Hi everyone! I’m Darla from Bakingdom, and I’m so excited to be visiting Caroline here on Chocolate & Carrots today! I love hanging out here anyway, what with all the amazing food, cute puppy dog pics, and adorable baby photos, but now I get to share here, too, and it couldn’t be more fun. 🙂

When Caroline first asked me if I could do a guest post, I was a little concerned. As you know, she is completely brilliant at making something decadent and sweet-tooth-satisfying that is a healthier option than other recipes. I can make no such claims. My treats tend to be full sugar, full fat. I’m not opposed to a healthier style of baking…I’m just not good at it. Not like Caroline. She’s pretty much a genius.

I decided, though, that if I was going to show my face around here, then things needed to be healthy…er.

So I added fruit to a cake. Fruit equals healthy, so a cake with fruit is automatically healthy. 😉

Yay!

I think one of the best fruits of summer, that you don’t see in recipes often enough, is peaches. Everything about a peach says “summer,” and they’re so easy to cook with.

Now, I know it’s been awfully hot to be cooking a pound cake in the oven for an hour, but honestly, once you serve this up with some creamy vanilla ice cream, you won’t mind having a warmer kitchen for a bit.

I decided I really wanted my cake to be peachy, so in addition to putting six whole, fresh peaches in the cake, I also caramelized some, creating a sweet glaze and fruit topping.

Plus, it’s more fruit, which means its more healthy. Obviously.

To make sure that I got all that healthy all over the cake, I used a wooden skewer to poke holes in the cake while it was still in the pan…

…then, I poured a generous helping of the glaze over it and let it run down in the holes. It’s good to let it rest at this point, to let it soak up all that healthiness.

After the cake has rested, turn it out of the pan onto a cake plate. Poke more holes in the top of the cake and pour the remaining glaze, as well as the cooked peaches, over the top of the cake.

Don’t bother letting this cool to room temperature. That’s a waste of perfectly good, warm peachiness that vanilla ice cream needs to be happy. You don’t want your vanilla ice cream to be sad, do you?

This cake is sweet and fruity; the perfect dense, but not heavy, pound cake, and the caramelized peaches add just the right amount of sweet-tart topping to take the cake from wonderful to fantastic. And let’s not forget, it has fruit, so it’s healthy. I repeat, this cake will not ruin your diet.*

Enjoy!

xo,
Darla

*I am not a diet or nutrition expert, and therefore cannot guarantee that this cake will not ruin your diet. Because it will. Consumption of this cake while on a diet will result in extreme happiness and satisfaction, but will prevent weight loss of any kind. 😉

Ginger-Peach Pound Cake
with Caramelized Peaches
Makes 1 large bundt cake

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE
3 cups peaches, peeled and pitted; about 6 peaches
3 cups (381 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks or 226 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups (350 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (128 grams) brown sugar, packed
6 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

FOR THE CARAMELIZED PEACHES
6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups (383 grams) brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup (63 ml) water
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 peaches, peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced
Reserved juice from shredded peaches

To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (180 C). Thoroughly grease and flour a large bundt pan; set aside.

Shred or finely chop the peeled peaches and place in a fine mesh sieve set over a medium bowl. Allow the peaches to drain while preparing the cake batter. Reserve the peach juice for the caramelized peaches.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In another large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Add half of the sour cream, mixing until just combined. Scrape the bowl if needed. Add the remaining flour mixture in two more batches, alternating with the remaining sour cream, and only mixing until just combined. Do not over mix. Fold in the prepared peaches (but not the juice).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a crumb or two clinging to it.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before glazing.

To make the caramelized peaches: While the cake is baking, combine the butter, brown sugar, water, ginger, vanilla, and peach juice in a small saucepan set over medium high heat. Bring to a low boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved, stir in the sliced peaches. Reduce to a simmer, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

After the cake has cooled for 10 minutes, use a wooden skewer to poke holes all along the top of the cake. Drizzle half of the liquid from the caramelized peaches over the cake while it is still in the pan. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Turn the cake out of it pan onto a cake plate and poke more holes in the cake with a wooden skewer. Pour the remaining glaze and the caramelized peaches over the top of the cake. Allow to cool for another 10 minutes or so. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Recipe by Darla