My friend Molly — she of the dry-rubbed ribs and apple tarte tatin fame — is leaving us for the kind of love that requires one to take up residence in another state. We’re all mighty bummed out about this and not making it easy on her, not only pouting over her imminent departure at every turn but insisting that she perform her half-day rib magic one last time at her going-away party this weekend.
Because it was Molly who introduced me to the unparalleled awesomeness that is South Carolina peaches (albeit from the mountains of North Carolina) [and how they’re even better when they’re sliced and dolloped with whole milk yogurt, or about the only breakfast (with less-exciting and much-fuzzier local peaches) I can fathom on these steaming August days], I wanted to bake something with peaches for the party, but not peach hand pies or peach crème fraîche pie. I wanted to make peach cupcakes.
Alas, I should have known better to even casually mention to a friend a couple weeks ago that I’ve had a lot of recipe mojo lately, landing on things haven’t require a second run to get them right because you can now guess exactly what happened with my first round of these cupcakes, the ones I forced upon my friends: they needed some work. Worried about the peaches sinking, I chopped them so eensy, you couldn’t detect them and the cake was too dry and way too sweet. Yesterday’s batch was much more successful — lighter and fluffy, more moist and with juicy bites of peach throughout. The brown sugar cream cheese frosting was also a bit of an experiment; I’ve seen versions of it before but they often only have tiny amounts of brown sugar in them. I wanted the brown sugar to be prominent and, lo, it was. The only trickiness is that due to the moisture content of brown sugar, the frosting never gets as firm as traditional cream cheese frostings will, but that doesn’t mean that I’ll be going back to traditional ones any time soon — you cannot turn back after trying this one.
One year ago: Kefta and Zucchini Kebabs
Two years ago: Plum-Almond Tart
Peach Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
These cakes are extremely light, airy and moist, nothing like the dense cake recipes more traditionally used as cupcake bases. Personally, I consider this a very good thing. You know what else? Sans frosting, they’d make great breakfast muffins — just dial back one of the sugars by a generous quarter-cup and maybe even swap half of that flour with whole wheat. You could also chop in some pecans, but don’t blame me if nobody in your house wants to share.
Makes 24 to 28 cupcakes
3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of nutmeg
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks or 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark or light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) buttermilk, sour cream or full-fat yogurt
3 large peaches, peeled, cored, and chopped smallish (I went for a 1/3-inch dice)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 28 muffin cups with paper liners.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg and set aside. Cream the butter and sugars together, beating until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition, and then the vanilla. Gently mix in the buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt. Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the peach chunks.
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes for five minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
Cornstarch? Let me explain: Quick buttercreams and cream cheese frostings are generally made by whipping fatty ingredients (butter, cream cheese, yes please) with powdered sugar. Powdered sugar works in a way that granulated sugar does not because it is mixed with cornstarch, which both keeps the sugar from clumping in its packaging and thickens the frosting. Brown sugar is not only more damp than granulated and powdered sugar, it’s missing that cornstarch thickener, so I added some to help the frosting set up. It’s still a bit thinner than traditional cream cheese frosting but the flavor leaves the stuff you’re used to in the dust. And for me, that’s all that matters.
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (4 ounces or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch and powdered sugar. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the sugar-cornstarch mixture and vanilla, beat until frosting is smooth and light. Chill the bowl in the refrigerator until it thickens back up a bit, about 30 minutes, then spread or dollop on cooled cupcakes.
Tip: Did you know you can make your own brown sugar?
Some notes, or questions I am going to anticipate and try to answer before they are asked: I bought the brown cupcake liners at the New York Cake & Baking Supply on 22nd Street (and wow, do I miss only living a few blocks from there) but they’re also available on Amazon and from many other online baking supply shops. I piped dollops of the frosting with a Wilton #10 round tip. I have a small, inexpensive kit like this (but a different version) that pretty much works for anything I need to do. It’s a great investment for those of us that just like to dabble in decorating at home.
These sound so good, particularly the frosting. I’m a brown sugar fiend. Love the decorating job you did!
I think I just found the perfect cupcakes for my son’s first birthday party in two weeks. We have plenty of Colorado peaches now and it’s a perfect way to sneak in something healthy without ruining the birthday theme!
Tastes like cream cheese….nothing else. Did I do something wrong?
This was my experience, too. So disappointed.
oh my god. i absolutely cannot wait to make these. mmm, also, maybe a cherry version would be good too? i have never made fruit cupcakes, but the cherry-brown-sugar combo sounds like it could be excellent. thanks for posting!
These look amazing!!! Now I know what to do with the rest of my frozen GA peaches.
Ooooooh. These sound SO good. My mouth is watering now… must go buy some peaches.
Awesome. What a great way to capture peach flavor! I seem to just make endless crumbles, which get so boring. Bet it would be good with almond extract too…though sometimes almond overpowers a bit.
These are so cute! That frosting sounds delicious too!
Cupcakes are my new favorite passion so thanks for putting these on here!!
peaches, cream cheese AND cupcakes put together!?!?! deb, are you trying to steal my heart? i absolutely have to try this recipe a.s.a.p.! you’re a genius!
These look great, I love peaches in baked goods! I have a quick question, though:
Could you make this batter into a cake, rather than cupcakes? And if so, what size cake pans would you use, and what adjustments, if any, should you make?
I’m just picturing a beautiful peach cake with this frosting, and I think it could be heavenly!
These are so cute – I love the chocolate chip-esque way you frosted them! Is that just a round tip?
Oh, sweet baby Jesus.
This combination sounds nothing short of heavenly–nice work! I love the way that you decided to frost them too, with the wee dollops. Makes them look billowy the way a proper cupcake should even though the frosting is soft.
And I’m glad your recipe mojo is working–I have missed the mark a few times recently and it’s starting to hurt my heart. Perhaps I should start a new blog called “Biscotti in the Potty” devoted to failures.
I doubt anyone actually feels “forced” to try something you’ve prepared…lol
Did your friends get to sample any of these “more successful” cupcakes?
I love cream cheese in frosting, and these look delicious!!!
Looks delish–one question for you or any readers that can answer…what tool do you use to get those perfect, clean, tiny dollops? Is there a frosting tip I don’t know about?
Oh jeez…just went back and re-read and found it. Wilton #10, got it.
Great result!!! Satisfyingly peachy. Frosting makes twice as much as I needed.
Peaches and brown sugar are soooo delicious together. When my family has peach sundaes for dessert at home, I always just eat sliced peaches sprinkled with brown sugar and I feel like adding ice cream would just be cramping the peaches’ style. These are a must for this summer. Maybe with a hefty pinch of cinnamon too…
Also, what is your favorite method for cutting and peeling peaches? I find that if I peel them first they’re way to slippery to cut without bloodshed, and if I cut them first, then there’s a lot of picky little work involved in slicing the skins off.
yum. your frosting dollops looks delectable. i was at an orchard and picked peaches and nectarines over the w-end, i wonder if i can bear turn the oven on and make these…
I just added a note at the end with the frosting tip information and also about the brown cupcake liners, which I am obsessed with. (Katy, probably at the same time you were asking, so no worries!)
Ryan — Your question is killing me, because for the first recipe I used — the “eh” one — I could say with authority that you could bake it into two 9-inch rounds that had been buttered, floured and lined with parchment paper for about 40 minutes each. But I can’t say that about this (better) version of peach cakes, because I haven’t tried it yet. It is my hunch that this will work equally well as two 9-inch cake layers. Please let us know if you do try it; we would all benefit from your feedback!
Do you possibly have a weight or measurement of how many peaches for this recipe? We have lots of fresh peaches from our tree and I’d love to try something new, but they are definitely on the small side. I’m not sure how much to use.
Mhmm these look divine! No issues with sinking peaches then?
Nope, mine did not sink at all. The batter is nicely thick; that might have helped.
I can’t wait to use my peaches from our local peach festival in this recipe! I also want to get my hands on those liners. Thanks for the sources!
So sorry your friend is moving. It’s so sad when a bud just leaves us like she has her own life. Hopefully, you’ll get to visit and she won’t go too far. Oh, and the cupcakes would be fantastic made with fresh Texas peaches!
the reason you felt the need to make cupcakes is that, subconsciously, you knew today was national cupcake day! fantastic recipe…can’t wait for an excuse to make the brown sugar cream cheese frosting.
What a delicious looking cupcake!! YUM! I really want to make these. Delish!
Oh Goodness! Now I know what to do with all these Harry & David peaches I have…
Oh why did you have to post this? I am dying! I just made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting- but now it is all gone and I am missing it. An excuse to make more is very appreciated by my mouth- but my waistline will not be pleased. Sigh.
Those look so delicious…I think I know what I will be baking this weekend!
P.S. I am totally obsessed with brown cupake liners too! They make cupcakes look so chic!
Adorable! That brown sugar cream cheese frosting looks absolutely divine! :) Will be bookmarking this one to try soon…
Oh my, brown sugar frosting. Gotta make these now!
*sigh*
I actually have every single ingredient for this recipe.
See, I’m subscribed to this blog so whenever a new post pops up, I think, “Mm. Looks good. I might actually COOK/BAKE/BROIL/FRY something new. Oh, but wait. I don’t have such-and-such. Darn. I guess I can’t spend three hours in the kitchen making something that I will inevitably set on fire anyway.” And so I easily talk myself out of spending more than 15 minutes in a small, hot kitchen.
But now I actually have every single ingredient. So. I might actually Bake.
Love the ingenuity of your brown sugar cream cheese frosting recipe!
those look sooooo good.
i’m so happy you came up with that frosting. i tried a brown sugar meringue frosting and it tasted really good (except a little too buttery and a pain to make). this one sounds much easier! also, i made a yogurt cake from food and wine, and oh boy, full fat yogurt is the way to go for moistness.
my husband has just banned me from making these right now (i’m already scheduled to make chocolate chip cookies and zucchini muffins for a work function tomorrow) but I will be adding these to my recipe file for making VERY VERY soon.
