Celebrating Mom's Birthday with a Peach Cake with Peach Cream Cheese Frosting

Happy Birthday, Mom!  I love birthdays because it means I get to make a cake.  And I love my mom's birthday because it means I get to make a cake that I'll love as much as she does.  We have very similar tastebuds, so it makes the selecting (and tasting) very easy.

I love to surprise her but I also take requests.  This year I had found "the" cake a month prior to her birthday and didn't even give her a chance to make a suggestion.  One fruit that is synonymous with summer is the peach.  My mom loves peaches and rarely do you see a recipe for a peach cake.  So when I saw these Peach Cupcakes with Peach Cream Cheese Frosting, I didn't look any farther.

I knew I wanted to make a cake instead of cupcakes and I remember reading somewhere that 24 cupcakes would be about the equivalent to 2 8-inch cake layers.  Perfect!  I just adjusted the cook time slightly and it turned out perfect.  I did decrease the butter to 1 stick and as you can see in the photo above, I had to skimp a bit to cover the sides.  That really didn't matter because the cake was the star.  The peach flavor wasn't overbearing (in fact next time I'd add more pureed peaches) but it was subtle enough that it gave it a little richness.  The butter really shone through and it was light with the perfect crumb texture for me.  I like a happy medium between dense and light as air.  I like it to melt in your mouth and this cake did just that.

If you've got a peach lover, or even a peach liker, I'd highly suggest this cake.  The birthday girl agrees!

Peach Cake with Peach Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Week of Menus

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs

3/4 of a 1.75 oz bag of freeze dried peaches* (Target's Archer Farms brand), pulverized in a food processor
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/3 cup pureed fresh peach (I'd up this to the full 1/2 cup next time)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

*The original recipe notes that the pulverized dried peaches start absorbing the air soon after grinding, so be sure to grind right before you're ready to use them.

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 2 8-inch round cake pans by lining them with parchment paper and lightly greasing.

Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a large measuring cup or bowl, mix together buttermilk, peach puree and vanilla extract. Set aside until needed.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar in a mixing bowl until pale, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in pulverized peaches.
Mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two batches of buttermilk mixture. Mix until just combined, scraping down bowl as needed.  Divide batter evenly between prepared can pans and smooth tops with a spatula.

Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 23 to 26 minutes. Allow cakes to cool in tins for 10 minutes, and then remove cakes and place them on a cooling rack.

Peach Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
1/2 cup of butter, softened
8 oz of cream cheese, softened
Remainder of freeze dried peaches
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups of confectioners sugar

Method
In a large mixing bowl, mix butter and cream cheese and beat together until creamy. Add vanilla extract and pulverized peaches and mix. Add a cup of sugar at a time, until you reach your desired level of sweetness.  Frost cake.

I'm adding this to the Recipe Link Party at Remodelaholic, Jam Hands, and This Chick Cooks.  I just stumbled upon these linky parties and thought this would be a great recipe to get started with!  There are tons of good ideas and inspirations at all of these sites!