by 
This unique Peach Cornmeal Upside Down Cake uses juicy, fresh summer peaches baked with a soft, moist cornmeal cake. It’s perfect served with a little whipped cream!
I’ve always loved fresh fruit. In the summertime growing up in suburban San Diego, I was always incredibly jealous of the pictures I would see from people who lived in places with fields of fruit, filled with peaches the size of my head, buckets of blueberries, and scratches covering their hands from picking in the thorny blackberry bushes.
These past four years living in Washington, I’ve relished in the massive Honeycrisp apples during the fall. The ability to walk down to the waterfront and scour the blackberry bushes to make fresh pie in August became a favorite summer activity. The best part? A bit of a drive out of Seattle, and you can be surrounded by farms that grow just about everything a girl could dream of.
A few weeks back, my friend Andy drove me out to Leavenworth for a 9-mile hike up to Colchuck Lake, bribing me with stops at a farm stand to pick up fresh fruit. It’s all the bribery I needed. On our way up, we stopped at a stand where I loaded up with big, fresh, juicy peaches and a ton of Ranier cherries. The cherries are yellow and red, and so beautiful and delicious. Unfortunately for you (and fortunately for my tummy) they all got eaten before they made it into a recipe.
The peaches, though – they got to shine in this cake. This cake isn’t what you’d expect it to be. To be honest, I didn’t know exactly how to describe it. When asked by my friends, I just stumbled through the ingredients and said “just try it! Tell me what you think!”
They all loved it. As they described it, it’s a little bit like cornbread from the cornmeal, but it has the delicious slightly caramelized peach slices helping to sweeten it up. The texture isn’t dry and crumbly like cornbread can be. It’s smooth and rich and moist. The half of the cake I brought to their house was gone in less than 10 minutes.
This peach cornmeal upside down cake is the the kind of cake that would be perfect to serve in the afternoon with some tea or coffee, for dessert with whipped cream, or sneak a piece for breakfast if you want something sweet. It’s the perfect treat to use up all the delicious peaches this time of year, and something a little different from peach pie. It’s a unique treat, but one I’m sure you’ll love. Enjoy!!
Peach Cornmeal Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
- For the peaches2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 2 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup fine grind cornmeal
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon, optional
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 5 eggs, room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. In a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, combine the 2 tablespoons unsalted butter and light brown sugar and stir until the sugar has melted. When it begins to bubble, remove it from the heat and let it cool. Arrange the peaches in the bottom of the pan as desired. I used a radial pattern. Be careful – the pan and caramel will be hot! Set aside while you prepare the cake batter.
- In a small bowl, whisk the flour, salt, cinnamon, and cornmeal until just combined. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugar and honey until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating fully before adding another. (The batter may start to separate for the last few eggs.) Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the butter mixture until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the pan, evenly over the peaches. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until is golden brown, the sides are beginning to pull away from the sides, and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Take the pan out of the oven and let cool for about 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the cake, and then flip the cake onto a plate. It’s best to do this by setting the plate on the pan and, while wearing oven mitts, inverting the pan onto the plate. Be careful of the hot caramelized sugar. Serve warm.
This looks delicious! Peaches are just the best this time of year, so this is the perfect way to use them!
I love upside down cakes and you’ve managed to make it extra special with this recipe! Delicious!
Rachel, I am seriously in love with this cake. As a southern girl, I am all about some cornbread and I love that you made a cake with cornmeal! I bet the caramelized peaches are so good with it. Pinned! :)
Thanks so much, Beth!! You’d love this one :)
I love that you used cornmeal! I have to try this. It turned out absolutely beautiful!
Made this recipe, was good but noticed there isn’t baking soda or powder listed in the ingredients. The cake part was very dense. Is something missing from the recipe?
Hi Lizabeth. This recipe actually doesn’t use any leavener – the whipped eggs should help it rise, it’s important that each is fully incorporated before adding the next. If you’d like a fluffier cake, you can try adding a teaspoon of baking powder to the dry ingredients. Hope you liked it!
Thanks! Will mark that on my printout. One more question: what about separating the eggs and beating the egg whites to soft peaks and fold them in last?
I haven’t tried that, but I imagine that would definitely add some lift and fluffiness to the recipe! I’d love to hear how it turns out if you try it that way :)
Hi I just read through your recipe several times and there is no mention of whipping the eggs in the procedure.
Hi Katie – the eggs are whipped into the butter and sugar, and because they’re beaten in slowly one at a time, they’ll gain some volume as they’re beaten. They aren’t whipped separately from the batter though, if that’s what you were looking for in the recipe.
hi thank you so much, I love your recipes. I was wondering if I could use frozen peaches? Have you tried it or any body else?
Hi Jen – I haven’t tried frozen peaches but I think it should work just fine.
I used frozen peaches and it worked well for me! The texture of the cake was a bit tough though. I’m not sure if I overbaked it or overmixed it or what. It was good when heated, less tough. Maybe that’s why the recipe specifies to serve heated? If anyone can, would love anyone to weigh in on if it’s about the heat or if maybe I did something wrong here? Thanks!
Hi Shelley, overbaking or overmixing can definitely cause toughness. Suepr gritty cornmeal can also make it feel tough.
Can I use jiffy mix for this and if so, do I still add flour?
You’d likely just want to replace all the cornbread batter with the jiffy mix, and keep the caramel/peaches the same.
This cake had a lovely flavor and potential but it was incredibly dense and dry. The instructions do not indicate the need to whip the eggs, just incorporate one at a time. No rising agents are added.
I think next time it would be important to add some moisture to the cake and a rising agent.
The eggs are whipped into the butter and sugar, and because they’re beaten in slowly one at a time, they’ll gain some volume as they’re beaten. They aren’t whipped separately from the batter though, if that’s what you were looking for in the recipe. You can do this on the side and then incorporate it if you would like.
Unfortunately, the wet:dry ratio did not work for me. I ended up with a sweet roux on top of the caramelized peaches. I’m guessing the flour should’ve been scooped and leveled rather than added by mass. So it’s probably closer a scant cup (~110-115g) rather than what’s delineated (105g)
Hi Casey, sorry you had trouble with this one! This recipe was posted back in 2015 and I haven’t made it in a very long time since I went gluten-free. I’ll have one of my testers make it and see if we can fix any issues that come up!