Peach Coffee Cake is the perfect way to turn overripe peaches into a bakery-worthy treat bursting with fresh peach flavor. Macerated peaches and peach preserves double the peachy goodness in every bite, creating a tender coffee cake beneath a crisp, buttery crumble topping. It's the kind of breakfast or brunch bake that's hard to resist and even harder to stop eating.
Peach Coffee Cake Recipe Essentials
- 🍽️ Course: Dessert
- ⏱️ Cooking Time: 50 minutes
- 🍴 Servings: 12
- 🍑 Flavor Profile: Sweet, buttery, fruity, and warmly spiced with juicy peaches, cinnamon, vanilla, and almond.
- ☕️ Best Served With: Whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, or a hot cup of coffee or tea.
- 🧊 Make Ahead?: Yes, bake a day ahead and store covered at room temperature or refrigerate.
Summarize and Save This Content On
After testing this recipe a few times, I discovered that adding peach preserves was the secret to making the cake even more moist while bringing out the fresh peach flavor.
Ken loves peaches, so anytime a few are sitting on the kitchen counter, he's already asking me to make this coffee cake. I can't think of a better way to start the day than with a warm slice and a fresh cup of coffee.
If you're a coffee cake lover, you should try banana coffee cake, rhubarb coffee cake, and apple cinnamon coffee cake next!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Bakery-style result: The look of this peach cake when it's out of the oven is impressive enough to believe it came from a professional bakery!
- No mixer needed: Just a wooden spoon or whisk is great here. You don't need an electric hand or stand mixer to combine the ingredients.
- Make-ahead friendly: Feel free to prepare this peach crumble coffee cake in advance and enjoy it with company or as a sweet breakfast option throughout the week.
Ingredients
Here are the most important ingredients in this fresh peach coffee cake recipe. They are crucial to achieving the best texture and the most craveable result possible.
- Peaches: Using 4 peaches equals about 3 cups of 1.5 lbs. Peeling is optional because the skin cooks down enough that it's hardly noticeable in the cake at all.
- Sour cream: This is key to achieving a perfectly moist and tender cake. Use full-fat for the best results. Plain Greek yogurt is a great substitute here, too.
- Peach preserves: Double peaches equals even more peach flavor! Jam works amazingly in a pinch, but not peach pie filling.
- Almond extract: I use a hint of almond extract in the peach crumb cake batter to further enhance the peaches. You'll find it in my peaches and cream stuffed cake as well! If you prefer vanilla, you can omit the almond altogether (there's already a teaspoon of vanilla in the recipe).
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations
- Gluten-free: Make an even 1:1 swap with your favorite gluten-free flour blend.
- Swap the fruit: Try this recipe with plums, apricots, or even blueberries instead of fresh peaches.
- Add a glaze: Make a simple vanilla glaze with 1 cup powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla, and 2-3 tablespoons of milk. Drizzle it over the cooled cake for extra sweetness and to enhance the presentation even further.
- Nut topping: Add ½ cup of nuts to the streusel topping for texture. Sliced almonds, chopped pecans, or even walnuts work perfectly.
How to Make Peach Coffee Cake with Crumb Topping
First, preheat your oven to 350F and grease a 9-inch springform pan before you get started on your coffee cake with fresh peaches.
Step 1: Combine peaches, sugar, and salt. Start by adding the peach slices to a bowl with the sugar and salt, and then mix well.
Step 2: Allow the peaches to sit: Let the peaches sit on your counter for 30 minutes to allow them to release their juices. Then, drain, reserve just 2 tablespoons of peach juice, and discard the rest.
Step 3: Prepare the topping. Combine the dry ingredients for the crumble topping and mix them with the melted butter until clumps form. Set it aside.
Step 4: Mix the cake batter. Combine the dry ingredients for the cake batter and pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk the batter until everything is just combined.
Step 5: Add the preserves. Add the peach preserves to the batter and gently mix them into the batter.
Step 6: Pour and spread the batter. Add the cake batter to the prepared pan and spread it evenly.
Step 7: Top with peaches, crumble, and bake. Arrange the macerated peach slices in a circular pattern on top of the batter and then sprinkle on the crumble topping. Bake your peach coffee cake for about 45-50 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the pan halfway through baking.
Step 8: Cool and remove from the pan. Allow the cake to cool completely (about 2 hours or so) and then carefully remove the springform pan and transfer it to a plate. Slice and serve it with a scoop of lemon blueberry ice cream.
