Peaches & Cream (+ Cardamom) Cake
Spongey and light vanilla cardamom cake made with whipped cream frosting, and filled with simmered peaches. The perfect cake for people who don’t like cake because traditional frosting is too sweet. Serves 8-12. Can be made up to one day in advance.
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I don’t like cake. There, I said it. Okay, maybe it’s that I don’t like most cake. There are very few exceptions, namely: The german chocolate cake my mom makes for most family birthdays with the recipe on the Baker’s Premium Baking Bar box, and a chocolate cake with whipped ganache frosting from the Whoa Nellie Deli in Lee Vining, CA. Both of those, you’ll note, do not have traditional frosting. So if we’re really getting to the bottom of this aversion, it’s the frosting I take issue with.
Which is why, when I was challenged to make a dessert that paired with chardonnay for a wine pairing menu, I landed on this recipe for Curd, Cream and Berry Cake from Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking with Dorie. I made a few additions, mainly adding cardamom and replacing summer berries with a ripe late summer peach, and ended up with a cake that I cannot stop thinking about. It paired beautifully with the chardonnay, and I have one last bottle of chardonay that I am saving for the next time I make this cake. It would also go beautifully with a sweet dessert wine like moscato or champagne.
The recipe is quite long, and gives the impression of a complicated recipe, but really it is quite straight forward and simple to make. The main source of fat in the sponge is from whole milk, and eggs with a smidge of butter. The resulting cake is light and moist and is the perfect compliment for the lightly sweetened whipped cream frosting.
The whipped cream frosting was modified from the original recipe for simplicity, and uses a stabilized whipped cream recipe from Buttermilk by Sam.
If peaches aren’t in season, you could sub for pears, apples, plums, or even figs! Try it out, and let me know what you think in the comments!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Cake
Flour: All -purpose flour or cake flour would work best here
Baking Powder: For leavening, do not skip
Cardamom: I use fresh cardamom pods, and ground the seeds before adding. Bloom cardamom in the milk. Can substitute with cinnamon, but I highly recommend using cardamom!
Sugar: White granulated sugar, could substitute for brown sugar in a pinch
Clementines or Oranges: Zest of two clementines or one orange, adds brightness to the sponge
Milk: Use whole milk, but can sub for 2% or nonfat
Butter: Unsalted or salted works fine
Eggs: 2 large eggs at room temperature
Sea Salt: Half the amount if table salt is used. Can sub 1:1 with kosher salt
Peach Syrup
Peach: Chop into smaller pieces. Can sub for pears or apples if peaches aren't in season
Sugar: White sugar works best here, though you could use brown sugar in a pinch
Vanilla: Extract, can skip if needed
Whipped cream frosting
Heavy cream:
Sugar: White granulated or powdered sugar works best here
Salt: Sea salt is what I used, but can sub for kosher salt
Optional: Mascarpone added if you don’t have
Supplies needed
Hand or stand mixer: You technically could make the recipe without this equipment, but it would be quite the workout!
9” cake pan or springform pan: Either works well here, I wouldn’t go bigger or smaller or you risk drying out or underbaking the cake. Larger would also create really thin layers so it is difficult to cut.
Food processor: Key to making the stabilized whipped cream, though you could do somthing similar with mascarpone and a hand mixer.
Pastry brush: To brush the syrup onto the sponge. You could also lightly drizzle it in a pinch.
Cake stand or 10-12” plate: My favorite is a cake stand that spins and has a 6 inch riser (see pictures), but a big enough plate would do fine here as well.
Rubber spatula: For mixing and scraping throughout the recipe so you’re not wasting anything that gets stuck to the sides of the bowl.
Kitchen scale: For measuring the flour, you can also fluff with a fork and spoon into a measuring cup, but this is the most accurate way to measure flour.
Measuring spoons and cups: For measuring wet and dry ingredients
Offset spatula: For frosting the cake
Frequently Asked Questions
Can this recipe be made ahead of time? It is best assembled the same day you plan to eat it, or at the very most 24 hours before. If you need to make it in advance, cut the sponge in half (top from the bottom) after it is cooled, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap before placing in the freezer for up to 1 month or refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Will this stand up to warmer temperatures? The whipped cream can actually tolerate a good amount of heat on a warmer day, just aim to keep it out of direct sunlight and serve within two hours, or it will start to melt. Also avoid putting it in an airtight cake dome, which can create a lot of insulated heat or a magnifying glass on the cake. If you need to keep bugs away, try to use a mesh cover.
What if I can’t find ripe peaches? Summer berries are a great substitute, just skip stewing them in the simple syrup. A pear or tarte green apple could also serve as a great Fall substitution for peaches.
Peaches & Cream (+ Cardamom) Cake
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and adjust the racks so you have one in the center. Prep a 9” round pan or springform with butter, flour, and a parchment round at the bottom.
- Whisk together flour and baking powder.
- In a medium bowl that can be used with a hand mixer (or in your stand mixer bowl), add the sugar. Zest the orange/clementine into the sugar. Rub together the sugar and zest until the mixture resembles wet sand.
- Heat the milk and butter and cardamom in a small saucepan until it just starts to steam and the butter is melted. Remove from heat.
- Add eggs to the dry ingredients and mix on medium high speed for 5 minutes until the mixture appears pale and light.
- Then turn the mixer to low and add the dry ingredients in three additions. Then steadily pour the hot milk and butter into the batter and mix until only streaks of flour remain. Finish the mixing by hand with a rubber spatula, scraping the bottom of the bowl to be sure it’s evenly mixed.
- Add the batter to the prepared pan and make sure it’s an even layer.
- Bake for 23-25 minutes until the cake is springy when touched, and pulls away from the sides of the pan.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack then carefully flipping back so it’s right side up.
- Make the peach syrup by chopping peaches and adding water, peach, and sugar to a pan over medium heat. Stir frequently and cook until sugar dissolves. Let sit at room temperature to cool then store in an airtight container in the fridge if you’re assembling the cake later.
- Add cream to a food processor and whip for 2-4 minutes to soft peak. Then add the sugar and whip for 1-2 more minutes, checking every ten seconds or so to be sure you don’t over whip. You'll know that it is don when you dip a spoon and lift it up, and the peek that is left behind stands mostly straight up.
- If you don't have a food processor, then you can make a stabilized whipped cream by adding 1/2 cup mascarpone to the cold cream and whip with a hand or stand mixer until hard peaks (but not farther) form.
- Start by using a fine mesh strainer to separate the peach chunks from the syrup. Save both.
- Once the cake is cool cut in half. Put the bottom half cut side up on the serving platter then use a pastry brush to brush syrup over the cake. Spread half of the whipped cream over the bottom half. Then spread the peach chunks evenly.
- Then use the syrup to brush on the cut side of the top part of the cake. Add the top half to the bottom half and if you have any remaining syrup add it to the top. Frost with the remaining whipped cream, leaving the sides bare.
Notes
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's “Curd, Cream, and Berry Cake” from her delightful book, Baking with Dorie
Stabilized whipped cream recipe from Buttermilk by Sam
