Cornmeal Peach Snack Cake
How is it the middle of August already?!!! As usual, summer seems to be flying by, leaving me with the feeling that I will never get to all of the seasonal recipes I’ve been meaning to try, but I can’t let the season go by without sharing this lovely and super easy Cornmeal Peach Snack Cake. So go grab the last of those gorgeous golden peaches because this is a cake I just know you are going to want in your life!
First and foremost, it is an everyday cake—that category that is so near and dear to my heart. You know, the kind of cake you make for no celebratory reason at all, other than the fact that you will make so many happy with a little homemade treat they can have anytime of the day.
This is one of those cakes you easily whip up on a Friday (you don’t even need a mixer) leave on the counter and hope that there’s at least a small piece left for breakfast on Sunday morning.
There’s nothing fancy at all about it—it’s not even particularly sweet but that layer of sweet peaches across the top makes it hard for folks to walk by without cutting themselves a teensy sliver each and every time…not that I would know from personal experience or anything!
The whole wheat flour combined with the cornmeal gives the cakey part that little unexpected oomph and every bite of course has that lovely peachy flavor and texture.
It’s one way to hang onto summer for as long as we can!!!
Cornmeal Peach Snack Cake
Makes 8 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes; Bake Time: 55-65 minutes
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
¾ cup whole wheat flour
¾ cup yellow cornmeal
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 large egg, beaten lightly
½ cup whole milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus a little more for greasing the pan
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
5-6 ripe peaches, pitted and sliced (no need to peel skins unless you absolutely hate them)
Sanding or demerara sugar for sprinkling on top
The Recipe
1. Preheat oven to 325ºF. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter, milk and vanilla.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and fold them in with a rubber spatula just until no traces of flour can be seen. You don’t want to over mix. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and arrange the sliced peaches across the top. Sprinkle the demerara or sanding sugar over the peaches.
5. Bake for 55-65 minutes, until the cake puffs up and looks golden brown and a tester inserted into the center of the cake part (not the peaches) comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes and then cut slices and serve.
6. Leftovers can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for a day or two and then transferred to the fridge. This cake is wonderful warm or at room temperature but also pretty tasty cold right out of the fridge.
Enjoy!
Note: Recipe adapted from Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking. I left out the mace, added a little more vanilla and topped this with some sanding sugar.