Perfect way to use up the leftover buttermilk from the raspberry buttermilk cake I made for a brunch on Saturday. BTW – it looked a little on the thin side in the pictures, so I decided to dress it up with raspberries and blueberries and layer two of them with a fresh strawberry compote in the middle. Rather than ice the whole thing, I just served it sliced with a dollop of whipped cream and fresh berries on the side. It was fantastic. I think I’ll try to make a cake out of this one as well… blackberry compote maybe?
the brown sugar frosting sounds brilliant! (so do the peach cupcakes….i’ll have to make this one soon!)
thank you, thank you, I have peaches on my counter and everything!!!
these sounds fabulous! and I am all about that brown sugar frosting. holy hell! I don’t think it would make it onto the cupcake- I’d pipe it straight into my mouth! ;)
seriously…..how do you and your hubby not weigh 800 pounds? these look amazing!
These look so cute. I love the idea of brown sugar/cream cheese frosting.
That looks so delish!!! The brown sugar frosting sounds very yummy indeed!
i cant wait to make these! Peacehes are so perfect right now…Thanks!
Peaches and brown sugar are a divine match, I’ve decided that … so once I get my new stand mixer for my upcoming b’day, this recipe is going on my must-make list!
i’m so impressed you made this recipe yourself. a peach cupcake! how has no one made this before. can’t wait to make this.
ooooh the yumminess! LLGxx
I love the way the frosting looks in this! Kind of like little white chocolate chips!
These are gorgeous and sound amazing!!!
These cupakes sound wonderful. I have a unfortunate weakness for cupcakes, and Im excited to try this recipe. It sort of reminds me of a peach crisp, with brown sugar topping, which is fantastic and proves that that the combo is a good one.
Speaking of peaches from Carolina, you just reminded me of a quick treat I haven’t fixed in a while. Peached with blueberries in a buttered dish with a light sprinkling of brown sugah (that’s how we say it around here) topped with yogurt then pop it in the oven on whatever (I’m real accurate like that) to warm for a bit. It probably has some fancy schmancy name but here in the south I just call it good. It’s pretty healthy too. (And I’ll be so very embarrassed if it’s something you’ve already posted about.)
I’m sure some of that brown sugar frosting would make even dirt edible – that looks good! Trying it soon.
Take it from the Palmetto (South Carolina for those who don’t know) girl, we do have great peaches here. Especially this year they are unordinarly large!! I can’t wait to try these peach cupcakes this is a new one for me and we have tried it alot of interesting things with peaches. I will let you know how they turn out.
I have to make these. But I’m vegan. I’m thinking to just use a standard cupcake recipe, and add peaches, but it looks like you reduced the liquid to compensate for the added moisture from the peaches? (Or at least you had a thick batter recipe.) Any ideas how much to reduce the liquid?
Also, I grew up in South Carolina and went to college in New York. My family had a peach tree in the back yard. MAN was I disappointed the first time I bought peaches. :)
I’m with Christi, the peaches at home this year were HUGE! (I’m from Greenville, which is near Gaffney, which is home to the giant peach water tower and some of the country’s best peach farms!) They were also phenomenally good, especially the Monroes. I had half a bushel last week, but I’ve put them all into jam and marmalade by now–a shame since these look AMAZING! Maybe I can try this recipe before the season ends if I get my hands on some more up here in NC.
Kudos to you for paying homage to SC (appeasing my peach snobbery, which rears its head whenever peaches appear in recipes), and for creating these beautiful cupcakes. Love this blog!
I can’t wait to make this Cupcakes Looks so Yummy ! I just went to the market and Peaches where amazing I’m in GA and they have Huge Peach’s Love your photos they are amazing thanks for sharing your Recipe :)
Have a wonderful Day ~~~
These cupcakes look fabulous! Peaches, brown sugar, and cream cheese? Oh my! I cannot wait to make these.
OMG, peaches and cream is exactly what this recipe reminds me of! You’re brilliant!
Being a carolina girl I just have to add my $0.02!
1. This recipe looks incredible and I am definitely adding it to the cupcake pile!
2. If you’re interested in getting SC peaches shipped to you at low cost (cause they’re the best anywhere… everywhere!) check out Mac’s Pride at http://www.macspride.com/. No I don’t work there. No I don’t know Mac. But they’re dang good peaches and they come straight to your door and for a girl like me, who’s been far from SC since she graduated college – there’s nothing better than having a little piece of home land on your front stoop in the summer.
3. I never comment, but I do love your site. And your cooking.
Wow these look so great! I absolutely love the way that the frosting is piped on, it reminds me of little hershey kisses.
I have peaches needing to be used, and while I really want to try the peach hand pies, I know I would just gobble them up all at once and gain 10 lbs in one afternoon. So just two days ago I was inspired to make peach muffins, sort of thinking they might be as delicious as your cupcakes look. Not so much, although they weren’t BAD, just not great. I hijacked a Martha banana cupcake recipe, and added chopped peaches, but they were sticky. I think maybe the secret is in chopping the peach slices just so, because mine were on the larger side, and I repeat, not so great. Also, I had to store the leftover muffins in the fridge because the big ol’ chunks of peach in them couldn’t be left out on the counter in this heat.
Just my experience, here’s to more peach adventures!
I love you!
Your recipies always use normal ingredients, the pictures are fabulous, and best of all – They WORK! You are my go-to for recipies – and my home page – thank you!
i soooo needed another peach recipe this week – i bought a box of them, and have been drinking banana/peach smoothies for breakfast, have made peach cobbler twice ( Paula Deen’s version with my own little twists) and tomorrow nonbake individual cheescakes with a cooked peach topping, sigh. and i have frozen slices for the long winter months
but i looooove cupcakes and muffins – so thanks for all the hard work refining this baby
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) buttermilk, sour cream or full-fat yogurt
which did you use, and why? does the butter milk keep the tang? does the sour cream make it thicker, richer?
I used a mix of yogurt and sour cream. The buttermilk works as well. They all have tang; the recipe works with all three.
These look great! At first I though those were little white chocolate morsels on your peach cupcakes:)
Incredible looking cupcakes! Another great way to use up summer peaches. I love this. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
These look so pretty and I do love peaches in just about any dessert. I am tempted to make this recipe into a cake because it has icing in the middle too, and requires utensils that allow me cut it to get it all in my mouth instead of getting the frosting up my nose. Gah! Cupcakes drive me crazy that way. And, I guess I’m still cupcaked out from the bazillions I sent to school with my kids! I’ll let you know how the cake works out for me.
These DO look like great breakfast muffins! And it’ll allow me to sneak in some fruit in the mornings!
I like how you decorated the frosting!
Thanks so much for mentioning the baking supply store! I’ll be in NYC this weekend, and I am DEFINITELY going to pop in that store!
Made these tonight. My new favorite cupcake. They taste amazing, and I’m one of those not “into” fruit desserts. Thank you so much.
Do you think you could give us more tips on the best peaches to use as I’m not familiar with all the U.S. types. I mean should they be ripe, very ripe, sweet, sour? Having made your lovely lemon yogurt anything cake yesterday, which is broadly similar in as much as it’s a relatively wet (actually wetter) cake, but using raspberries, I can see this recipe as working very well as a cake, though probably with sour-ish rather than over-sweet, mushy peaches. Any tips?
Nadia — I would use ripe peaches. Not mushy-ripe, but ones at their peak flavor, which shouldn’t be hard as they are in season right now. Unripe ones won’t bake up and break down well in a 20-minute baking time; overly ripe ones will be messy and hard to chop.
These look really good! I must try them out, i never made cupcakes before
dear deb,
you always amaze! since i am fairly new to baking, i follow your recipes/suggestions to the “letter” & all is working out well (my creativity is coming). thanks so much! & btw: the photography is always so picture perfect!
Yum! The brown sugar frosting looks incredible… :D
We have a farmer’s market across the street from our house on Saturdays all summer and the peaches should be there now. This is the perfect use for them! I cannot wait!!!
Mmmm….brown sugar icing. I have a theory that any food can be improved by adding dark brown sugar and/or bacon. Think I’ll leave the bacon out this time.
Sweet! I would have sworn those were white chocolate chips on top. Is there such a thing?
Ooooh, Deb! I just made peach preserves, and I have a few peaches left over. I was wondering what to do with them (apart from just EATING them), and now I have the perfect solution. I’d bet this recips would make a swell triple layer cake too.
I just finished eating a fresh local peach for breakfast but now your post leaves me thinking….wouldn’t a fresh peach cupcake have been better!!!!!!
I love how you decorated these!! Would these work as a cake?? It looks interesting, I’d love to make this as a cake!!
Those look amazing! I can’t wait to try them. I have some peaches left over from making peaches soaked in wine that are just getting ripe and now I have a new idea for them. Thanks!
I am so excited to make these!! Love your blog!
Finally a good excuse to drag my husband to the Okanagan Valley and pick up a couple of flats of peaches. Some for baking and some for canning. They are well worth the drive!
Peach cupcakes? That is completely new to me, Deb. You’re a genius, woman. :)
I just ate the last one for breakfast this morning. And four days later they were still AMAZING! Yum.
Molly—-GRRRRRRRRR. Atlanta is stupid.
I was looking for something to bake this weekend, and I do believe this is it! Oh my gosh, this just looks so delectable! And I’m such a huge brown sugar fan… it’s so, so… so soulful :) Thanks, as always!
These sound amazing!!!! I am definitely going to give them a try but I was wondering if you have any suggestions for baking them in altitude? I’m in Denver so at about 5200 feet but I really want to make these :)
I love how you did tiny dollops of icing! Just made a batch of blueberry muffins for our big back-to-school week. Think I’ll whip up some of these and try freezing them.
These remind me of the Peach Cobbler cupcakes I cobbled together — a sort of peach spice cake. They were delicious.
I get SO happy when you post new recipes. Anything you give me is a new fantastic experience! Thank you, thank you! Can’t wait to bake later today.LOVE YOUR BLOG.
These are beautiful! I saw this recipe when I got out of bed this morning and ran to check out the pictures, these couldn’t sound (or look) better. I have some left over peaches from a peach picking trip earlier in the summer which are currently frozen. I think I might have to pull them out to try these. And brown sugar frosting – could it get any better. Thanks so much for sharing and doing the oven work for all of us!
