Fresh Peach Cake (Extra Peaches!) – Sally’s Baking Addiction

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This easy recipe for fresh peach cake is a wonderful way to showcase sweet peaches when they’re in season. Soft and tender with a creamy crumb, and featuring 2 layers of juicy peaches for extra peach flavor in every bite, this cake needs no topping or decorating (though a dusting of powdered sugar is always welcome). It’s the perfect treat to enjoy on a porch swing with a glass of iced tea—or wherever you find summertime bliss.

Fresh Peach Cake (Extra Peaches!) – Sally’s Baking Addiction

This simple yet impressive fresh peach cake is the perfect quick & easy dessert to make when peaches are in season, whether you picked them straight from a tree… or from a roadside farm stand… or from the grocery store when they were on sale. I love peach pie, but sometimes you need a simple recipe for a dessert that can be ready to eat in the next couple of hours. This peach cake is just the thing!

(Peach crisp and peach cobbler are both wonderful options as well, of course. Especially if you happen to have vanilla ice cream in your freezer.)


Everything You’ll Love About This Fresh Peach Cake

  • Super moist, tender, soft cake with juicy cinnamon-spiced peaches
  • Great way to showcase fresh peaches during peak peach season
  • Quick & easy—no mixer required, no separate topping to make, and you don’t even have to peel the peaches!
  • All the flavors you love in peach pie (with less time & effort)
  • Not overly sweet, so the fruit’s natural sweetness shines
  • Greek yogurt makes for a creamy-like crumb, just like it does in lemon berry yogurt cake
  • You could use dairy-free yogurt to make this a dairy-free recipe
  • Don’t have to wait hours for it to cool completely before eating
  • Transport and serve right from the baking pan

And as a welcome bonus, there’s no complicated decorating required. Just give it a shimmy-shake of confectioners’ sugar over the top before serving—this peach cake is a natural beauty!

slice of peach cake on stacked green plate.

Key Ingredients You Need & Why

  1. Flour: All-purpose flour forms the base for this cake’s structure.
  2. Baking Powder & Baking Soda: With so many wet ingredients, we need both baking powder and soda to help lift this cake so it’s not heavy and flat.
  3. Salt: For its flavor-enhancing superpowers.
  4. Oil: Using oil instead of butter in cakes makes for a supremely moist crumb. You can use olive oil, vegetable oil, or melted coconut oil here—baker’s choice.
  5. Sugar: Granulated sugar is the sweetener for this cake. You don’t need a lot, because the peaches are already sweet on their own.
  6. Eggs: Eggs provide structure, stability, and richness.
  7. Vanilla & Almond Extracts: You’ll love the flavor this combo provides. It’s the same duo used to flavor classic sugar cookies.
  8. Greek Yogurt: You’ll notice that I use yogurt or sour cream in a lot of my cake recipes. Both bring a slight tang (very mild) and brilliantly creamy moisture. I tested this cake with nonfat and low-fat Greek yogurt, regular yogurt, and sour cream—all were excellent. Greek yogurt added a little more tang and structure, though. You could also use a dairy-free yogurt to make this cake dairy free.
  9. Lemon Zest & Juice: Lemon brightens everything up, and adds some fresh flavor. Taste testers said the cake was lacking without it.
  10. Peaches: You need about 2 cups of sliced fresh peaches (peeling them first is optional). See the FAQs below for more information on the best type of peaches to use.
  11. Cinnamon: Totally optional.
ingredients on marble counter including peaches, sugar, lemon, salt, flour, oil, greek yogurt, eggs, and others.

Overview: How to Make Fresh Peach Cake

The cake is layered with peaches. Half batter, half peaches, remaining batter, remaining peaches.

peach slices in glass bowl.

There’s no mixer required for this recipe. Whisk the batter together, and then toss the peach slices with a little sugar to help them release some juices.

Then I like to toss HALF of the sugared peaches in cinnamon, so the fruit in the center of the cake mingle with creamy cinnamon swirls (similar to this peach quick bread). The other half of the peaches (without cinnamon) create the top layer of the cake. Again, the cinnamon is optional. You can simply toss ALL of the peaches with the cinnamon, or leave it out entirely.

Here’s the creamy batter, and center layer of cinnamon-sugar peaches:

batter in glass bowl and shown again in springform pan under cinnamon-covered peach slices.

As you can see, the cake is brimming with fresh peaches. A 9-inch springform pan (what you use for cheesecake) is ideal for this one-layer cake.

Here’s the cake before and after baking:

And while this natural beauty needs no extra embellishments, I like to sift a little dusting of confectioners’ sugar over the top just before serving. And, of course, whipped cream is always a welcome adornment.

Recipe Testing

I’m happy to share my testing process with anyone interested in how this cake came to life! Today’s peach cake is an almost halved version of my lemon berry yogurt cake and a very slightly scaled up version of this cherry buckle. I wanted to use oil instead of butter to keep the crumb light and moist.

It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of flour in the recipe, and you’re right, there’s not! I tested the cake with more, but it made the cake a little tough and heavy. Yogurt is a heavy ingredient, and more flour didn’t necessarily help.

In terms of flour, lemon juice and almond extract are key. Taste testers felt the entire cake lacked flavor without these additions.

slice of fresh peach cake with confectioners' sugar on top on white plate.
What Are the Best Peaches for Peach Cake?

You can use any variety of peaches—yellow, white, or even doughnut peaches—but you want slightly firm (not hard) peaches with no soft spots. Your best bet is to purchase or pick about 4 firm peaches, then let them sit in a paper bag for 1–2 days to ripen. Some may have soft spots after this time, so that is why I suggest buying a couple more than you actually need. Eat any overly soft peaches or use them in peach muffins.

Can I Use Frozen Peaches?

Fresh peaches are the best option for this fresh peach cake. If you must use frozen peach slices, thaw and then blot them dry before using. Do not use canned peaches.

Can I Use Other Fruits?

Sure! This is a great cake for other fruits and flavors. Instead of peaches, try nectarines, apricots, plums, pears, apples, or even halved cherries.

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