Peaches and Cream Cake
This dreamy summer peaches and cream cake has layers of vanilla sponge cake, brown butter whipped cream and peaches caramelized with brown sugar and cinnamon.
Why you’ll love this cake
- Hot milk sponge is my FAVORITE type of sponge. It’s fluffy but so flavorful and less eggy then other sponge cakes. The hot milk really gives it a good flavor.
- The cake and the creams both serve well chilled so the texture is spot on!
- The whipped cream is quite literally the easiest cream on the planet to make (and to troubleshoot).
- The combination of the light sponge cake, fluffy whipped cream, with the sweet spiced peaches complement each other making for a great refreshing summer treat.
If you’re into light and fluffy types of cakes I have several for you! I think you’ll love my Banana Pudding Cake, Chantilly Cake and my beloved Tiramisu Cake!
If it’s peach season and you got some extra peaches lying around try my Peach Cobbler Pound Cake or my Peach Mango Pie. Either of these will use up those ripe peaches and give you an amazing classic dessert with a fresh twist.
Ingredients
- Flour: I use all-purpose flour for this cake and it’s quite delicate so I don’t recommend changing it but I do sift it before adding it to the eggs (it doesn’t matter whether you sift it before or after measuring if you use a digital scale).
- I HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale, as flour is so often over measured.
- Sugar: I use granulated sugar in the sponge cake and brown sugar in the peach filling and whipped cream.
- Eggs: I always use large eggs for all my baking and make sure they’re at room temperature for the best results.
- If they’re cold, just place them in hot water for 5-10 minutes.
- Milk: I like to use whole milk for the cake. 2% or dairy free also works well though.
- Butter: I use salted butter in the cake and browned some for the filling and cream, but unsalted butter also works fine. I would add a little extra pinch of sea salt though.
- Heavy Cream: You’ll need cold heavy whipping cream (or double cream) to make the whipped cream. The cream here is just my chantilly cream except I swapped the powdered sugar for brown sugar and added brown butter bits.
- Make sure to use something between 35%-45% fat. I haven’t tried a dairy free cream but if you have a dairy free heavy cream or whipped topping you like, feel free to use that instead.
- This can be replaced with a tub of Cool Whip if you want, just gently mix in the brown butter bits and skip the brown sugar.
- Vanilla: I used a combination of vanilla extract in the sponge cake and vanilla bean paste in the whipped cream to really bring out the subtle taste of vanilla.
- Baking Powder: just baking powder, no baking soda.
- Peaches: 3 small or 2 large peaches, peeled and thinly sliced. Peeling is optional but most people don’t prefer the skin.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Start making the cake by heating the milk and butter until it’s hot but not simmering. Set aside.
Step 2: Whisk the flour, baking powder and sea salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Step 3: Beat eggs with a stand mixer until they begin to froth, then stream in the sugar then the vanilla extract. Beat until the mixture is pale, thicker and ribbons.
Step 4: Sift the dry ingredients over the egg mixture. Now turn the mixer up to low speed while streaming in the warm milk and butter.
Step 5: Pour out the batter into the prepared pans, 15-16 oz in each and bake for 20-25 minutes, then set aside to cool.
Step 6: Brown the butter, by gently heating butter until it’s fully melted. Then once it’s bubbly and foamy, stir continuously until the milk solids are browned. Remove the pan from the heat and then remove 1-2 tablespoons of the butter, trying to get most of the bits out. Reserve those bits for the whipped cream. See my blog on how to brown butter if you’re unfamiliar with that.
Step 7: Return the pan to the stove, add the sugar, cinnamon and peaches. Cook until the peaches are tender but not mushy, 10-15 minutes on medium-low heat. Remove and allow to cool completely. Can refrigerate as well.
Step 8: Make the whipped cream – start by adding the brown sugar, salt and reserved brown butter bits into the bowl of the stand mixer
Step 9: Pour the heavy whipping cream and vanilla and whip until it holds stiff peaks.
Step 10: Place the first layer of cake onto a flat surface. Top with a generous layer of whipped cream, then layer on some of the peaches.
Step 11: Freeze the cake for 15-30 minutes before stacking the next layer. Layering a cake with whipped cream can make it unstable and difficult to assemble so I recommend freezing the cake for a little before stacking on a new layer so that the whipped cream doesn’t all squish out.
I also like to leave a little room on the edge of the cake because when you do place the next layer of cake on top, it will press the whipped cream down, causing it to spread out a little.
Step 12: Place the second layer of cake on top and repeat the above steps. Repeat again with the last layer. Swirl the rest of the whipped cream on the top layer and top with more peaches. Refrigerate the cake for at least a few hours to set and slice easier.
How to Frost/Decorate this Peaches and Cream Cake
If you want to cover the outside with the whipped cream too, it may be a little difficult since the cake is so light and the cream is so soft. You can lightly cover it after refrigerating (or freezing) it for a little until it’s more sturdy.
