Aug 302016
Peach and Brown Butter Cupcakes

This is the second recipe in the Summer Series. Peach is a beautiful, summery flavour, but I sometimes find it too delicate and subtle to use as a baking ingredient. Not with these cakes though! This recipe comes from Chocolate With Grace and the recipe’s writer did a fantastic job of incorporating both peach purée and peach chunks to make the cakes actually taste of peach. The cake is incredibly moist, and the nuttiness of the brown butter balances well with cream cheese frosting.

DSCN0835
A taste of summer

Ingredients

Cupcakes
3/4 cup butter
1 cup peach purée *
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs (room temp.)
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups finely diced peaches (I used fresh peaches)

Purée
3 cups diced tinned peaches (in juice, not syrup)
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. water
1 tbsp. granulated sugar

Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup peach purée
1 tsp. vanilla
5-6 cups icing sugar
(I halved this recipe because I was running low on icing sugar)

DSCN0821
Simmering diced peaches

To make the peach purée, heat 3 cups of diced peaches with the other ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool slightly. Blend until smooth and then refrigerate before use.

Brown the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. The butter will froth and then begin to smell nutty and have a golden brown appearance. Do not over cook. Remove the butter from the heat and pour into a Pyrex measuring cup to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 160C. Whisk together the brown butter, peach purée, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Gently stir into the large bowl along with the diced fresh peaches until just combined.

Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until they spring back when touched. Makes 16-18 cakes.

To make the frosting, beat together butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in peach purée and vanilla. Add enough icing sugar until it reaches piping consistency.

I added a dollop of the remaining peach purée on the top for decoration. It was also a very hot day, and I ran out of icing sugar, so my icing was not as stiff as I would have liked.

DSCN0831

Sometimes simple is best!

I originally wanted to put slices of fresh peach on top for decoration, but these would have browned before we got to the family’s place for the party, so I skipped the final decoration.

Connect with me!

Reader Comments

Write a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *