Pretty in Peach! This Peach Cake is the perfect way to make the most of stone fruit season. Vanilla cake layers with a homemade peach filling and peach flavored frosting.
Can you believe we’re halfway through July already? I’m actually not complaining, as I am eagerly awaiting the Fall season – aka best season ever.
I’m not a summer kinda girl. It’s my least favorite season, which apparently makes me crazy according to my husband. I just don’t like the heat. Unless I’m on vacation or somewhere tropical, in which case bring on the sun and scorching temps. But when sweating as soon as I get out of the shower… no thank you. I’ll take the cooler temps and rainy days over that any time!
To me, summer isn’t berry season, it’s stone fruit season. We’re lucky enough to live so close to the Okanagan that we can make the most of all the delicious fruits grown there. I actually don’t have a ton of stone fruit recipes, and only one that calls for peaches, which is actually kinda sad because peaches may just be the best stone fruits out there. Note to self to create more stone fruit cakes.
Enough of my rambling, on to this Ombre Peach Cake!
How to make this Peach Cake
I used my favorite vanilla cake recipe for the cake layers here as I wanted the homemade peach filling to stand out. The peach filling is actually very simple to make — 4 simple ingredients, about 20mins, and you’re done.
Chop your peaches and cook half of them with the sugar and lemon juice until soft. Mash them up, add the remaining chopped peaches and the cornstarch and cook for a few more minutes. Simple as that! Cool completely before using on the cake.
The peach filling can be made in advance and stored in the fridge.
Peach Frosting
For the peach frosting I simply added some peach liqueur to it. Ideally though, if you can find some freeze-dried peaches to grind into a powder and add that, I think it would be an amazing flavor addition! I would add about 1/4 cup or so of the powder to the frosting. Note that it will tint the frosting pink though.
How to make an Ombre Cake
This is only the second ombre cake I’ve ever made. The first one I made was earlier in my blogging days, and it didn’t turn out as clean and pretty as I’d hoped. I needed to redeem myself, and what better way than with a pretty peach ombre frosting?
The ombre frosting is actually really easy to do.
How to do an Ombre Frosting
- Once you’ve filled and crumb coated your cake, portion remaining frosting into 4 bowls with one having slightly more frosting (this will be the white frosting and you need a little extra for the top). I should have measured these properly (sorry!) but the good thing about ombre cakes is that they are forgiving, so less or more of one color isn’t a huge problem.
- For the remaining three bowls, add the following amounts of color and mix thoroughly.
- 7 drops of Americolor Peach gel into one
- 3 drops of Americolor Peach gel into one
- 3 drops of Wilton Buttercup Yellow into one
- Starting with the bottom and the darkest peach color, spread roughly onto bottom quarter of cake with a small offset spatula.
- Clean your spatula and do the same with the lighter peach colored frosting and the yellow frosting on the middle sections.
- Clean your spatula add the remaining white buttercream to the upper third and top of the cake.
- Try to ensure all layers have the same amount of thickness. Take a bench scraper or a large offset spatula and smooth the sides and blend colors.
- Use a small offset spatula to create a swirl pattern on the sides and top.
Things like a cake turntable and an icing smoother make it infinitely easier, but you could just as easily do a rustic ombre effect. I actually intended for this cake to have clean, smooth, pristine sides.
It initially did, but I thought it looked a little plain. I didn’t want to mess around with a drippy ganache, plus I’ve done a lot of drippy ganache cakes lately, so I decided to do an easy swirl pattern on the sides using my offset spatula. You can see this technique used here and here as well.
This peach layer cake is packed with flavor, and the homemade peach filling is amazing! You’ll want to be eating it with a spoon. It would make a great topping to some vanilla ice cream, too! I kept the cake simple – classic vanilla – so that the peach flavor would stand out. You can add peach liqueur to the frosting like I did, or simply use vanilla extract if you don’t have any liqueur on hand.
Looking for more summer fruit recipes?
- Pineapple Cake
- Raspberry Mango Cake
- Lime & Coconut Cake
- Strawberry Cheesecake Cookie Cups
- Easy Plum Cake
Tips for making this Ombre Peach Cake
- The recipe as-is will also work in two 8″ pans. For three 8″ pans, 1.5x the recipe.
- To make cupcakes, all you need to do is reduce the baking time — start checking at 15mins or so.
- I used peach liqueur to flavor the frosting but if you have access to freeze-dried peaches that you can grind into a powder, that would be your best bet! Use 1/4 cup of the powder in the frosting. It will tint the frosting though.
- I used Americolor Peach gel and Wilton Buttercup Yellow to color the frosting.
- Be sure to check my Swiss Meringue Buttercream post for tips and troubleshooting.
- Learn how to keep your cakes moist using Simple Syrup.