I’m not the biggest fan of peach cupcakes, but I really like the way that you frosted those. I will probably try the brown sugar frosting with an oatmeal based cookie.
just made these as i had just bought some great peaches yesterday afternoon…. used less sugar since iwanted muffins and i used yoghurt since here in mexico there is no buttermilk!
thanks they smell amazing
It’s hard to lose a friend to love, but it looks as though you have given her a fitting tribute. These look amazing! I love your version of brown sugar frosting – heavy on the brown sugar.
HOLY COW!
I would first like to say that this is the most amazing masterpiece of a website that I have EVER seen! When I arrived at work almost two hours ago… I decided to innocently send my friend and colleague the link to this website to show her a recipe I came across last night while googling. One thing led to another, and we have both found ourselves meandering through the website for hours… sending each other snippets of funny quotes and recipes over IM. I am both thrilled and terrified by the discovery of the site.. wondering if I’ll ever be productive again! It appears I have years of backlog to catch up on!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
It is breakfast time, but man, these look good. Printing this one to try one day soon. Esp. the frosting!
Mmm, peaches. As a Georgia transplant out in the Tucson desert, I can tell you in no uncertain terms that unless you’ve had a peach that was tree-ripened, you ain’t had a decent peach. They cannot be bought in the grocery store! Every year for four years, I’d buy some of the rock-hard peach approximations shipped in from California, and every summer I’d be disappointed – until, that is, I found out that you can pick your own peaches in Willcox, AZ of all places (which is why I currently have 6 cups of jam, 3 pints of pickled peaches, 2 pints of peach chutney and four quarts of sliced, frozen peaches at my house – takes surprisingly little effort to pick 25 lbs of peaches!). If they grow in Arizona, they must grow lots of other places, and with peaches, more than any other fruit that comes to mind, the quality of farm-bought so far outstrips that of store-bought that I have no hesitation in recommending a day trip for the sole purpose of procuring yourself some.
Speaking of those frozen peaches in my kitchen, I’ll have to remember this recipe once it cools down enough to turn on my oven – right now, I’m strictly a stovetop cook, but this looks delicious, Deb!
I love peaches. With brown sugar frosting – HOW DIVINE
love cupcakes, lovely recipe but my frosting always goes curdy !!!! help, what am I doing wrong? Is it because I should do it by hand, not by mixer? I know that everything has to be in room temp. what is wrong with me???? :(
What about peach cupcakes with brown sugar cheesecake filling? Just take the icing and tuck it away inside! I make cheesecake filled cupcakes quite a bit and they’re always a hit. Mix 8 oz cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/3 cup sugar, pinch salt. Fill muffin liners half full of some kind of batter that goes with cheesecake, add a blob of filling. Bake, and the cake rises up over the cheesecake and hides it.
I have used all kinds of combos—a special favorite was spice cake with blackberry cheesecake filling. Cupcakes filled this way can be frosted, but it’s sometimes too much with the rich filling inisde. I like to tell myself that this “adds protein” to the cakes and makes them suitable for breakfast.
Wow, peaches plus brown sugar all in one delicious baked treat. I’m in heaven.
I was just starting to sweat over the huge amount of peaches we have from our CSA. I had already queued up plans to bake your hand pies & creme fraiche pie but realized–as I sorted the peaches–that I would still have more to tend to. So thank you for another option–I love trying new things and your recipes have yet to fail me :).
emily (#18). peeling peaches is easy. dunk them into a just-boiled pot of water for a few seconds, shock them in an ice bath. give them a rub, and the skins wrinkle right off. much easier than a paring knife.
awesome! i suddenly have an urge to bake tons of delicious things containing peaches since they’re on their way out of season. this is perfect. also, a lot of brown sugar icing recipes i’ve previously seen contained egg whites, so i’m so glad this recipe doesn’t. huzzah!
Not that I don’t want to make these right away, but I’ve also got lots of peaches in my freezer. Could I use them this winter when I need a boost of sunshine? I didn’t add any sugar when I froze them, but they’ll be mush (mostly for smoothies) when they thaw.
These look and sound delicious. However, the best peaches out there are from Chilton County Alabama, not South Carolina. :)
How adorable are these?! Perfection. Love your idea for breakfast muffins, too :)
Sounds fantastic, especially the brown sugar frosting. Gotta love it!
Hello! This is my first time posting but I’m a long time lurker/cooker of all these wonderful recipes!
I saw this and I had to make it so I got peaches from the market, and then went to the grocery store for a few more things…and then sadly discovered I could not find cake flour!! I’ve read that I can substitute a bit less all purpose flour + cornstarch? Any idea if this will work?? I must have these now:) Thanks!
As for making the cupcakes in advance: You’ll definitely want to keep them, once iced, in the fridge because a cream cheese frosting is not room temperature stable. However, it is my preference that if I *know* I’ll be making something like cakes or cupcakes a few days out to bake the cupcakes and freeze them unfrosted and well-wrapped until I’m ready to use them. Icing them at the last minute, or at least in the last day before you’ll be serving them, allows them to stay as moist as possible. (In general, I think that the fridge can dry out cakes so I don’t like to keep them in there too long.)
You can actually swap all-purpose flour for the cake flour in this recipe — it does work — but you can always make your own cake flour at home for a cake with a more delicate crumb: Place two tablespoons of cornstarch in the bottom of a measuring cup. Fill it the rest of the way with regular, all-purpose flour. Sift this mixture three times. One cup of it will be one cup of cake flour (so you’ll want to triple those quantities).
Yes! South Carolina peaches! As someone growing up in the south on only GA or SC peaches, I was really taken aback by these “California” “Peaches” that everyone was eating when I moved to Chicago. I really didn’t get it. Whenever I go home during the summer, I always bring back bags of good peaches.
Anyhow, this recipe sounds DELICIOUS. And I’m going to make it this weekend.
Oh yum!
I will have to use the brown sugar cream cheese frosting the next time I make carrot cake! (Or maybe see if these cupcakes will convert my husband from his peach hating ways.)
I’m also wondering the best way to store these overnight…if I don’t eat them all! (wow, I have so many questions, sorry)
What a great recipe, and they are so cute!
I’m so happy about your mention of SC peaches! They truly are the best. Peaches and watermelons and grits and sweet tea and boiled peanuts… yum.
Anyway Thank you again for the wonderful recipe! I can’t wait to try this out during my weekend time! You are the baking queen in my book!
Can’t Wait to Try them!
Question for you on the cornstarch in the frosting. Do you warm over a double boiler to remove the “raw taste” of cornstarch?
I have found that this is necessary for quick vanilla frostings using powdered sugar.
I have never heard of warming the cornstarch in quick buttercreams (which would come in the powdered sugar, which is just whipped with butter). Wouldn’t that melt the butter? So in short: No, I have not. But if you think it needs it, give it a try with your method.
oh. my. god. i just got back from visiting granny in NC and brought back a flat of SC peaches with me on the plane…i am sick of crisps so this is being baked tonight!!!!!! i love love love waking up to emails from you, but it just keeps me hungry all day long :)
Made these for dessert tonight. Did 1/2 whole wheat flour + 1/2 all-purpose, reduced both sugars to just 1 scant cup brown. Went with the whole fat plain yogurt, and used 2 nectarines + 2 plums as that was what I had. I imagine all cake flour would make a far more tender product, but we found them plenty scrumptious, and as the mother of 2 young kids I’m compelled to make things a wee bit more nutritious if I can.
For the icing I just did 12 oz. cream cheese, 1.5 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar & vanilla and spread as soon as the cupcakes were cooled. No butter or cornstarch. (Nothing against them, just always in a hurry). My husband ate 3 cupcakes, my mother moaned and groaned as she ate hers, and the kids loved them of course. This recipe is a keeper for us, thanks!
I wish I’d had this recipe when I got home from the farmers’ market this weekend with a bagful of fresh peaches. We’ve since eaten them, fresh or grilled. . .Now, I’m hoping those peaches are there again! If so, I’ll be making these Saturday afternoon!
Thanks for the delicious-sounding recipe and the great decorating ideas!
While I don’t think I’ll make the cupcakes (flavor looks great but i hate fruit pieces in things, it’s a texture issue) the frosting looks amazing and will definitely be used. I’ve never even heard of cream cheese sugar frosting before but it definitely sounds worth remembering.
I just made these!! They are so light and fluffy and tasty that I’ll probably have to make them over and over again until the peach season is past :) BTW, I made half my batch as cupcakes, and half as breakfast muffins sprinkled with a cinnamon-brown sugar-rolled oats mixture before baking.
I just made these, and they are fantastic; just light enough to be fluffy, but with enough sweetness to make it a stellar dessert.
However, I’m left with enough brown sugar cream cheese icing to fill a battleship.
Just thought I’d come back to let you all know that it does work as a cake!! I baked it in a round silicone pan that I have, not sure the exact size…and it actually came out better than my cupcakes, which kind of stuck to my pan because I don’t have cupcake liners (i thought the sillcone would be good enough, and I greased with some butter…). So those who want to make it as a cake, do it! It’s so delicious I can’t stop eating it, and I haven’t even frosted it yet.
I know this is blasphemous, but are these doable with cake mix? Which cake mix? It’s just so much easier…
Made these tonight and they were fantastically moist! That might have something to do with accidentally using GREEK yogurt instead of regular, but I love the slight bit of tanginess and baking them totally satisfied my post-“Julie&Julia” urge to bake something :)
Hi Deb, it’s Ryan again, from comment #10.
Well, I adapted this recipe into a cake, and it was a huge hit! I can safely say that this recipe as written will fill two 9-inch cake pans. Just so you know, I halved the cake recipe to make a double-layer 6-inch cake. I made a peach curd as a filling, then frosted the top and sides of the cake with a half-recipe of your brown sugar frosting. I had some extra peach curd left over, and drizzled it on the plates with the cake slices. One person said it was the best cake I’ve ever served!
Thanks for the recipe, and the inspiration!
I spent the summer of 2004 working in North Carolina. My friends who were local would bring me peaches every day. I still daydream about them all the time. Can’t wait to try this recipe!