If you want to actually frost it nicely and decorate the outside of this cake you’ll have to pipe a border of buttercream around the edge of the first layer of cake and use the whipped cream and peaches as the filling between the layers. Then repeat for each layer. You can see how I did that for my cranberry orange cake. I recommend a Swiss Meringue buttercream for decorating but American buttercream also works fine.
The cake can also be made with a buttercream frosting if you prefer. I actually made a similar cake in my book Frosted but I used ermine frosting.
Make sure to check out my cookbook for a million frosting options and how to use them!
What can I make ahead of time?
The whipped cream must be made fresh when using it.
The peaches can be sliced a few hours before assembling and the brown butter can be made days ahead of time but allow it to cool with the bits settling on the bottom so you can easily separate them.
The cakes can be made in advance. If it’s 1 day, wrap them in plastic wrap as soon as they’ve cooled and leave them at room temperature. If it’s longer, freeze the cakes for up to a few weeks. Remove them from the freezer 1-2 hours before assembling.
Expert tips on getting the perfect cake
- Don’t swap ingredients unless I mentioned them in the ingredient section above.
- Don’t over-mix the cake or the creams at any stage.
- Don’t reduce the sugar in the cake or the creams (I promise it’s not overly sweet).
- Weigh the ingredients with a digital scale.
- Don’t skip sifting flour.
- Weigh the batter for each cake to make them even (15-16 ounces each).
Frequently Asked Questions
Just like all the rest of my cakes, I test if it’s done baking by pressing gently on the tallest part of the cake. The cake will spring back if it’s done baking. If it stays indented, give it a few minutes in the oven, before testing again.
I haven’t tested gluten-free flours with sponge cakes but I really don’t see why it wouldn’t work with a 1:1 substitute. It works for all the rest of my cake recipes.
Dairy free butter works in the cake recipe, along with dairy free milk. The whipped cream can be replaced with coconut whipped cream but I haven’t tested any other whipped cream replacements.
I baked these cakes in three 8 inch cake pans.
You can also bake the cake:
– four 6 inch cake pans (going to be way too tall though so I don’t recommend).
– three 7 or 9 inch cake pans (+/- 5 minute bake time)
How to Store a Peaches and Cream Cake
Cover the cake with foil, a cake dome or a cake carrier and refrigerate for up to a week. If it’s any longer, feel free to freeze the cake. Slice it and place the slices in an airtight container and freeze for up to a couple of months.
Thanks so much for reading today’s post, if you have any questions just comment down below.
If you make this peaches and cream cake, I’d love it if you left a star rating for me. If it’s less than five stars, please leave a comment with the rating so I know why! 🙂
As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!
Love, B
I made this over the weekend and I am so impressed. One of the best internet cake recipes I’ve ever made! I will be using the vanilla sponge as my go-to vanilla cake from now on. The whipped cream is amazing. One thing to note: the recipe states you should get three 15oz 8in cakes from the batter, but I only have two 8in pans so I ended up with two 15oz cakes and one 9oz cake after I washed the cake pan to make the 3rd. Next time I will just do 13oz batter in each pan so they are all the same size.
This was DELICIOUS. The only change I made was whipping a block of cream cheese then adding the heavy cream into my whipped topping. I did this to add stability to topping and I loved the added tang. It was a perfect marriage of cheesecake and peach cobbler flavors in a pretty cake form!
So wonderful! Super light and not too sweet. Simple showstopper… my favorite kind of recipe. The only deviation I made was I used 1 tsp Almond extract and 1 tap vanilla in the cake batter instead or 2 tsps vanilla.
Thank you so much for the review Marci, I’m so glad you liked it! I’ll def have to try it with the almond next time ?
This cake is *phenomenal*. I made it for a birthday and was told it was perfect and the best cake they’ve ever had. The recipe was easy to follow and went flawlessly. Thank you for sharing!
Hi! Thanks so much for the review and I’m so glad you liked it!! 🙂
Loved how you have so many different ways of making sponges and everyday I love one more than the other! The mix of flavors is amazing! Iwould recommend to not peel the peaches because i regret not having the beautiful color Bernice got on her peaches !
I did had one problem i could not troubleshoot but I think it was my scale, tried for the first time to do the tare option to zero the weight and my cakes came out in different sizes, i wan’t too happy about it but made it work!! Love it! Please keep posting them! Love your baking style!
Hi Laura, thank you so much for the feedback! I’m so glad you enjoy my recipes <3 and yes I def recommend always weighing the batter because it makes it so much easier to get the same amount in each one.
I would love to try your recipes! Can you tell me what your altitude is? I usually have to make some adjustments for where we live in Utah.
Thank you in advance,
Dana
Hi Dana, I’m near Detroit, Michigan at 656′
Hope the recipes work out for you!
Thank you for the information. I will give it a try.
Take care,
Dana