- To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, check out my Flat Top Cakes post!
Ombre Peach Cake
Ingredients
Vanilla Cake:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 tsps baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
Peach Filling:
- 2 cups chopped peaches approximately 2 peaches
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp light brown sugar packed
- 1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 tsp cold water
Peach Buttercream:
- 5 large egg whites
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups unsalted butter cubed (room temperature)
- 2 tsp peach liqueur
- Americolor Peach color gel
- Wilton Buttercup Yellow color gel
Instructions
Vanilla Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F and grease and flour three 6″ cake rounds, line with parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add sugar and beat on med-high until pale and fluffy (2-3mins).
- Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time, fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of milk). Fully incorporating after each addition. Do not overmix.
- Spread batter evenly into prepared pans. Smooth the tops with a spatula.
- Bake for approx. 30mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
- Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10mins then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.
Peach Filling:
- Place 1 cup of the peaches, sugar, and lemon juice into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Mash peaches to break down into a puree. Add remaining 1 cup of peaches and cook for 5 minutes. Add cornstarch slurry and simmer until thick. Cool completely before using on cake.
Peach Buttercream:
- Place egg whites and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk until combined.*
- Place bowl over a hot water bath on the stove and whisk constantly until the mixture is no longer grainy to the touch (approx. 3mins).
- Place bowl on your stand mixer and whisk on med-high until the meringue is stiff and cooled (the bowl is no longer warm to the touch (approx. 5-10mins)).
- Switch to paddle attachment. Slowly add cubed butter and mix until smooth. Add peach liqueur and whip until smooth.**
Assembly:
- Place one layer of cake onto a serving plate or cake stand. Top with a thin layer of buttercream and pipe a dam around the outside using a large round tip to hold the filling. Place 1/2 cup peach filling inside the dam and spread evenly. Repeat with next layer. Top with final layer and crumb coat the cake. Chill for 30mins.
- Portion remaining frosting into 4 bowls with one having slightly more than the other 3 (the white frosting).
- Add drops of the color into each bowl and mix thoroughly. – 7 drops of peach into one– 3 drops of peach into one– 3 drops of yellow into one
- Starting with the bottom and the darkest color, spread roughly onto bottom quarter of cake with a small offset spatula.Clean spatula and do the same with the lighter peach colored frosting and the yellow frosting on the middle sections. Clean spatula add the remaining white buttercream to the top of the cake and upper third.
- Try to ensure all layers have the same amount of thickness. Take a bench scraper or a large offset spatula and smooth the sides and blend colors. Use a small offset spatula to create a swirl pattern on the sides and top.
Margaret says
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I made it for my daughter’s 15th birthday. I followed the directions as written, except I doubled the cake for thicker layers, and used frozen peaches from this summer. It was really delicious and easy to make. I piped rosettes for the layers and it was super cute. She loved the cake, thank you!!
Olivia says
Hi Margaret! So happy to hear that you both liked it 🙂
Michele says
Olivia, this Peach Ombre Cake is just beautiful and looks just as delicious! Thank you so much for allowing me to feature it on my peach recipe round-up. Have a lovely day!
Olivia says
Thanks so much Michele!
Catherine Filteau says
Hi Olivia, I made this cake yesterday and it turned out very dense and not fluffy. Any suggestions of what I did wrong?
Olivia says
Hi Catherine! Sorry to hear you had troubles with it. Were all your ingredients completely at room temperature? If so, another culprit for dense cakes is overmixing the batter.
Rachel Fujihara says
Hi! I was wondering if it’s okay to freeze this cake? My fear in freezing it, is that when the peach filling defrosts it will become funny. What do you recommend?
Rachel Fujihara says
runny***
Olivia says
Hi Rachel! I haven’t tried it with this particular cake, but I suspect it will be fine since the fruit is already cooked. Let me know if you try!
Patricia says
Hi Olivia,
Do you think frozen peaches would work in this recipe? Would I defrost, drain the liquid, then proceed as recipe specifies?
Thank You!
Olivia says
Hi Patricia! I think frozen would work just fine 🙂 Let me know how it turns out!
Carton says
Does buttermilk refer to traditional buttermilk or cultured buttermilk? That is, buttermilk that is a byproduct of making butter or milk that has had acid added to it?
Olivia says
It’s milk that has had acid added to it 🙂
Kate Bauso says
Great! Last question. Can I use cake flour instead of AP flour?
Kate Bauso says
Shoot, sorry. One other question. How many cups of frosting does this recipe make? Thanks again!
Olivia says
Ummm, that is a GOOD question, haha. I’m not totally sure actually….maybe 4-5 cups? I’m totally guessing here though, I really should check it!
