOVED LOVED this cake. It was a little time consuming but well worth it. I made it last night to have it with coffee the following morning and it is the early afternoon and 3/4 of it is gone. My husband took some to work and I shared a couple of pieces with co-workers, my mother took some to share with my father and we have only 1/4 left. Very tasty and I will definitely be making this again and soon. If you are having problems with the sugar/water portion, you need to be patient and keep stirring. The water will eventually dry out and the sugar will start to carmelize. DON’T ADD MORE WATER you are looking for it to evaporate. That will happen if you keep stirring the sugar and water very patiently.
I made this yesterday. I also had the same problem with the sugar/water portion. I ended up tossing it out and using brown sugar/ butter and a bit of corn syrup for the pan coating. Because my peaches were mushy, I used thinly sliced apples. It was FABULOUS! The cake portion is easy and absolutely delicious. I can see many uses for the cake receipe alone.
Great recipe! Delcious cake! I used almond meal (you can get it at Trader Joes or a specialty store that I added to the flour; came out perfect. I used brown sugar and 2 tbsps of water to make the caramel. A keeper recipe. Thanks!!
Cake tasted great! I had the same problem as the other posters, I could not get my sugar to melt smoothly or to turn that nice dark color. It got very dried out so I kept adding water by the tablespoonful. After 30 minutes I said “the heck with it” and just finished making the cake. It’s really tasty but it was frustrating to not have it turn out the way the recipe said. I wish there was a way for the FN test kitchen chefs to explain what we are all doing wrong!