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“Sooooo good! Used canned peaches (in fruit juice) and it turned out so great. The icing is amazing. What a yummy, easy summer treat! Thank you!” ~Katie
my brown sugar peach cake is packed with Southern charm
Since the highlights of this cake are the juicy fresh peaches and the Southern caramel icing, we’ll take a logical shortcut and use a good quality yellow cake mix as our base. Nobody wants to be stuck fiddling with measuring cups and spoons while everybody else is out having fun, so this just makes sense. My preferred brand? Duncan Hines.
Cake mixes are forgiving and doctoring them is easy ~ I used less liquid to account for the pound of fresh peaches we’ll be adding, and subbed peach nectar for water. No biggie.
what you’ll need for this peach cake
If you keep a yellow cake mix in the cupboard you can whip this thing up in no time. It fits in a standard 9×13 pan and it serves a crowd.
- 15-ounce yellow cake mix
- I think Duncan Hines is best.
- eggs
- vegetable oil
- any neutral flavored oil is fine.
- peach juice or nectar
- peaches
- butter
- cream
- brown sugar
- vanilla
- confectioner’s sugar
a cooked caramel frosting makes this peach cake extra special
The frosting is equally as easygoing, and I think you’ll be surprised to see how straightforward it is to make. I stir up some butter, brown sugar, and cream in a saucepan, just until it comes to a boil, then stir in some vanilla and powdered sugar. The whole lot gets poured right over the top of the cake.
You have to work quickly, the frosting sets up almost immediately. When you slice it into pieces you’ll get that crackled effect that signals yummy caramel. If you refrigerate the cake, the frosting will become deliciously fudge-like. Be sure to take a spoon to the pan and grab yourself a taste of the hot frosting. Nirvana!
This made a great little breakfast cake the next morning, too; the cake is not too sweet, the peaches are juicy, and the frosting, well, the frosting is amazing.
a few tweaks made this peach cake perfect!
I adapted this recipe from The Food Charlatan. The original uses 2 boxes of peach jello, which I omitted. I use fresh rather than frozen peaches, and I substitute peach nectar for the water, which gives a more natural peach flavor. The frosting I use here is the same one from one of my favorite cakes, my Pecan Praline Pumpkin Cake, it’s easy to make and delicious!
more summer sheet cakes
- Mint Chocolate Chip Sheet Cake
- Chocolate Sheet Cake
- Blueberry Zucchini Snack Cake with Lemon Buttercream
- Caramel Apple Sheet Cake
- Lemon Velvet Sheet Cake
- Classic Yellow Sheet Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting
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Brown Sugar Peach Cake
Video
Equipment
- 9×12 baking pan
Ingredients
- 15 ounce yellow cake mix, (I like Duncan Hines)
- 3 large eggs, or the amount specified by your cake mix
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil, or the amount specified by your cake mix
- 1/2 cup peach nectar or peach juice
- 1 lb peeled and chopped peaches, (about 3-4)
- drop orange food coloring, optional
brown sugar frosting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut in pieces
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Blend together the cake mix, eggs, oil, and nectar and food coloring, if using, until well combined. Fold in the peaches and turn the batter into a lightly sprayed 9×12 pan. Bake for about 28 minutes, or until done…you can check with a toothpick, it should come out without batter clinging to it, but moist crumbs are fine.
- Put the butter, cream, and brown sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Take off the heat at add the vanilla and the sifted sugar. Whisk until well blended and the little lumps of sugar have disappeared. Put it back on a low heat if necessary.
- Pour the frosting over the cake, trying to get it evenly coated on the first try, because it will set up quickly and you won’t be able to spread it without cracking the surface.
- Let the frosting harden at room temperature or in the refrigerator before cutting.
It’s made me salivate just reading the notes and recipe! Great job and thank you!!
This is an awesome cake! It’s so moist and sweet! Has anyone tried substituting bourbon for part or all of the nectar? I might try this tomorrow as I have peaches left over and today’s cake isn’t going to last long. Delish!
This cake was just amazing, thank you Sue!! The whole family loved it and there wasn’t a speck left. Always enjoy your recipes.
I would cut the sugar, it was way too sweet, and the peaches sunk to the bottom.
Sorry you had that experience Julie, you can experiment with cutting the sugar by 1/4 next time, and try slicing the peaches a little smaller to help them stay suspended in the batter.
Where is the nutritional information?
Because this uses a cake mix I can’t calculate the nutritional info accurately.
Thank you. I will try that.
I made the nectar myself because I could not find any locally. I used one can slided peaches in natural juices, 1/4 cup sugar and teaspoon of lemon juice. Blended until smooth using my immersion blender. The nectar and this cake was delicious!
Brilliant solution!
You could also use peach baby food thinned with water or some peach liqueur.
Good idea, baby food really comes in handy sometimes 🙂
You can use 1/8 to 1/4 cup peach schnapps or peach brandy plus milk as substitute for the 1/2 cup peach nectar. Amazing how delicious the alcoholic substitution is, tastes just like fresh peaches.also, I substitute melted butter for vegetable oil, just my preference.
thanks Sandra, sounds delicious!
I don’t have heavy cream at home is there another option?
You might try half and half, or buttermilk. I don’t know if regular milk would work because I haven’t tried it.
I imagine it’s according to taste, but what size pieces do you normally cut the peaches into?
You can do anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces Sarah.
Delicious!
Cake is just our the oven cooling and what a sweet peach fragrance! Can’t wait to pour the frosting on top! Thank you for such a wonderful recipe!