Olivia says
Hi Kate! That *should* work fine. It will make for a bit of a fluffier cake though 🙂
Kate Bauso says
I just used the regular AP flour. I did double the recipe, but I ran out of butter making the buttercream and I had just shy of a stick left. So I substituted with 3/4c +1tbsp canola oil to make up for the missing amount of butter. The cakes definitely didn’t rise as much as I’d like, so much so that I can’t split them and will have to settle for a 2 layer cake instead of 4. 🙁 One of them was lopsided too, but I’ll even it out. I’m bummed, I’m sure it will taste fine though. Wondering if it was the canola.
Olivia says
Hi Kate! Did you sub oil into the cake instead of butter? That would definitely make a huge difference. Try it with just butter and see how that goes?
Kate Bauso says
Hi Olivia – Yes, I ran out of butter (only had about 6tbsp), so I subbed canola for the rest of the required butter. Makes me feel better that you think it was the oil 🙂 I didn’t get a chance to eat it as I was out of town, but my husband said everyone liked it very much and no leftovers, so that’s good! I’ll definitely make it again, and this time make sure I have plenty of butter for both the frosting and the cake. I’m sure it will rise as it is supposed to 🙂
The peach filling was a hit too, when I came back, all the leftover filling I had in the fridge was gone…so I think hubby was snacking on it, lol
Olivia says
I hope it works out better for you next time! I’m glad everyone loved it still 🙂
Kate Bauso says
Hi Olivia! I have been a regular visitor to your site for a couple of years and have attempted one of your cakes so far (the mocha cake- a huge success). I’m going to do this for my sis-in-law’s birthday (her nickname is Peaches). I just have a couple of questions. I think I doubled the recipe for the mocha cake to fit 2 9 inch pans, would that work here or too much batter? Also, using a merengue makes me this this is more like a Swiss buttercream as opposed to French. Is that correct? I’m frosting the cake in the am and my husband is bringing the cake to the party later. It will be in the fridge in the meantime. Will it hold up for a bit at the restaurant while they eat dinner? Afraid it will melt.
Thank you for your time!
Kate
Olivia says
Hi Kate! So happy that you’re going to try another cake! I would double the recipe for two 9″ pans. The layers aren’t super thick in the 6″ pans, so I would err on the side of caution and double it for two 9″ ones. Just be sure to not fill them more than 2/3rds full or so. And yes, this is a Swiss meringue buttercream 🙂 I would refrigerate it like you plan and I think it should hold up just fine in the restaurant unless it’s super hot there. I recommend that people leave the cakes out 2-3 hours before serving so that they can come to room temp, so I think you should be fine 🙂
Eliss says
Hi Olivia,this cake looks amazing *-*
I’m preparing the cake today,but I’m going to prepare the filling and buttercream tomorrow morning but I have to serve it tomorrow evening and It’s so warm here; so I was wondering if I could decorate it tom morning and refrigerate it under a dome or if I should decorate it before serving it?
Thank in advance and sorry for my English,I’m Italian <3
Olivia says
Hi Eliss! You can totally refrigerate it. You could even do it today and stick it in the fridge and it would be fine :). Ideally, take it out a couple hours before serving so that it can come to room temperature.
Veronica says
Hi Olivia,
I was wondering if I could use canned peaches? It’s not quite peach season yet. Thanks!
Olivia says
Hi Veronica! I think that should work fine. You probably wouldn’t want to cook them for too long though since they’re already soft. You can try just replacing the filling I have here with canned peaches. Or try canned peach pie filling (if that’s a thing) 🙂
Ruth says
Love the cake ! Could you do a tutorial on the design , I’ve tried to find one on you tube however because I’m not sure what it’s called I’ve been unsuccessful in finding one .
Olivia says
Hi Ruth! Here’s a good example of the technique I used 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ7cyNKz24A
Lisa T. says
It looks delicious! But can I actually use whipping cream instead for its topping?
Olivia says
Hi Lisa! You mean instead buttercream? You can do that, but note that whipping cream is much softer so it would be a challenge to fill and stack. I hope that helps!
Louisa Murray says
Hi. I just found your blog and I love your cakes. I am not a fan of raw egg whites, do you know if I can make the icing using meringue powder instead of raw egg whites?
Olivia says
Hi Louisa! This frosting would not work with meringue powder, egg whites only.
Tammy says
How many pans are you suppose to split the batter? And what size is the pan?
How high does the cake rise compared to the poured batter amount?
Is this recipe sufficient to make the high layer cake you posted? I’m am looking to bake my niece a cake for her bday and wanted to try a new vanilla recipe that is more fluffy or even crumbly. I’ve tried trophys cups cake recipe and few times it just doesn’t rise correctly and creating a thick dense cake like old cornbread left in the fridge if you know what I mean? Almost like there is too much eggs in a recipe or something. Thank you for posting. I’m excited to try this new recipe! It also doesn’t seem too sweet which is great!
