Penzey's Peachy Cake?

[Sheila in MD]

Has anyone tried this recipe? Seems like it would be REALLY easy to lighten it by subbing fat free or light sourcream or even buttermilk, yogurt or a combination of any of the above...Thnking about trying it but wondering if someone else already has...

Sheila in MD

Penzey’s Peachy Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar (take 1 TB. out and replace with 1 TB. VANILLA SUGAR)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. CINNAMON–we love CEYLON CINNAMON with fruit
1 Cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 Cup peaches peeled and diced in 1/4 inch cubes (2 large or 3 medium)
Streussel Topping:
1/2 Cup flour
1 TB. Sugar
1 TB. VANILLA SUGAR
1/2 tsp. CEYLON CINNAMON
3 TB. butter, straight from the fridge

Preheat oven to 350°. Sift together the dry ingredients–flour, sugar, VANILLA SUGAR, baking powder, baking soda, salt and CINNAMON. Beat the sour cream and eggs in a bowl with a hand mixer. Combine the wet and dry ingredients at low speed to make a stiff batter. Gently fold in the peaches and pour into a greased 8x8 baking dish. Rub together the streusel topping ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle on top of the cake and bake 40-50 minutes at 350° until golden and until middle springs back when lightly pressed.
Prep. time: 15 minutes.

Cooking time: 40-50 minutes.

[RebeccaT]

I haven't made it, but I agree that it would be very easy to lighten with light sour cream (maybe even FF? I hardly ever cook with that stuff, but it might work here). In fact, I might make it tonight to bring in to work, since I have some peaches that I need to use before they turn.

I will let you know how it turns out!

[valchemist]

My mom made it (the full fat version). Neither of us was too impressed. It wasn't as moist as I like and there weren't enough peaches. We both liked the Peachy Cheesecake Squares recipe from the last Penzey's Catalog better. (but that one needs more peaches than is called for in the recipe too...see my notes.)


* Exported from MasterCook *

Peachy Cheesecake Squares

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 20 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Desserts

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 c sliced peaches -- (5 large to 8 small) ripe
2 tsps cinnamon sugar
2 1/4 c flour
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 c butter -- cold
8 ozs cream cheese -- softened
14 ozs sweetened condensed milk
1 egg
2 tsps vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Peel and core the peaches, slice thinly or chop, and toss with cinnamon sugar. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine the flour and powdered sugar. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly and rather dry. If you don't mind a mess, this is easier to do with your hands. Reserve 2 cups of the mixture for the topping. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 13x9 pan (we prefer glass). Bake the crust for 15 minutes. While the crust bakes, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in the condensed milk until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Smooth the peaches over the baked crust in an even layer. Drizzle with any peach juice that is in the bowl. Pour the cream cheese mixture over all. Sprinkle the reserved crust mixture over the top. Bake 30-35 minutes until bubbly and starting to brown on the top. It is easiest to cut the bars if they have been chilled for a while, but they are incredibly delicious warm. Store leftovers in the fridge.

Source:
"Penzey's"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


NOTES : very good. 2 cups of peaches is not nearly enough. even 4 cups isn't enough. go with 5 large peaches.

[Sheila in MD]

Thanks! I won't bother than. The cheesecake squares sound great-appears to be a variation on the cocoa cheesecake squares from an older catalog...I just tried those last weekend and they were good. I'll have to try these as well!

Sheila in MD

[dlaboriel]

Thanks for both recipes. I lost the catalog with the Peachy Cake recipe before I had a chance to try it. Now that I have read the review, I'll see what adjustments if any I may be able to do.

[Missi]

I made the peachy cake (full fat version), but made it into cupcakes. I, like Val, wasn't really impressed. They were unedible, just weren't all that flavorful, and I had some awesome peaches to put in them, so I know it wasn't the peaches. I will pass up this recipe in the future.

[SweetTooth]

Valchemist,
How do you think canned peaches would be in this?

[valchemist]

I am not sure, Julie. I have never tried to make that substitution, myself. I guess if you drained them well it might work ok. Let us know if you try it out.

[RebeccaT]

Well, I went ahead and made it with a couple of adjustments, and I thought it was very good! They should have called it a coffee cake, though, this is definitely not a dessert cake IMO.

I made some changes, some which I think were important and some which didn't really do much for me.

First of all, I was almost out of sour cream, so I used 1/4 cup of light sour cream and 3/4 cup of FF lemon yogurt. I use yogurt and sour cream pretty interchangably in sweet recipes that call for one of the other, so I knew this would be fine. It was. I didn't really taste the lemon once it was baked, but it did seem to enhance the flavor of the peaches. I would do this again in a pinch, but it wasn't a make-or-break thing.

I used almost double the amount of peaches called for, because 1 cup just didn't seem like enough. This was important, because it really helped with the overall moistness of the cake.

I subbed Splenda for half of the sugar, and I'd do this again. Since I didn't have vanilla sugar, I added a scant teaspoon of vanilla to the batter as well. I'd do both of these again; you couldn't detect the Splenda, and the vanilla added nice flavor.

In the streusel topping, I decreased the butter by 1 Tbs, but next time I think I'll put it back. The streusel was a bit too dry. I also used brown sugar instead of white, and I really liked that flavor. The last change I made to the topping was to throw in about 1/4 cup of chopped pecans. The nut flavor was good, but next time I might use almonds instead.

I also underbaked the cake, almost to a fault. I didn't want it to be dry like Val said hers was, and so I made sure to take it out when it was just bouncing back in the middle.

Anyway, I thought this was great warm and quite good at room temperature. I'd make it again with my changes.