Expert Tips
- Drain the peaches well: After macerating the peaches, it's important to drain any excess liquid. It will make your batter thin and affect the bake of your peach cake.
- Don't overmix: Avoid overmixing the batter, too. Overmixing can overwork the ingredients, resulting in a dense or tough cake.
- Use room-temperature ingredients: The eggs and sour cream combine more easily with the other batter ingredients. Leave them on your kitchen counter for about 30 minutes or so before you get started.
- Thick batter is normal: The peach cake batter is naturally pretty thick, so don't worry! Resist the urge to add anything more to it to thin it out.
- Storage directions: Keep the cake covered at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Another tasty peach cake is this peach upside-down cake made with cake mix.
Serving Suggestions
- Warm beverages: Enjoy a fresh slice of old-fashioned peach coffee cake while you sip on hot chocolate or a strawberry smoothie with banana.
- Savory breakfast pairings: Try some salty and delicious breakfast foods like sausages wrapped in bacon and scrambled eggs, and then a slice of peach cake on the side.
- Weekend brunch: Prepare a tasty brunch spread featuring everything from this coffee cake to Belgian waffles, easy omelet bites, and more.
Peach Coffee Cake Recipe FAQs
Yes! Canned peaches should be well drained and patted dry. Use the ones packed in juice, not syrup. With frozen peaches, there's no need to thaw them first: add them to the batter straight from the freezer.
Overly wet peaches can affect the bake of the coffee cake. They must be fairly dry before adding them. Underbaking the cake is the other reason for this. It shouldn't be wet or soupy in the middle; that means it needs more time in the oven.
Ovens can vary, so if you notice that the topping is browning faster than the cake is baking, tent it with foil for the remaining time.
The toothpick test is the easiest way. Insert it into the center, and if it comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs, it's ready. It doesn't need to be completely clean, and that's a sign it may be overbaked.
More Sweet Peach Recipes
Do you like baking with peaches? Here are some recipes you may also like to try.
If you try this recipe and love it please leave a star rating in the recipe card below or even better, drop a review in the comment section. I always appreciate your feedback. Be sure to follow along with me on Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube for more easy recipes!
Peach Coffee Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
PEACHES
TOPPING
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
CAKE
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup peach preserves
Instructions
PEACHES
- In a bowl combine peaches, sugar, and salt.
- Leave the bowl of peaches to rest on your counter, at room temperature, until peaches release their juice, around 30 minutes.
- Place a strainer or colander on top of a bowl and dump your peaches, and all juice, into the strainer. Give the peaches some time to drain and reserve 2 tablespoons of the juice for the cake you are going to make.
TOPPING
- In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
- Add melted butter until clumps form and then set aside.
CAKE
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare and grease, with cooking spray or butter, a 9 inch spring form pan.
- In another bowl, using a whisk, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- In another bowl combine sour cream, eggs, melted butter, vanilla, almond extract, and reserved peach juice. Whisk until totally blended.
- Now, add flour mixture to sour cream mixture and stir until just combined. Do not over mix. The batter will be thick.
- Add peach preserves to your batter and again, stir until incorporated. Do not over mix. It is expected that some chunks of the peach preserves will be noticeable.
- Pour your batter into your spring form pan and spread the batter, as evenly as possible.
- Arrange your sliced peaches in a circle, all over top of the batter, starting at the outer edge, overlapping your peaches a little, as required, to form a circular or spiral pattern or another pattern of your choosing.
- Sprinkle your topping all over top of the peaches.
- Bake until topping is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out with only a few crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes. Don't forget to rotate your pan halfway through baking.
- Place your pan on to a wire rack so the cake can cool completely, about 2 hours.
- Take a thin knife between the cake and the side of your spring form pan and then release the side of the pan and slide cake on to a serving plate.
- Slice and serve with whipped cream, ice cream and caramel sauce if desired. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- If the center is wet or soggy, the peaches may have released too much moisture or the cake needs more time to bake. Pat the peaches dry before adding them, and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Mix the batter just until the ingredients are combined. Overmixing can make the coffee cake dense or tough instead of light and tender.
- If the crumble topping is browning too quickly, loosely tent the coffee cake with foil for the remaining bake time. This helps prevent overbrowning while the center finishes baking.
Ronak says
Baked this cake for my birthday and it was an absolute hit! So moist and tasty. Thank you for doing what you do.
Karin and Ken says
As always you are most welcome! I’m so happy to hear you are enjoying this site! I do my best! Hopefully you find some other recipes on this site that you enjoy just as much! All the best. Karin