Easter

Peach Carrot Cake – Carrot Cake with a Delightful New Twist!

Sabrina Pflug | Peach and the WillowLeave a comment

Peach Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Blackberry Garnish

Oh how I love Carrot Cake! I think not so much for the carrot part, but more for that decadent, fail proof cream cheese frosting part. For me, the cake is a medium just to get to the frosting! Is that awful??? SNS? Same goes for Hummingbird Cake…but I digress…just look at this beautiful Carrot Cake!

Peach Carrot Cake...slice of heaven

Easter is a little over a week away and millions of folks around the world will celebrate this holy holiday by “brunching and lunching” with family and friends.  My hunch is that Carrot Cake will make its share of appearances at dessert tables far and wide.  If Carrot Cake is one of your favorites like it is mine,  then you will definitely want to add this new twist on a traditional dessert to your Pinterest board.  It just so happens that my blog’s namesake, the glorious peach,  is the added ingredient that creates such a delightful new riff on a classic cake.  The peach notes in the cake are subtle…the perfect balance of fruit and spice.  I decorate my Peach Carrot Cake in the naked fashion, not to overwhelm the cake with too much of that beautiful cream cheese frosting.  Believe me… it’s hard for an icing addict like myself to admit, but this cake is so good it doesn’t need frosting!!!  Trust me on this one and keep the frosting layers thin.  I also love the rustic elegance the cake renders…especially with the addition of peaches and blackberries.  So earthy and beautiful…like spring and summer wrapped into one!  Peach Carrot Cake

PEACH CARROT CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING & CARAMELIZED PEACHES

Makes one 6-inch cake; Serves 8 – 10

Ingredients for the Cake:

  1.  3/4 cup salted butter
  2. 3 large eggs
  3. 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  4. 1/3 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp light brown sugar, firmly packed
  5. 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  6. 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  7. 2 tsp baking powder
  8. 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  9. 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
  10. 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  11. 1 3/4 cups grated carrots
  12. 1 can of peach halves in juice (2/3 cup of peach pure will be used in the cake, save the rest for the filling)

Ingredients for Cream Cheese Frosting:

  1.  3/4 cup softened butter
  2. 7 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
  3. 3/4 – 1 cup powdered sugar
  4. 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

For the Filling:

  1.  Remaining Peach Puree Peach Carrot Cake with Peach Glaze and Blackberries

Caramelized Peaches:

  1.  3 – 4 fresh peaches (you may also use frozen peaches, thawed)
  2. 3 tbsp butter
  3. 3 tbsp light brown sugar, loosely packed
  4. Fresh Blackberries

Cake Directions:

  • Heat oven to 350 degrees F
  • Line with parchment and butter sides of two 6-inch cake pans
  • Melt the butter and leave to cool.
  • Beat eggs and sugars until fluffy and lighter in color and texture, about 3 minutes.  Add melted butter and vanilla and beat until combined.
  • Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl, then stir into the batter until just smooth.
  • Peel and grate the carrots.  Put the peaches (without the juice) in a blender or food processor and process until smooth.
  • Add grated carrots and 2/3 cup of the peach puree to the batter and stir until combined.  Divide the batter between the two cake pans.
  • Bake for about 40 – 43 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
  • Leave to cool in the pans for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • Beat butter until pale and fluffy.  Add cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until just smooth.
  • Put the bowl in the fridge while you cut the cake.

Assembly:

  • Cut both cake layers in half with a serrated knife so you end up with four cake layers.
  • Put the first cake layer on a cake board or directly onto a plate or cake stand.  Spread a layer of frosting on the first layer, then spread a layer of peach puree over. Repeat this until you’ve used up all layers.
  • Spread a thin layer of frosting all over the cake and put in the fridge while you prepare the topping.

Caramelized Peaches:

  • Slice the fresh peaches.  Heat the butter over medium heat in a non-reactive skillet. Add brown sugar and swirl with a wooden spoon until the sugar melts.
  • Add the peach slices and caramelize for 2 -3 minutes.  Let cool completely, then put them on top of the cake with the blackberries.