So glad this post came when it did; there were too many peaches in our house that weren’t going to get eaten before going bad. I just made these as muffins, and they are fabulous. I used slightly more than half cake flour and the rest was whole wheat flour. Per your suggestion, I halved the amount of granulated sugar. There was only low-fat yogurt in the house, so that’s what went in the recipe. Oh, they came out wonderfully and all I taste is delicious, summer peaches! Thanks so much for the recipe!
I also want to try a cake (My birthday today! and I always do my own cakes even though my processed food children would prefer a Carvel) but would rather do a 13 by 9, any thoughts?
yum! I can almost taste them through the computer! (i wish!)
These photos made me sigh with happiness. So glorious.
I like the sounds of making them with half whole-wheat and less sugar for a breakfast muffin. Peaches right now in Ontario are also a-mazing and need some vehicles to display their pefection.
I’ve never had a South Carolina peach, but Niagara peaches are in full force here in Ontario. These cupcakes will be perfect for my daughter’s birthday – thanks for the recipe!
I made these as muffins last night. Half whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup less sugar. I even cut out 1/2 stick of butter and still got rave reviews! Thanks Deb!
This recipe came at a perfect time – I was itching to bake peach muffins and was having trouble finding a good recipe! Like others, I took your suggestions (subbing in some whole wheat flour and reducing the sugar), and I also halved the butter (adding a few more tablespoons of buttermilk to guard against dryness). I also added a streusel topping, which provided a delicious cinnamon-sugary crumbly layer to top it off. I loved the result – and am going to go eat another right now. Thanks so much Deb!
Hi !
Delightful muffin recipe, made my morning.
I’m soo curious about the frosting. I have been having a frosting debate for a while now. And before I even got as far as the body of your recipe-I thought, cornstarch?! And there it was, your reasoning.
My favorite frosting, is from Magnolia bakery, light, delicious and airy, creamy, buttery goodness…soft.
They swear they use granulated sugar. I’m curious, have you attempted their recipe? I cannot get mine as light and fluffy as theirs, and am typically left with runny clumpy frosting EWE.
I believe getting frosting right, the amount and the flavor is an art and crucial to the success of the cupcake, cake, cookie, etc.
Any thoughts on this would be awesome. Thanks for this recipe, it simply rocks!
I bet these are soo good! And from NC, none the less! Also love the topping :)
Great recipe. I (luckily) had 3 peaches left from the produce stand that I visited earlier this week and decided to make the cake version (based on your suggestions). I have a slightly hot oven (although I am not sure how much too hot), but I only baked the 9-inch pans about 30 minutes. The cake was light and the peaches were suspended throughout. I should have put a bit more icing in between the layers as I have quite a bit of icing left over. It was really good. My boyfriend said to give it a “plus, plus, plus”!
Thanks for sharing!
You are forever killing me with postings like this… my resolve to try and cut back on sweets gets delayed again and again and again. I am making these this weekend for my sweets loving hunka-hubby, he will once again sing your praises for sharing your recipes and mine, for loving him enough to try them all on him.
Hey Deb! So …mine turned out very wet. I’m thinking maybe my peaches were ridiculously huge and introduced too much liquid. Do you know about how many cups of chopped peach you used?
Also– my cupcakes ended up with some strange bits of discoloration (the occasional dot or streak of dark blue/black) which I know can happen with baked fruit and pH whackadoodling about, but is there a way to avoid this?
Even with minor strangeness, they were delicious! I sprinkled them with the tiniest bit of salt and nutmeg, and it was lovely.
Hi Elisabeth — Not sure why your batter turned out so wet — you’re probably correct about the moisture content of the peaches — but when you see discoloration, it is almost always due to using a baking powder with aluminum in it. Swap the brand you use, and the streaky blue color vanishes.
Well…. I made these last night and they turned out to be quite confusing for me. I used buttermilk in mine… the batter was really light and fluffy. The cakes sunk in horribly in the center and came out SO delicate that they literally fall apart if you even look sideways at them. They taste great! But as far as looks go they are pretty gnarly. I am taking some to work today regardless.
Deb… did your peaches all come out at the bottom of the cakes? Mine all sank down making the base of the cakes quite wet.
I should mention I am baking at high altitude. I did all my usual tricks to combat this but I think this recipe must just be a tricky one in the mountains!
i made these this morning. i found that the cakes didn’t set in the time allotted, but when i inserted the tootpick it came out clean. my first bacth was a little uncooked in the middle, so i left the second batch in for longer. anyway, they are delicious and make the house smell lovely! i also made you melon agua fresca last night. yummy!
They look yummy, I would love to make them! :)
sitting here in front of my monitor i can just smell the fragrance of the peaches as they bake in the oven. and i love love cream cheese frosting! must try, thanks!
Question for anyone who has made the frosting: do you think it would go with a
devils food/chocolate cake? the Sky High book has a devils food cake with a brown sugar buttercream but this frosting sounds better. thanks in advance :)
I made these for dessert tonight and they were a hit!!! I used sour cream. The cakes were perfectly moist, the peaches perfectly distributed, and the cakes perfectly sweet. I couldn’t stop licking the spoon either from the frosting. I was concerned about making such a large batch for a fairly small manhattan dinner party, BUT EVERY SINGLE GUEST ATE 2!!! (even the ones who were “watching” what they ate) and they each wanted to take some home. Total hit! Thanks Deb!
BEST. CUPCAKES. EVER
I have never been so thrilled with a cupcake or cake that I have made until this afternoon. This is seriously the best cupcake I have ever had. Now I have to go back to the farmers market this week to buy more peaches!
Thanks Deb!
I love how all the southerners are commenting!
Anyway…I imagine your friend Molly is moving back to NC? I read on her ribs post that she lived in or near Chapel Hill for a couple of years, which is where I live. Wish her luck, and tell her I’ve been converted to NC bbq. And I grew up on KC bbq.
These are delicious!!! I used all buttermilk and they turned out so great :)
I live in a tropical country were peaches are hardly find. Which could be a good fruit substitute?
Thise cupcakes are gorgeous!
So while I’ve not tried this recipe yet I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you that the discovery of your site has enriched my life. I generally bake at least once a week and it’s almost always a recipe of yours. Everything is met with rave reviews and I’ve passed the link to Smitten Kitchen to countless people. Thank you for inspiring me and many others to explore our culinary curiosities. =)
Thank you for this delicious recipe. I did a cake version using buttermilk, an 9 X 13 pan and baked at 350 for about 50 minutes. The result was fantastic. I’ve got a peach tree that is heavy with fruit and am looking forward to making this cake again. Keep up the good work Deb!
I made these this weekend and they were a huge hit! Very moist, light and fluffy, with yummy bits of peaches all the way through.
Elisabeth– I had the same discoloration happen a few times through the cupcakes (very minor spots though) and I always use Rumford aluminum-free baking powder, so I don’t think that was the reason. No advice on getting rid of it though!
Made this as a 9-inch 2 layer cake tonight–frosted in between the layers and on top with a thin layer of lemon buttercream frosting (leftover from another cake I made a week ago). It was a real hit! Very tasty.
Loved these cupcakes. Have never baked with real cake flour, but now I see the difference — so light and fluffy. I went with 30 minis and 12 regular sized. As a teacher, minis are clutch when feeding the students. For home and office sharing, regular size is a must. And, my husband is a huge peach fan, so he was excited to pick out the perfect fruit at the market. Thanks!
sarah made them and I had like eight!
Just tried these yesterday. I replaced the butter with an equal volume of unsweetened apple sauce. Not only did this make the mixing of the sugars, etc easier but the cupcakes came out nicely and a little bit moist. Good recipe!
Beautiful! These look so pretty with the icing!
This is by far the tastiest frosting I have ever had. The cake is quite good too (I wish I would have added more peaches, but I hesitated because I was afraid of impacting the cake negatively), but the frosting really steals the show.
Oh my. I finally got around to making these last night. I christened the KitchenAid stand mixer I’ve owned for three years, but had never before used. They are just so delicious. This is the first cupcake I’ve ever made from scratch (including the icing), and I couldn’t be prouder. Deb – thanks so much for the encouragement to give baking a try. Turns out it wasn’t as scary (with all the measuring and what-not) as I thought it would be!
I made these on Sunday for a staff meeting on Monday. They were a huge hit! 3 requests for the recipe:) That frosting is to die for and will be my new “go to” frosting from now on!
I turned on my oven for the first time in weeks to make these last night and it was worth it. I only did a half batch and it made a dozen smallish cupcakes plus one extra “bakers treat” to taste test. This is the first time I tried the corn starch + All Purpose Flour = Cake Flour trick and it worked really well. FYI, I was out of granulated sugar so I left it out and only used brown sugar. It worked out ok, especially since I iced them with a sweet raspberry butter cream (brown sugar frosting next time!).
I, too, made this as a 9-inch 2-layer cake this weekend, and it was perfect! SUPER light and airy, as described. I used a different cream cheese frosting recipe, because I wanted something thick so I could decorate with it easily. (My go-to is from a Martha Stewart reader: 4 oz butter, 4 oz cream cheese, 2 c powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla – turns out perfect every time. I made 4 times that recipe to decorate a 9-inch cake, and had a fair amount left over.) Lovely, but next time I want to try the brown sugar frosting… anyway, just wanted to chime in to say that this works perfectly as a cake as well. Thanks, Deb!
My relatives love these peach cupcakes, and love me for baking them! I used All-purpose flour, yogurt, and margarine, which made a light, and delicious batter. Everyone took home a few, and only a few were left! The frosting was heaven! Thanks for making me shine with the ones I love, and love to feed.
Fantastic, thank you! This got great reviews from my co-workers. I followed the recipe exactly but I added a little bourbon to the frosting, gave it a nice little kick!
This frosting (my new fave!) went nicely with the pineapple-upside down cupcakes I made this weekend. Thank you!!
These look delightful! I bake a lot and had created a peaches and cream cupcake for last Fourth of July. However, this brown sugar frosting would be a great pair! And, a good transition into fall!
Seriously – may blessings be heaped upon you for this one!
I just found this blog and its gorgeous – what great food photography, teh cake s…can I steal that idea for my wedding?
Tx
Deb – I tried these last night; they were delicious! My only quibble was that the frosting, while tasting good, was pretty grainy. My guess is that it was from the cornstarch. Any suggestions? I even cut the cornstarch down a bit. Did I do something wrong?