Olivia says
Hi Tammy! I used three 6×2″ cake pans for the cake pictured. The cake layers end up being between 1″ and 1.5″ tall. This is definitely a lighter cake! I hope you like it 🙂
Lo says
So I am in the midst of attempting this cake, and just took the cakes out of their pans. The tops are a nice golden brown, but the sides and bottoms look darker than I expected. I used parchment lined pans, and prepped them just as specified in the recipe. I baked at 350 for about 26 minutes. I was just wondering if this is normal for them to be darker brown on the bottoms and sides? The bottoms are almost as dark as your rum and eggnog bundt cake. :/ considering tossing these and starting over…. Unless this is normal/ or you have any suggestions (I.e. Shave off the darker areas before frosting, brushing with simple syrup for moisture, etc)?
Olivia says
Hi Lo! It’s funny you say that because these cakes baked up super pale for me! Which was unusual. They *should* ideally be a nice golden color all around. I can think of a couple reasons for the darkness:
1. Your cake pans are dark grey instead of light — this will cause baked goods to bake up darker.
2. Your oven temperature is off (which is not uncommon). I recommend using an oven thermometer to sanity check the temperature and adjust accordingly. No two ovens are the same! Perhaps they were done sooner due to a higher temperature? Did you check them at any point before the 26mins?
The other thing you can do, in the future, is to use bake even strips around the outside of the cake pans to help ensure even baking. You can read about them here.
Do you feel that the cakes may be over-baked and dry? If so, I would use a toothpick or skewer to poke them all over and brush them with simply syrup. I’d hate to see these go to waste! You could try to trim off the top of one to see if it’s dry as a bone. If so, I would re-bake in that case.
I’m sorry these didn’t turn out for you on the first go! I suspect they’re probably fine and could use a bump of moisture from the syrup. I would definitely check your oven to see if it runs too hot though!
Lo says
Thank you, Olivia! I ended up starting over to be safe. The second time around I turned my oven down to 335, and baked for 18 minutes, and at that point the toothpick came out clean, and the cake was a beautiful light golden color. The cake was a success, just loved the peach filling, and ombré design! Thank you for your tips! I absolutely LOVE your cake recipes. Can’t wait to try more!
Olivia says
Yay! I’m so glad it worked out for you! Crazy the temperature and time difference. Good call on turning it down and checking the cake early :). I’m so glad you liked this one!
Mary Ann | The Beach House Kitchen says
This cake is sooo gorgeous Olivia! Wish I was as talented as you at decorating cakes! I’m in love with the peach filling and peach buttercream!
Olivia says
Thanks so much Mary Ann! That peach filling was so delicious :).
jacquee | i sugar coat it! says
This is lovely – so soft and feminine and flavourful. I love stone fruit! It’s unreal that it’s almost back to school! I used to love the time leading up to back to school, but not so much the back to school… 🙁 Where does the time go??
Olivia says
I know, it’s crazy!! I happily enjoy back to school time now that I’m no longer in school ;).
olga says
That filling is awesome!!!!!!!!!! and the flavour says screaming…. Summer!!!!!!!!!!
It is a pitty that you need to turn on the oven to make it.
Olga
Olivia says
Haha, I know, right? The filling is super delicious! 🙂
Maggie in Michigan says
Okay Miz Olivia, who are you and what planet did you slide in here from? Your cakes are truly not real, right? I mean they look so damn perfect in every picture, not a smudge of icing out of place, unless you intend it to be, the colors are a palette of sweet sugary delights to look at I can only hope that some day I am invited to your kitchen so I can sample some of these and this would be top on my list, OMG, divine beyond belief girl, you have outdone yourself, again, if that is even possible. See my face it’s all red with envy and jealously, I do art, strange mixed media art stuff with found objects, bizarre stuff but there’s a beauty to it no matter, and your art are these most delightful cakes, tell me true now are they really really really real????
Maggie
Olivia says
Maggie you are the sweetest! You totally made my morning (and probably my week :)). It’s funny because I often see so many imperfections in all of my baking, even this cake! I have to keep telling myself that most people won’t notice them, so thank you for reinforcing that 🙂 <3.
Jacquie says
Hi Olivia! This cake looks amazing!!!! Most of my baking pans etc. are in storage (we’re in between houses right now) but thankfully I had the smarts to keep the basics with me. I will be trying this recipe hopefully soon while peaches are in season. I may pipe the icing in rosettes. It’s just way to humid here in southern Ontario to bake.
Olivia says
Most of mine are in storage too! We’re moving in a couple weeks. I am jealous of your humidity! I love it, but can see how it would make baking a little more challenging 🙂 Let me know if you end up trying this one!