Peach Cake With Pecan Crumble Topping

What do you do when a bag-load of fresh fruit straight off the tree is dumped on your kitchen counter? Yes, try to eat it as soon as possible, but since its hard to consume a bag, one needs to get creative with his cooking abilities. And that’s what I am looking to do with my big bag of peaches. This weekend, my cousin gave us a couple bags of fresh ripe peaches, all ready to be consumed within a week, so be prepared for some Peach recipes coming your way.

For today, we start with the Peach Cake, a fuss-free cake made with Peaches flavored with nutmeg and lemon [recipe adapted from Woman’s Day; photo by Alison Miksch]. The fruit makes it a nice moist dessert, and to add some texture, we add a layer of crumbled topping with pecans. A lovely summer dessert that is best served a bit warm, and will make you feel all warm and fuzzy, just like a Peach!

Peach Cake with Pecan Crumble Topping

Ingredients
1 3⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
2⁄3 cup sugar
1 1⁄2 tsp baking powder
1⁄4 tsp each ground nutmeg and salt
1⁄2 cup milk
2 large eggs
1⁄4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
1 1⁄2 lb ripe peaches (about 4 medium), peeled, sliced into wedges and tossed with 2 Tbsp lemon juice

Pecan Crumble Topping
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp packed finely chopped pecans
1 1⁄2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into bits
1⁄4 tsp ground cinnamon
Confectioners’ sugar (optional) for dusting

Method
Heat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9 x 3-in. spring-form pan with baking spray.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt in large bowl to combine. In a small bowl, whisk milk, eggs, butter, vanilla and zest.

Pour over flour mixture, mixing just until smooth, about 1 minute. Spread evenly over bottom of pan. Top with quartered peach slices, arranging them neatly in a pattern if possible.

For the Topping, mix all the ingredients together with fingers in a bowl until moistened and clumpy. Scatter the topping generously over the peaches.

Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, or until lightly golden and a pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Remove cake from pan.

Before serving, dust the cake with some confectioners’ sugar. I prefer serving this a bit warm, as it remains nice and moist. A scoop of Vanilla ice cream would be perfect to transform this into a delectable dessert, even at a BBQ party!

This goes in as my entry for the Buttery Throwdown Challenge going on at this blog. If you haven’t sent in a recipe yet, check out the giveaway post to win some lovely prizes, and send me your recipe right away!

Related Recipes
Baked Peach in a French Toast
Blueberry & Peach Gallette
Strawberry Buttermilk Cake