I made these with half regular whole wheat flour. I think they weren’t quite as light as they would other wise be, but were perfect for breakfast. I also didn’t read the directions on the frosting well enough and only used one block of cream cheese because that was all I bought, but it was still wonderful.
Deb- I made this into a cake while impatiently waiting for my 4-day late baby to arrive…very impatiently…and just HAD to stay busy. (Luckily he came that night! I was having contractions while making the frosting!!)
It was wonderful made into two 9-inch square cakes with the to-die-for frosting in the middle and top. A definite will-make-again recipe.
OMG…can you say amazing??? I baked these tonight with peaches we picked last weekend. I love how light and fluffy the cake is. I did a Mascarpone frosting from Bon Apetit which had some cloves in it. The result was outstanding!
I have nothing of value to input except that this recipe is ridiculous. I just made them – couldn’t even wait until they cooled to try one – burnt my mouth on one of the juicy peach bits – and my husband and I just stared at each other, speachless, shaking our heads. So good.
I really like the cupcake pictures. The white chocolate kisses really look elegant.
Thank you for the recipe.
I made these early this morning. Substitutions I made were swapping half of the flour to whole wheat (I kept the other half as cake flour), and decreasing the amount of both sugars to 1/4 cup each. I probably increased the amount of chopped up peaches to about 2 1/2 to 3 cups. (I had some chopped up peaches in the fridge previously and was going to eat them plain.)
And, finally, I skipped out on the icing, because I don’t own any icing sugar and I’m not willing to buy it until Christmas time. (Your cupcakes still look really lovely, which I’m sure you know.)
The peach muffins/cupcakes (muffins, really) turned out great. Just lightly sweetened, as I like them. Soft and moist, with a slightly, crumbly, cake-ish texture.
I’m off to make your blueberry boy bait.
Thanks again.
I’m back again. Just a note. I refrigerated the batter for about 5 hours for the remaining four muffins (I only have two muffin trays) and added a about 7-10 chopped almonds (I just grabbed a small handful). One more thing that I forgot to mention previously, I used non-fat vanilla yogurt for the entire batter.
I think they taste even better. Even more soft. Less moist. And it holds better, too, since the previous batches would get crumbly in the middle. The last four does not. Still tastes a little cake-ish.
Deb, you make it so easy for me to be a superstar at potlucks and the boyfriend knows you as that food site that’s never failed us (martha has failed us, but you are sinless).
Seriously – I made these for a friend’s birthday. She’d heard a lot about me baking but I’d never baked for her. When I got to the party everyone was asking me if I had made the famous cupcakes and these totally lived up to the billing. I made them exactly as you prescribed. I also put a sliver of fresh peach and a swirl of honey caramel on top. HEAVEN.
I made these today and I am already in love with them. I didn’t even make any frosting–they are perfect as just muffins and in fact I think they might be too sweet with frosting. But I am definitely saving that to put on top of something else!
Also, I used one yellow peach, one white peach, and one white nectarine, and it was AMAZING.
These were really moist. Next time, I wonder if corn meal would be a good flour subsitution?
My peaches also sunk, and I was so careful to cut them into 1/3″ dice. As a result, the bottoms of the cupcakes are soft and wet. Do you think it would help to hold back a little of the flour mixture and then tossing the fruit in it before folding into the rest of the batter would help?
Incredible. Best cupcake recipe. So moist. I used all-purpose white flour because both Whole Foods and Albertson’s in my area did not sell cake flour. I live at 7200 feet so I used 4 small (farmer’s market) eggs for the 2 large eggs. Turned out perfectly moist even better 2 days later. The frosting is to die for. I have made other cream cheese frostings, but this one is really great. I look forward to trying them as muffins or with other fruits. :)
I made your cupcakes for the staff at my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s Facility. The were gone almost immediately. Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe. :)
I just made these and they were perfect! I madee 18 cupcakes and poured the remaining batter into a 9×9 cake pan, and baked for maybe 8-10 min longer than the cupcakes.It was the perfect amount of frosting (with a little left over). It made a perfect peach cake!
Hi Deb,
This recipe looks amazing! I definitely intend to give it a go after my next trip to the farmer’s market.
However, I have a quick question about full-fat/low-fat/fat free yogurt in recipes. A few comments mentioned that folks had used low-fat yogurt with fine results. I tend to keep low or fat free yogurt in my fridge. As a spontaneous baker, I’m just curious about the results of using lower fat varieties in a pinch. Does the fat content change the richness/density/moistness of the cake? Can swapping full fat and fat free yogurt prove disastrous?
Thanks!
Cheers,
Lisa
I am sure you can use low-fat, but I have only made this with full-fat.
Hello, I made these and they were FABULOUS!! The icing and the cake can be eaten separately! :) Just one question, my frosting was more a tan color than yours (I am guessing from the brown sugar). I used light brown sugar but was wondering if you knew why/how yours was so white? Not a big deal. Thanks again so much!
Jana
I’ve got a whole case of Colorado Western Slope peaches begging for special treatment – this looks perfect for my peach-tufted tot’s b-day party this weekend -thanks!
you’re going to love the baby so much more when they are OUT OF YOU :) you can do it!!
I just finished making these….they came out great! I had to use frozen peaches because I had my heart set on making them and the peaches at my grocery store looked crummy. I also used low-fat sour cream, and had to cook them longer because the peach chunks were cold (not frozen) when I baked them. What a great recipe!!
I think these would work well as muffins, too!
These cupcakes are great! I baked them yesterday evening and even my mother-in-law was enthusiast! Thank you!!!
So very yummy! I made these today because I wanted to use up an excess of CSA peaches, so I diced up 4 peaches instead of 3, and spent some time draining/blotting off the juice before adding them in. I used full-fat sour cream, and the batter was nice and thick and so easy to scoop into the papers. Easiest clean-up ever! A perfect dessert for a Labor Day BBQ. Thanks as always!
ooo I made these for a family dinner and all 25 of them were gone before the coffee was ready. I added a wee bit of cinnamon to the batter, and hardly diced the peaches, creating bites that were half peach, half cupcake. Delicious. For the frosting, I tried making b.sugar, but found it was a bit too strong with molasses, so I used half of my own and half of the store bought. Worked great! Thanks!
will these freeze?
All cakes can be frozen if well-wrapped. It is actually my preference to freeze cakes (see comment #112) if I am making something more than a day in advance, to keep it the freshest. I do not frost them until the last minute, however.
Finally got a chance to make these for a department party today, and I’m in love!
They are a very grown up cupcake–not overly sweet at all, and with a subtle flavor that keeps them feeling updated and fresh. My peaches did not sink one iota, and the cupcakes themselves baked up beautifully–light, but still holding together, and golden. I used yogurt, but couldn’t find full-fat at the store (I know!), so I ended up with low fat plain yogurt (Stonyfield Farms) and it worked perfectly.
This is awesome, and the perfect thing for the party–can’t wait for everyone to ooh and ahh over another Deb-created-Erin-made baked good! (Last year, incidentally, I made peach hand pies. I guess I agree that this time of year is perfect for peach recipes!)
Tried out the muffin version, and I am trying to control myself from eating them ALL. They are FABULOUS FABULOUS FABULOUS. Here are the changes I made, to muffinize: used regular all purpose flour, and swapped in 1 c whole wheat & 3 T ground flaxmeal (gotta get those omega3’s, and this seemed a great place to hide them!). Took both sugars down to 1/2 c each, and added about 3/4 c. of walnuts. Yuuuuummmmy! Thanks Deb!
These look delightful, have you ever used frozen peaches?
thanks Deb!
Oh my goodness….. I haven’t even gotten these frosted, and my son just walked in from football practice and INHALED 3 of them. I need to find a hiding place until I can get the frosting on them. Thanks so much! I love your website!
I have enjoyed your recipes and blog immensely for the past year. Your beautiful recipes and photographs are inspiring for this stressed out mother of three! Your cupcakes turned out fluffy and moist. My 4 year old is enjoying them with her friends right now with her impromptu tea party. I went nuts and also adapted the recipe for muffins, as you suggested, and they were great! I used 1.5 cup flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour & 1/2 cup of wheat bran. Also added 1 cup of almond slices. Still moist and yummy!
When a friend of mine requested “white on white” b-day cake I was afraid that it would be super boring….so, I searched around, and ended up adapting this brown sugar cream cheese frosting recipe to use on Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party white cake (slightly tweaked- cinnamon and vanilla swapped for lemon). It was awesome! I just used a little bit less sugar and added a few tablespoons of bourbon to the frosting. Delicious warm flavors! As always, thanks Deb!
I LOVE this recipe!!! They are hands down the best cupcakes I’ve ever eaten.
Could you use canned or thawed frozen peaches?
I made these over the summer and the cupcakes themselves were a big hit. I thought the frosting was a bit heavy, though. The cakes were so delicious they didn’t need frosting!
When I walked into the grocery store yesterday, all I could smell was ripe peaches (I live in FL), so I quickly grabbed some and came home to make this recipe.
Delicious! I did cut back the sugar a tad and made them as muffins – they took a little longer to bake for some reason, but they are so, so yummy! My house smells peachalicious, too.
I scaled back the recipe to make a test run for my daughter’s upcoming birthday this weekend. Absolutely scrumptious! The frosting is a bit rich, but I expected that since it has cream cheese in it. I can’t wait to make this for her party, they will be a hit.
Would it work to substitute mango for peach in this recipe, if done in muffin rather than cupcake form?
i literally, JUST made these, and a few minutes ago i decided to sneak one to make sure i didnt mess anything up, and sweet lord. best. cupcakes. evar.
i’m making them for a baby shower, but you know, maybe i could give them some store-bought cupcakes and i keep these for myself. i dont actually like cupcakes and most cakes, but i could live off these. just the fluffy-ness of it alone is amazing. not to mention getting the little peach chunks which explode with peach-yness. and the frosting was awesome, it was sweet, but not overbearing in anyway
The peaches I used weren’t ripe enough, so the cupcakes along tasted a little cornbread-ish. So I made a blueberry filling for them, and I also put a little Woodford Reserve bourbon in the frosting. They were really good!
