Healthy & Easy Peach Cake

Is it possible for something to be good for you and easy at the same time? Anything that has whole wheat in it, is virtually fat free, and can be made by tossing the ingredients into a blender is a friend of mine. Oh, and if it tastes wicked too, then I’m a fan for life. (Wicked meant in the east coast way of saying ‘cool’- not ‘evil’, although that works too.)

So this cake is a takeoff on the Guilt-Free Mandarin Orange Cake that I have love love loved for years (yes, worthy of three love’s). Why not substitute the mandarin oranges for peaches, I ask? Why not substitute whole wheat pastry flour for the tried and true (but slightly less fibrous) all-purpose white wonder? (Note- whole wheat pastry flour is much friendlier to the taste buds than whole wheat flour is- it’s almost interchangeable with regular flour, so sneak it in everywhere you can.)

The Cake:

1 cup VERY ripe fresh peach pieces (peeled), or canned drained peach chunks (reserve a tablespoon of juice from can if you plan to make Dairy-Free Glaze, recipe below)

1 cup sugar

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 350°, and grease an 8-inch cake pan.
2. Throw all ingredients into a food processor, blender, or stand mixer and mix until smooth (batter will be quite thin). A few chunks of peach are acceptable if you are using a stand mixer.
3. Bake the cake for 30 minutes. (Be careful not to over bake; the top of the cake should spring back when gently pressed, &/or a cake tester should come out almost clean of crumbs.) Place the cake on a cooling rack, and pour the glaze of your choice (below) over the cake while it’s still warm. Enjoy in a guilt-free way.
The Glaze:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 tablespoons milk

(See Tips below for Dairy-Free Glaze option)
1. Melt ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat, stir, and bring to a boil for one minute.
2. Pour over cake while both glaze and cake are still warm.
Tips:
- The peaches really do need to be ripe- and when I say ripe, I mean ripe to the point of the messiest peach you’d ever want to eat (think drippy and almost gross). Firm peaches are nice, but have no place in this recipe. (Really- use canned peaches if you don’t have fresh- they are way easier anyway, especially since you don’t have to peel the canned ones. If you’re not thrilled with the syrup that the canned peaches come in sometimes, just rinse them off before adding to the blender.)
- Glaze options: (As noted in the Guilt-Free Mandarin Orange Cake recipe)… #1. Pour this glaze over a warm cake with little holes poked into it with a fine-tipped knife or your cake tester (because everyone knows that a warm, holey cake is a thirsty cake that will soak up the glazey goodness). #2. Pour this glaze over a cooled cake (from the fridge), so it dries on the surface like a rich skating rink of caramel. #3. Pour this glaze over a cooled, sliced cake. (You know where this is going. The glaze sneaks into the slice crevases, like in option #1.) It will need to be a bit cooled so you can slice it neatly, FYI. #4. Pour TWO batches of glaze over the cake— one while it’s still warm, and another after it has had a chance to cool a bit. (In no way is this “healthy”, but in fairness I need to present this glorious option to you.) #5: Skip the glaze and dust with confectioners’ sugar right before serving. (Last tip if you DO commit to the glaze: Keep the cake in its pan when pouring the glaze overtop, to contain the wayward drops.)
- Dairy-Free Glaze: stir together a tablespoon of the peach juice (reserved from the can or from the bowl that you’ll slice the peaches into as you remove their skins) with 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar. (If you don’t have peach juice, use OJ or even water is totally fine.) You are looking for a thin consistency, like cream (but a dairy-free cream, of course!)… just pour over your still-warm cake/mini loaves/ cupcakes and spread with a spoon to cover the top surface. It will dry to a nice translucent crackly surface. Peachy crackly heaven.
- Enjoy!
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July 21st, 2012 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: Cakes, Dairy-Free, Fruit