Peaches and Cream Pound Cake
Cream cheese lends an almost cheesecake note to this cake, providing a wonderful blend with the addition of fresh peaches, brightened with a touch of lemon zest. Finish with a sweet glaze delivering another layer of this wonderful fruit. It’s a perfect way to share a taste of summer!
Equipment
- Electric mixer
- 3 Small loaf pans, 8-½” x 4-½”
Ingredients
- For the cake:
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 package cream cheese, 8-ounces, room temperature
- 3 cups sugar
- 6 extra-large eggs, room temperature
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup puréed peaches
- 1 cup chopped peaches
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extrac
- ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
- Zest of 1 lemon
- For the glaze:
- 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
- ¼ cup pureed peaches
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325-degrees. Spray 3 small loaf pans, 8-½” x 4-½”, with a cooking spray and line with a sheet of parchment paper trimmed to fit, pressing into the bottom and sides of the pans.
- Using a large stand mixer, beat the butter on low speed until it becomes creamy. Raise the speed to medium and continue beating until it is very light and fluffy, looking much like whipped cream, about 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add the cream cheese and continue beating on medium speed until well blended. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl to make certain the butter and cream cheese are whipped together thoroughly.
- On medium speed, add the sugar, about ¼ cup at a time allowing the sugar to blend into the butter before adding more. Once all the sugar has been combined with the butter. add the eggs one at a time.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and kosher salt three times. Don’t skip this step; it makes a difference in the light texture of your cake.
- On low speed, add the dry ingredients to the batter, blending in about ⅓ cup at a time, beating just until the flour disappears.
- Stir in the peach purée and lemon zest, using medium-low speed.
- Add the chopped peaches plus the vanilla and almond extracts, stirring into the batter on low speed.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 3 loaf pans.
- Bake the pound cakes on the center rack of your oven at 325-degrees for about 50 to 55 minutes or until the cakes are golden and when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for about 15 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack and glaze while the cakes are still warm.
- For the glaze:
- Stir or whisk the powdered sugar together with the peach puree, vanilla extract and almond extract until very smooth.
- Spoon the glaze across the tops of the cakes.
Notes
If you need to peel a lot of peaches, blanching is a quick way to handle this task. Using a sharp knife cut an “X” across the bottom of the peach, just cutting through the skin.
Then drop the peaches into boiling water for 1 minute. Transfer them to an ice bath to stop the cooking. The skin will peel right off!
These cakes freeze beautifully!