I just made this frosting but used butter that I browned (and then refrigerated). It was AMAZING!!!
Yum! Will plan to make these for my son’s 1st birthday this weekend. Thanks!!
Just made these for a job interview tomorrow with a cupcake only bakery. If these don’t get me in, nothing will! They’re amazing!
these were a hit this morning when i came into work! you are right. . . that home*made cream cheese frosting put the perfect twist on these cupcakes. they came out so moist and the flavors were amazing! i have everyone at work on a sugar high this morning!!! thanks again for another successful recipe!!!!
i had a rainy day off from work the other day and decided the best thing to do would be to try this recipe. i’ve had it bookmarked for a while and am now facing the wrath of those who devoured them for waiting so long. they were absolutely fantastic. i followed the recipe to a t (i’m quite the novice and bow to your baking skills) and it worked so well. my step-mom thought they came from her favorite bakery and some described them as “the best cupcakes i’ve ever had.” thank you for the recipe, the spike in popularity, and those irresistible pictures of your chef-to-be!
These turned out AMAZING, everyone loved them!
I won’t make these again as to recipe posted; might try with whole wheat instead of white cake flour. Maybe I’m too spoiled by artisan orginac bakery goods, but these ‘overprocessed’, like something from a mainstream bakery. Not a problem, but worth noting, that I had to bake them 15 minutes longer than the recipe stated. That MIGHT be becauase you’re supposed to dice 3 large peaches. Maybe my local large is twice the size of Smitten’s large size peach. I just weighed some of my local large peaches, and the average is 14 0z. each.
Sorry, but not speccial enough to even come close to justifying the fat content of either the batter OR the icing.
Made these again, and this time we love them. With all whole wheat flour, 1/2 t. extra salt, and 1 1/2 t. almond extract instead of the vanilla.
I didn’t ice mine as pictured above, but sliced them across at the pillowy tops, and thickly ‘buttered’ them; this because most are being frozen, so less it’s less messy for individually wrapping. Buttering the icing thusly, there is enough for 6 dozen cupcakes.
I just baked them and cannot yet comment on the icing. I’ll make it tomorrow for my daughters birthday. She has been requesting “Peach Cake” for about 6 months for her birthday. I used white peaches which are her favorite, but their flavor, as fantastic as it is fresh, is a bit too mild–so use yellow peaches. I halved the recipe as there are only going to be 10 of us and it allowed me to FILL the muffin liners to the top-and I baked them for 27 minutes at 350. I cannot wait to try the icing on them. I’m also considering adding some peach puree drizzled over the top for added peach flavor that is missing due to the white peaches.
this may be a silly question, but any thoughts on whether to use sour cream, buttermilk, or the full-fat yogurt?? i usually loooove sour cream in muffins, but am wondering if the yogurt will work better with peaches?
I added the tiniest pinch of cinnamon to the icing and thought that it complemented the peaches, nutmeg and brown sugar just beautifully! Now, if I can just stop eating them!!!
After recently returning from Europe and indulging in the food and fruits of the country which are so rich in flavor, and delicious beyond words, leaving me wishing I could have brought some home … this recipe was a treasure to find. In searching for a peach recipe, I came upon your site/recipe for Peach Cupcakes, so I made them today, taste testing all long the way, and I cannot say THANK YOU enough for sharing this recipe. It is no doubt becoming a family favorite by the look of what’s left! The cupcakes are so light, scrumptious and mouth watering, even before the frosting {which is a delight too!}. It’s the perfect ending to a meal, and our day. Made me feel like I was sitting in a Patisserie in Italy.
Thanks for the recipe. I always make cakes/cupcakes from scratch, but I really loved this recipe because it didn’t involve three bowls to make the cake, which can become tiresome. And the result is light, moist, and delicious. Fantastic!
Okay, I’m sorry. I wrote the last comment before I’d tried the whole package. I just ate one frosted and now I think I might die it was so good. I actually cursed when I took my first bite because I wasn’t quite sure what else to say. My husband: “Good?” Understatement. I would make this cake in a heartbeat even if it required 10 bowls. Anyway, the flavors are amazingly like my great-grandma’s peach pie that had this super tasty glaze…but it’s a yummy cake version! Mmmm, mm.
so a friend of mine made these and RAVED about them.
she loved them, especially the icing. i made them tonight for a friend’s going away party. they were devoured quickly, but i must admit the brown sugar icing tasted more like molasses icing….i followed the recipe exactly….why was the molasses taste so much more evident? i’m definitely going to try them again with less molasses.
anyway who cares, there were some people at the party who said they “didn’t like” cupcakes who just loved these. so there ya go! smitten kitchen wins again!
Apologies if you know this already, and you’re thinking “DUH, Deb!” but brown sugar is simply white sugar + molasses. Darker would have more molasses than light.
These were delish!!! Will definitely be making again and again in the future! I made exactly as the recipe states except that I topped them with a butter roux frosting. Made them for a baby shower and everyone wants the recipe! I’ll definitely be making the breakfast muffin version as well although to tell the truth I ate the 1 leftover cupcake for breakfast the next day anywayl! Thanks!
Ok Deb, this might just be WAAAY to much browning everywhere… but, have you ever tryied this frosting with browned butter? Do you think it would be lost in the taste, or take over? Just curious. I love your browned butter Krispy treats and made these cupcakes this morning. Made me wonder.
I thought I would make just the cupcakes, without the frosting, for obvious sugar reasons. The cupcakes were moist and delicious, the peaches soft and luscious. Then I caved in and made the frosting. I may never recover from the sugar coma. But what a way to go!
Thank you so much for a delicious recipe which I will be making often in the future.
You know I visit your site just to look & drool at your carrot and peach cupcakes, esp. the frosting I absolutely love the pillowy peaks of frosting on them. My piping skills are that of a 5-yr old’s (and that’s tooting my own horn). Pretty as sky-high buttercream frostings are, I just can’t eat them. Anyway, I did have a question: what sort of effect would dark brown sugar have on colour & taste should I brave to make your brown shugah frosting for my minimally toxic RVC? (I don’t even know why I made that today as I’m really not that into it, but I digress.) I suppose I can just go ahead and give the frosting a try.
Made these with yogurt and yellow peaches–SUPER DELICIOUS. They didn’t need frosting… I felt like it masked the subtler sweetness of the peaches. Froze some of them for later and they were just as amazing defrosted. I’ll definitely make them again.
I made these cupcakes for a charity bake sale at work and I’ve never had so many compliments on my baking! I particularly liked one colleague saying he had ‘angels on his tongue’ when he tried them! Absolutely amazing cupcakes, perfectly moist, lovely mix of flavours, and really moreish. Somehow with the quantities I’ve ended up with far more frosting than I needed (maybe I was a bit too stingy on the frosting, my excuse is I was doing it at 6am this morning), but that’s fine, I’ll just make a plain sponge tomorrow and smother it. Yum! Thanks so much for this lovely recipe, I wanted you to know that all money raised is going to Children in Need in the UK. :)
This sounds amazing, making it to take to my aunts for thanksgiving. I love using recipes i find on food bloggers websites so ill most likely be visiting this one more often… hoping to go to culinary school soon so i love using non traditional recipes and learning new things. (: Thanks, Deb!
Just remembered a question I have. I’ve read your responses about how you suggest freezing the cupcakes un-iced in advance. But I’m making these for tomorrow and was wondering what your preference was. Should I make them tonight and just ice them before we head over to the dinner? Or make them completely tomorrow? I’ve always been afraid of refrigerating or freezing cakes for some reason.
I made this as a cake rather than cupcakes for my birthday today and it was absolutely delicious! I had enough batter for a three-tier cake and it looked and tasted divine!
Since peaches are not in season right now, I was hoping to use my own canned peaches. How many cups of peaches would I need, approximately? I am hoping that leaving them to strain in a sieve will eliminate some of the moisture.
Has anyone else tried these with canned?
Thank you.
Used my own canned peaches, drained them well, turned out great. Delicious!!! I made half into cupcakes and the rest a cake. Unfortunately the cake fell apart when I tried to transfer it to a cooling rack, it wasn’t cooked all the way through. It’s back in the oven now, trying to save it. The icing is sooo good-better than classic cream cheese!
This is my second time making these, although I have yet to make them with peaches, since they are out of season. I made them with pears in January, and now that strawberries are in season I am using them. The cupcakes just came out of the oven and smell delicious!. The cupcake batter itself is so yummy, that i just keep thinking about all the fruit that will work with brown sugar:) Your site is my favorite food blog! I keep coming back more and more often and am never disappoint in how my food turns out. Thanks for the wonderful recipes, all the little tips, and the beautiful pictures!
I made these yesterday with peaches we picked on Saturday at a local peach festival. They are KILLER. Especially straight out of the oven. The only thing is I think I may have added too many peaches (I did 4 mediums because they were all smaller). They seem to not be holding on to the cupcake wrappers well. The frosting is awesome!
I just made these yesterday and everyone loved them, however, the peach flavor was very subtle. I’m going to try making them again this weekend, but this time I’m going to puree the peaches-maybe that’ll make the flavor pop more?
I have been dying to make peach cupcakes!!! :)
I might add a drop or so of peach extract to the frosting….hmmm….I am just terrified of ruining the flavor….
I just made these yesterday for my cousin’s graduation party…..24 were gone in 10 minutes. Good thing I saved a dozen at home! These were awesome!
I brought these cupcakes to preschool. Parents came up to me and told me that their kids loved the cupcakes. Thank you! I love your brown sugar frosting. Do you have a suggestion how to turn it red without compromising on the taste? Thank you.
I made these last night and they were a smash! Thanks for the great recipe.
Deb, I cannot emphasize how much you saved my ass with this recipe last weekend. I was charged with making 250 cupcakes with a brown sugar cream cheese frosting for a wedding on Saturday. I baked on Friday night, and since it was a Saturday evening wedding, I decided that frosting in the morning would be a cinch. Right? Wrong! The recipe I had tested with (over and over) kept curdling, and after three separate trips to the store for more ingredients, I started frantically searching for something new to try. I remembered you had this on your site, and – viola. It was, like always, absolutely perfect.
You saved a wedding! I want to send you gifts and things. THANK YOU!
