Oh, this cake. I waited a whole year to make it. My friend Jenna shared the recipe last fall, just after peaches disappeared, and I sat around all winter and spring dreaming of summer and juicy fresh peaches and putting them in pound cake. Yes, that is the type of thing I think about. (When I’m not defining my strategy for getting a baby toddler to sleep past 5 am. If you have solved this one- please enlighten me.) And as anticipated, summer finally arrived and with it just what I needed to bake this perfect summer treat.

I melded two recipes- or actually, three- into my ideal version and call it “peaches and cream pound cake”. The cream portion comes from sour cream in the batter and sweetened whipped cream that you should definitely serve on top. There’s a bit of cinnamon and vanilla and almond in there as well. Everything wonderful. While it was worth the wait, I recommend you make this now. Before summer eludes you too.

Peaches and Cream Pound Cake

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup flour for dusting peaches
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1 cup sour cream
2 1/2 cups fresh peaches, pitted and diced (with or without skins- I left them on)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Butter a 10-inch bundt pan and coat with white sugar.

2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in the sour cream, and vanilla and almond extracts. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour (reserving 1/4 cup for the peaches), baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually stir into the creamed mixture (I added it slowly with the mixer on low). Toss the diced peaches in the reserved flour to coat, then fold into the batter. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for about 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, before removing the cake from the pan to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with fresh sliced peaches and sweetened whipped cream.

(Adapted from A Spicy Perspective and All Recipes via Lahatchita Eats)