Old Fashioned Peach Cake * Dig In With Dana

Here’s an Old Fashioned Peach Cake you can assemble in 30 minutes and bake in about an hour.

The best part: No mixer, no butter.

Add in peaches or your favorite fruit. Moist, fluffy and versatile. No matter your skill level, make and adapt this old fashioned recipe to please your needs and tastebuds. Let’s bake!

Forget pricey equipment or creaming butter. This dynamite cake is not only easy but can fit special needs like gluten free, dairy free or vegan. Grab two mixing bowls, some measuring cups and spoons and the ingredients below. Use whatever flour, sugar or milk products suit your needs. For a vegan cake, just skip the eggs and use cold almond, soy or coconut milk.

‘Tis the season for peaches, but you can add in berries, apples or another favorite. If you’d rather add 1-2 cups of nuts, chocolate chips or a candy combination, leave out lemons and increase milk or cream of choice to 1 cup. Give the milk that old-fashioned tangy buttermilk flavor and stir in (just 1 T) lemon juice or white vinegar.

For my readers who use the metric system, I have added metric equivalents to the recipe.
Weighing your flour will give you better, more consistent baking results (cup measurements are not very accurate).
1 cup AP flour = 130 gm.
This recipe calls for 2 cups of flour or 260 gm.

Place a piece of plastic wrap on the counter before you crack your eggs and you’ll have clean(er) counters later.

Zest lemons first and then squeeze the juice. Strain out seeds and pulp with a tea strainer, coffee filter or paper towel.

Taste your fruit before you bake- is it sweet enough?

To keep the recipe simple, I didn’t include cinnamon and brown sugar in the photo of ingredients above. BUT BAKING AND COOKING IS ALL ABOUT IMPROVISING- SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO ADD OR ADJUST FLAVORS TO GET THE BEST RESULTS. After tasting the fruit, I decided to add 2 T brown sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon to these pale beauties. Feel free to sweeten and add in 1/2 tsp spice of choice to your fruit or mix in.

Whisk wet ingredients well to break up the egg yolks and dissolve the sugar.

Add flour a little at a time and stir gently to break up the clumps. “Switch” to a large spatula or metal spoon when folding in the flour to ensure a light, airy cake.

Stir in fruit and juices (or your preferred mix-in) with as few strokes as possible until the last bits of flour disappear.

Why two 8 x 4 cake pans? Two smaller cakes take less time to bake, plus we can eat one and freeze or save one for a friend or special occasion. You can also use an 8 x 8 pan- just cook it longer!