I was just wondering how you made the frosting look like that, because when I tried to do that it didn’t look as pretty.
I think next time I make these I might play down the brown sugar, I was hoping for a lot more peach flavor and I used more peaches. :[
For those wanting to make this recipe as a muffin, here are my notes: I used white whole wheat flour and reduced the sugar by 1/2. I added a handful of chopped pecans but I would suggest that instead of mixing the pecans into the batter (as I did), you use the nuts to make a strudel for the top. While very good as muffins, they were crying out for some kind of crispy, sugary goodness on top. You may also need to increase amount of buttermilk to help lift the batter a little bit more — it was pretty stiff using white whole wheat flour.
These were a fantastic hit at a recent picnic. I, too, had the same issue as an earlier poster, with it being too moist and “wet” even though the toothpick came out clean. I think my peach to cake ratio was off. Would love to hear if anyone actually measured the number of cups for their batch if they turned out perfect. I let them cool off completely, then frosted and stored in the fridge. At the picnic, we kept them in a cooler until serving. I found it held its shape if kept chilled. I will try it again, maybe with smaller peaches next time. They still were very good and the frosting was killer!
These cupcakes are amazing. Went to a pre-Irene BBQ today and these were the start of the day. I took extras to ride out the storm. Make these!
I made these and while they were good, I wouldn’t say they were great. Couldn’t really detect the peach flavor in the cupcake. The icing was awesome though. Thinking about trying these cupcakes with strawberries instead and seeing if I get more flavor punch.
Sigh. I made these with buttermilk and the batter turned out terribly wet…the ones that were salvageable were overcooked. I’ll have to give them another go when I have patience…and maybe some sour cream.
Is it possible if i were to use canned peaches?
I’m not a fan of cream cheese but still wanted to taste the peach/brown sugar pairing, so I glazed these cupcakes with your butterscotch recipe, and what a sensation it was!
love love love these ! These were delicious. I added just a little more brown sugar to the frosting.
I made these for my son’s birthday party and they were a hit! My niece, who doesn’t like fruit in any dessert, loooved them. I can not wait until your cookbook comes out, I’ll be first in line!
I made these for my two-year-old’s birthday party yesterday and they were delicious! They didn’t dome as nicely as the strawberry cupcakes, I think maybe because my frozen peaches had some ice crystals on them, which increased the water content? I’m not sure how to fix that problem with the ingredients at hand. Maybe if I spoon the chopped peaches into the batter instead of dumping them? Or would a longer baking time work?
I think we are going to make the muffin variation later this week since even after cutting the frosting recipe in half I had leftovers, and my partner won’t object to a muffin diet for the toddler like he would to a cupcake diet.
I am so excited to try this recipe! Can you use frozen peaches, or will they be too wet/mushy? Thanks!
I just made these and they are sooo delicious. A word of warning: I followed the recipe but got 30 cupcakes (some overflowing) and enough frosting to ice those 30 plus probably 6 to 8 more. My sister suggested the use of a straw on the leftover frosting. Thank you.
Just made these for my birthday cupcakes (making your own birthday cake ensures getting what you want!), and they were excellent–the cake and frosting work so well together. Mine did all sink in the middle, a flaw easily covered with the wonderful frosting, but I would love to know what I did that made them all sink. Toothpick test was followed so it wasn’t underbaking…did I perhaps have over-large peaches and end up with more fruit than the batter could handle?
Anyway, I’ll be making these again, depressions or no.
i’m going to be making those on friday, and was wondering if i should use buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt? what differences do each make?
thanks!
Star — Sour cream will be the richest; buttermilk will be equally delicious, slightly less rich. Yogurt is cream but not as fatty/rich. If choosing, I’d go with sour cream first.
these cupcakes are perfect!! I was worried they’d be too muffiny do to the fruit, but they’re so delicate and cakey!!
A person brought these to our local food swap…they were the best cupcakes I have ever eaten. I could not get over how moist and tender they were. I asked him later if he would share the recipe, and I was so happy when he directed me to you. I am catering a dinner for 10 next week and am going to make this as a cake for dessert with peaches that are exploding here in the northern california foothills. Yay!
How long would the cream cheese frosting be ok out of the fridge? Want to frost a head of time for a large bbq next week, but most likely wont have room in my fridge to store.
I have a lot of fabulous fresh peaches and I LOVE to bake cupcakes. It’s all about the flavor for me, too. I can’t wait to try these this weekend. Thank you for the recipe and the little tidbits of information. I really like stuff like that. I’m pretty sure we would find tons to talk about. :)
I baked some pumpkin cupcakes and made your frosting to go with them. I found it to have a nice flavor, but was waaay to soft for piping. I have it in the fridge right now to see if that helps, but do you have any other suggestions for working with it?
Jamie — Just keep chilling it until it’s firm enough.
Thanks for sharing the recipe and tips. I was thinking of just using a peach pudding mix for the flavour. Didn’t know fresh fruit works. :D
I have been drooling since I found this recipe! I will be trying it this week. But I did have a question about the frosting – what would you recommend to thicken it up a bit? More cornstarch? More powdered sugar? I know generally speaking, to stiffen many frostings, they say to add more powdered sugar. I was curious on what you would do though? Thank you!!
Hi Amy — There’s not a lot that would stiffen it, to the best of my knowledge, but you can chill the frosting a bit to firm it up before using it so it spreads nicely and takes shapes better.
Instead of cupcakes would it be possible to make this into a two-layer cake?
Sooooo… I just made these cupcakes (I added additional peach flavor though)…. OH-MY-GOD! Hands down, the best dessert I have ever made! I cannot wait to see how the frosting comes too!
I made this recipe at the beach but turned it into a double layer cake as all I had were two 8″ disposable pans – and it was PERFECT at 350 for 40 minutes! The only things I’d add are a little more peach (maybe a small ripe one or half of a large one) since I think the cake can take a little more, and a full cup more of confectioners sugar to the icing. I added half a cup more and will add another half cup next time. The suggestions to leave the icing in the refrigerator are spot on (it stays a better consistency while being served) but OH MY GOSH this may be my new go-to recipe. How wonderful!
I made these for a birthday party tomorrow and they turned out great. I just wanted to mention that I used lowfat yogurt in place of the full fat in the batter because full fat yogurt is oddly difficult to find around here. As Deb suspected above, it worked out just fine.
I LOVE these! I’ve made them a few times now and wanted to say thank you for sharing this recipe! I actually use rum flavoring instead of the vanilla in the cake and used unsweetened applesauce in place of the yogurt/sour cream as that was all I had on hand and they turned out AWESOME. Thanks again!
I used this recipe to make a 3 layered cake for my father’s birthday! So moist and delicious!
Hi Deb, As I’m in the midst of obsession with peaches in all forms and my birthday is right around the corner, I was wondering if you ever had positive feedback about trying this as a layer cake or if you have tried it yourself? I saw questions about that in the thread, but never any concrete answers. Also,any thoughts on white peaches in this recipe? Sweeter, but less acidic. I feel like they might get lost, but am intrigued with the idea. Many thanks!
White peaches should be fine. I haven’t made it as a layer cake but it looks like Commenters #126, 155, 164 and 272 did so successfully and add tips/comments.
I made these cupcakes yesterday. I couldn’t make fill all 28 cupcake liners because I only have one muffin tin, so I just made them in batches of 12. I cut the peaches right before they were mixed into the batter. While filling the cupcake liners I noticed there were some blue spots in the batter. Today while eating one of the cupcakes (I let them sit out, covered, unfrosted, overnight) I noticed the blue spots persisted. Is it possible that the peaches grew mold that quickly, while the batter was sitting for 1 hour on the counter (one hour at the longest as the first two batches baked each for ~20 minutes + 5 minutes rest time)?
I am confused by these blue spots and sad to think I will have to throw out all these cupcakes that I made for my twins’ first birthday because of mold? I put the remaining cupcakes, unfrosted, in the freezer this morning but am wondering if anyone has any guesses about what might be causing the blue dots? Is it definitely mold? How did that happen so quickly? It wasn’t even a super hot day. If it happens that quickly I’m surprised anyone can make these cupcakes!
Maybe it was some reaction between the fruit and the baking soda or baking powder? I am so confused…
OK, we’re accepting that the cupcakes are moldy. Any advice on other cakes that would go nicely with the brown sugar cream cheese frosting I have?
Hi Bethany — The blue spots would be a reaction between a reactive metal (such as maybe did you use an aluminum baking pan? They’re not common so I don’t mention it) and not mold. It is not harmful to eat. It can help especially when baking with fruit to use a baking powder without aluminum, as well, which can cause this.
These look great! I’m planning on making them for my sister’s birthday celebration on friday evening. I was just wondering if I made them today (thursday the 8th of August), would they last in a tupperware without getting moldy until Friday night? I wouldn’t frost them until right before we eat them. If anyone has any advice, please let me know! Thanks!
Gillian — They shouldn’t mold in just a day or two. Maybe a week. ;)
I am not normally a fan of cream cheese frostings, too cloyingly sweet. This one, however, I could eat by the spoonful! Oh, and the peach cupcakes weren’t bad, either! Another fantastic recipe.
I homemade some spiced bourbon peaches a couple weeks ago and then used them for these cupcakes. Epic win! Thanks for the amazing recipe! I also live at high altitude, so I cut the baking powder and soda both back to 1 tsp each. They are absolutely perfect!
I just made this recipe for my daughter’s first birthday. I cut down the white sugar by 1/4 cup and halved the frosting. It turned out BEAUTIFULLY. The cupcakes were delicious and all of the toddlers LOVED them
These were my birthday cake this year and they were amazing!! The cakes by themselves were great, but the frosting took it over the top!
Hi. Regarding the frosting, in Israel we have 2 kinds of brown sugar, one is dark and moist and one is a lighter brown, drier, called ‘Demarara’. I’m guessing I should use the darker one, am I right?
Thank you!
rotem — Yes, the darker one. The darker one sounds like our American brown sugar, which is just regular granulated sugar + molasses. The demarara sugar is a kind of raw/natural sugar. It’s brown because it’s unrefined, not because of the added molasses.