***Cake recipe credit:  Award winning baker, writer and blogger, Linda Lomelino               ***Peach Carrot Cake Photo Credits:  Robyn Rodehaver

Looking for other great cake ideas for Easter (or anytime!)???  Try this one from Peach and the Willow!  Click HERE for recipe!Mandarin Orange Pound Cake

Everyone Enjoy and Happy Easter! He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  Love ~ Sabrina

 

My Favorite Pound Cake (Dressed up for Easter!)

Sabrina Pflug | Peach and the Willow5 Comments

Mandarin Orange Pound Cake - Half

When you grow up in the South as I did, you find that pound cake is in a food group all to itself.  You’ve had pound cake with strawberries and cream, pound cake with peaches and cream, with blackberries and cream, just whipped cream or your favorite ice cream.  You’ve had dry pound cake, melt in your mouth pound cake, TOO buttery pound cake (yes…there is such a thing), too dense pound cake, toasted pound cake, week old pound cake and on and on!  Pound cake is not seasonal for southerners, although we oftentimes pair it with fruits of the season as mentioned before.  And it always shows up on the Easter buffet…right along with the deviled eggs and potato salad seasoned with bacon fat.  My table will be no exception…but this year My Favorite Pound Cake will be getting “dressed up” in Easter finery with a flowery adornment of halo mandarins…an Easter Bonnet, if you will!

Reminiscent of the pineapple rings on a pineapple upside-down cake, the slices of fresh mandarin orange give this cake a sort of old world charm.  It’s rustic but beautiful…with the look of sunny spring flowers.   And the taste??!!!  A nectarous cake that is super moist and laced with a hint of citrusy sweet bitterness that comes across as very…hmmm…the best way I can describe it is sophisticated and clean.  Not too fussy…not overdone…not trying too hard cake.  Just simple and delicious.  And the look of the cake is stunning.  Halo mandarins are in season until April so including this particular pound cake for Easter should be no problem!  If for some reason you don’t like halos, just don’t include them in the recipe.  This pound cake is delish either way.

Mandarin Orange Pound Cake
A Cake as Pretty as an Easter Bonnet

The recipe for My Favorite Pound Cake is adapted from a Southern Living recipe published in 2006.  However,  I have tweaked it over the years using tricks of the trade handed down by friends and relatives who are GREAT pound cake bakers (Shannon Lollie and Connie Melzer to drop a couple names).  It is fail proof and amazing!!!

SOUR CREAM POUND CAKE

  • 1 1/2 cups butter, softened (hint…throw in a dollop more)
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 7 large eggs
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour ( I use organic and unbleached)
  • 1/2 tsp. salt (I add a pinch more)
  • 1/4 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 (8-oz.) container sour cream
  • 1/2 tsp. lemon extract
  • 1/4 tsp. almond extract
  • (If making the mandarin orange version, include a couple Tbsp. of Cointreau Liqueur if you have it on hand)
  1. If making the Halo Mandarin Version of cake…start by slicing halos in four thin slices and assembling at bottom and side of greased and parchment lined tube pan.  You will use from 8 – 10 halos.  See picture for assembly tips. If you are making “My Favorite Pound Cake” without fruit…forego step one.Mandarin Orange Placement in Bundt Pan
  2. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.  Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until the yolk disappears.
  3. Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda.  Add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture (this is important).  Beat batter at low speed just until blended after each addition.  Stir in extracts.  Pour into a greased  12-cup tube pan.  I also line the bottom and part of side with parchment to assure that the cake will come out clean.
  4. Bake at 325 Degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.  Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes.  Remove cake from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
Pound Cake in Bundt Pan
MY FAVORITE POUND CAKE fresh from the oven!

Should you want a nice whipped cream to accompany the Mandarin Orange version…this one would be perfect!

WHIPPED CREAM

Makes about 2 cups (Prep:  5 Min.)

  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. orange Liqueur

Beat whipping cream at low speed with an electric mixer until foamy; increase speed to medium-high, and gradually add powdered sugar, beating until soft peaks form.  Stir in Liqueur.

Mandarin Orange Pound Cake Slice
Buttery…Moist…Crunchy on the Bottom…Fruity on the Top

 

Mandarin Orange Pound Cake - Half