I just discovered this recipe as I was searching Deb’s archives for a birthday cake for my 5 year old who declared he wanted “a yellow cake with white frosting” – a combination that I was having trouble getting excited about until I saw these. Despite the fact that it is June and not peach season where I live, I became fairly fixated on the brown sugar cream cheese frosting and obsessed for awhile about what other fruit I could use. Today I tested some roasted strawberries and I’m happy to report they turned out really well. I used about 2 cups of chopped berries (my pieces were about 1/2 inch which worked, but Deb’s suggested 1/3 inch probably would be better). I spread them on a baking sheet with a spoonful of sugar to help them caramelize and roasted them for 10 minutes at 375. They still held their shape but had a richer flavor. I was afraid they would turn the batter pink so I attempted to toss them with a teaspoon of flour but I’m not sure if that did anything – in any case the batter was not pink and the berries did not sink. They were delicious with the cake batter and the frosting. I am sure the peaches are even better but I will have to wait for peach season for those and content myself with these meanwhile!
Thank Deb! these cupcakes are amazing. the cake is light, fluffy, and flavorful. the frosting is sweet without being cloying.
I feel like these are better than i would buy in a bakery. seriously. I love cupcakes but rarely am satisfied when i make them Thank you!
http://instagram.com/p/p-f5JfDFEu/?modal=true
Hi Deb!
Quick question: I would love to make these for my grandmother’s birthday; however, she’s allergic to corn. Would arrowroot be an acceptable swap for the cornstarch in the frosting? Have you had experience with it much? I rolled potatoes in arrowroot one time before roasting, and I felt like it gave a funky texture to them. Not sure if that’s because the arrowroot was baked, or if that’s just its thing.
Thank you!
Rachael — Arrowroot would be just fine; I haven’t worked with a lot but know a lot people who use it exclusively instead of corn starch. Potato starch, on the other hand, isn’t so wonderful in baking, I’ve found.
This is the second time I’ve done these. First time was by the book and they’re fantastic. This time, I doubled the peaches and added 1/2 tspn of peach flavoring to the cake batter. The cake is more peachy and still light.
The icing, the first time, I added about 1 tspn of nutmeg, what a difference on the cupcake. This time, about 2 tspn of nutmeg and about 3/8 tspn of peach flavoring. Oh my goodness.
These are probably one of the best cupcakes I’ve made to date.
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I made these and the peach butter today (I’m trying to get some peaches off my hands!) and these were excellent! I accidentally overcooked my second batch, but they’re just (at least this is what I tell myself) ‘aggressively golden.’ Thanks for the recipe!
I made these last night and they turned out lovely. I was a little nervous of how they would turn out since some people seemed to have issues but no problems here. I used unbleached cake flour and I reduced the sugar to 1/4C organic white sugar and 1/2c organic brown sugar. I kept the sugar for the frosting the same (which is why I reduced in the cake itself.) For the dairy I did 1 cup sour cream and 1 cup buttermilk.
Every dessert I have made from Smitten Kitchen has been amazing. The chocolate peanut butter cake is to die for and so worth every calorie. The almond raspberry layer cake and the everyday strawberry cake are also favorites. So anyone reading this I suggest you try one of the above!
Hi Deb,
I have enjoyed these several times, and am revisiting the idea because I’ve recently been inspired by brown butter cream cheese frosting, and I’m thinking about doing it with brown sugar too. Any cautions? Any ideas for a wintery cake to showcase it?
It sounds delicious. I haven’t fiddled much yet with brown butter frostings, but that’s clearly my loss. Just make sure you have it good and chilled once browned — even frozen. It should still whip up well.
Hi Deb,
I have to write a comment on this recipe because I’m so excited about the cake I made last night based on this recipe, and incorporating elements from two recipes from your cookbook! I used this recipe to make a layer cake using frozen peaches (I did about 1 and 1/3 of the recipe, and I added peach puree as well as the cut up peaches to amp up the peach flavor), and I made the brown sugar cream cheese frosting to fill between the two layers. I also made your streusel topping from the apple pie in your cookbook and after about 20 minutes in the oven, the top layer of the cake was fully covered with the streusel and then baked the rest of the way. Finally, I made the bourbon hard sauce from your peach dumplings in your cook book and when I served the cake spooned a little bit of the hard sauce onto each slice (and topped with a bit of fresh whipped cream). Everything worked really well together and the cake was tall and pretty, with the streusel topping that holds together perfectly. I am so in love with the way these recipes all work together! Anyway, I’ve been really enjoying your recipes for a while now, and just wanted to say thank you. (My husband says thank you also, since it was his birthday cake!).
Super late to the party here I know, just wanted to add that I just made this icing with brown butter and it was aMAZing. Even better than I expected. Just chill the butter after you brown it and follow the recipe as directed.
I’m also a bit late! Similar to another commenter, I subbed in 1 c whole wheat flour w/ 2 c all-purpose flour (was too scared to do 50/50 because in my past attempts have resulted in a drier than anticipated crumb). also 1/2 c brown sugar + 1/2 c granulated sugar. 1.5c low-fat yogurt. and 5 small nectarines. yummy and will be great for snacking at the beach tomorrow! sadly didn’t see your trick about adding cornstarch until after baking them, but will definitely give it a shot next time.
I just tried making these (with sour cream) and substituted plouts for peaches and added a dash of almond flavor to the batter…I was unsure how it would work out but I just opened a piping hot cupcake and ate it feverishly as cupcake heaven crumbled in my hands. It’s everything I wanted it to be. Thanks for hitting this recipe out of the park as usual! I have yet to have one of your recipes be anything less than fabulous (and I have used a LOT of them). Thanks for putting so much time and effort into this website, it is unparalleled. Your recipes are my safety blanket when I have had a bad day, I’m in a cooking slump, or when I want to celebrate something wonderful by doing the thing I love most (cook). You’ll probably never see this, but I just wanted to say that. I hope knowing that you feel a smidgen as good as your hard work has made me feel.
can i make this as a whole cake and do i have to change anything?
Made this into two 9″ cake rounds, the frosting recipe made enough to fill and frost the cake. Absolutely delicious! I used frozen peaches that I chopped a couple weeks ago, draining the juice before folding them into the batter.
I adapted this recipe for a 9″x13″ cake this past weekend, and it worked perfectly. Increased the bake time to 35 minutes. Frosted it with a lighter (but totally delicious) whipped cream cream cheese frosting — yum! This is a great recipe, grandma approved.
Hi Deb!
I tried making these four times and only once did they come out right. 3 out of 4 times, the batter completely curdled after adding buttermilk. I don’t know what I keep doing wrong, but I stir it in as gently as possible. The very last time the buttermilk separated and it was just these clumps of gray/brown substance (I used dark brown sugar) with watery liquid around it. Feeling really frustrated :/ Any advice you can offer me would be really appreciated, especially since the ONE time they came out well, they were amazing :)
I absolutely love this recipe, and since my two year old has requested “Strawberry Cake” for her birthday, it sprang to mind. Any thoughts on adapting? Thanks as always!
I just made these and I would not call them a cupcake, but rather a muffin. They are very crumbly, so lots of cracking. I used buttermilk and followed most of the directions, but had to use frozen peaches (thawed part way). I anticipated that this would take a bit longer in the baking and it did, closer to 30 minutes than 22 and I used convection. I thought these would be too sweet as I think it’s a lot of sugar, but it’s just a muffin! I was hoping for something a bit more cupcake like for a baby shower. I’m sure they will get eaten, but it’s truly a frosted muffin. They are moist on the inside, despite the tops cracking some. The flavor is nice, but not overly peachy. A bit disappointed in this one.
These turned out amazing and delicious!
I would recommend to not be discouraged by the soft bottom of the cupcakes when you take them out of the cupcake pan. I thought that they were undercooked (even after using a cake tester that came out clean). They turned out perfectly moist! I fear that if I would have left them longer in the oven they would’ve been overcooked.
I would definitely make these again!
This might actually belong on the whole wheat apple muffin page, because what I just baked are whole wheat peach muffins, basically mushing the two recipes together. They taste fine, but once again the centers fell in after I took them out of the oven. TheKitchn.com advises baking at a higher temperature (400 rather than 350). Does this make sense? What are the downsides to the higher heat? (I assume there’s a good reason that 350 is the standard temperature)
I am not a baking science expert, just someone who bakes a lot, but the heat shouldn’t affect doming. For a cupcake, you might get more color on it but it otherwise shouldn’t be a huge difference in final effect. The centers shouldn’t fall, though. That almost always is an issue with too much or too little baking soda.
My daughter wants peach cupcakes to bring to school but thinks kids won’t like chunks of peach (she has caught on that other kids don’t always love good food) . I was wondering if it would work to purée the peaches?
Does anyone have this recipe in weights?
I made these tonight and they were great—not too sweet. I did not make the frosting and I’m sure the frosting is amazing on them. I would agree with the comments that it is more of a muffin than a cupcake, and that the peach flavor needs boosting, either with more peaches or peach flavoring.
For those looking to make a layer cake: I used 6-in Wilton cake pans. Based on the recipe above, they made 7 6- in layers. Baked for about 17 minutes at 325, rotating halfway through. They are thin, which is fine. I plan on stacking 4 or 5 of them (after trimming/leveling a tad) and decorating with this frosting as a “naked” cake- frosting only between the layers and on top. I had some of the cake this morning with my coffee and can’t wait to have the finished product this weekend. For now, they are chilled and individually wrapped in the freezer. Thanks for another great one, Deb!
Update: One batch of frosting was enough to cover a 6-in 6 layer cake naked style. The batter was enough for 7 layers but I ate one of them for breakfast :) Everyone *loved* it!
I made the muffin version of these cupcakes after my daughter raved about them. I used juicy, ripe peaches, and yet was totally underwhelmed by these muffins. They lacked an overall peach flavor. Was wondering if it would be helpful to puree a peach and add to the batter? The first recipe I’ve tried from Smitten Kitchen that I was disappointed in.
These cupcakes sound so good but we don’t have cake flour in Australia. Any ideas for a substitute?
Thanks heaps
You can use plain flour.
I made these for a picnic, and skipped the icing altogether.
SOOOOO good. Thanks Deb!
Oh… it’s Winter here – I used canned peaches. 100% fine!