Peach Cake

This moist & easy Peach cake recipe is probably the simplest and most delicious cake to make over the summer when sweet and fragrant peaches are in season. A Super moist yogurt cake loaded with peaches and topped with a simple peach thyme compote is the ultimate easy cake recipe to make.

Jump to:

• 🌟 Why this is the best Peach cake recipe
• 📝 Ingredient notes
• 👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe
• 🎓 Expert tips
• ❓ Recipe FAQs
• 🍰 More Cake recipes
• Easy Peach cake

🌟 Why this is the best Peach cake recipe

I love everything about this homemade Peach cake! It is easy and quick to make, fruity, and even slightly floral due to aromatic thyme added to the topping!

The cake part is a yogurt-based very light sponge that is taken to the next level by an aromatic peach topping. It is a light and refreshing cake, and did I mention how moist it is? It is the perfect cake to make over summer even if you are a beginner in the kitchen. Your whole family will love it!

📝 Ingredient notes

For the yogurt sponge cake base

1. Oil: this is an oil-based Peach cake (no butter) that keeps the cake super moist, soft, and fluffy. Butter-based cakes tend to harden a lot in the fridge, with oil we won’t have this issue. Use no flavor vegetable oil
2. Sugar: I am using granulated sugar, feel free to experiment with substituting half of the granulated sugar with light brown sugar. If you want to learn about the different types of sugar and how to use them in baking, please read my sugar guide
3. Egg: Room temperature as always
4. Yogurt: Use high-fat content Greek or Turkish style thick yogurt. Its creaminess helps keep to keep your Peach cake so moist that you won´t be able to stop just after one slice
5. Flour: I am using pasty flour but All purpose works too, they are so-called “soft flour” which are low on protein resulting in a delicate, tender texture. If you want to be a Pro when it comes to deciding what type of flour to use in your baking, please read my flour guide
6. Baking powder + Baking soda: Makes the cake tender and helps the rise
7. Salt: We always need at least a pinch of salt in any cake batter to balance the flavors, if it was chocolate cake, even more!
8. Peach: Cut peach into small chunks. You might feel tempted to add more, however, too much fruit would make the cake too wet and difficult to bake so please stick to the quantity stated in the recipe

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

For the Peach thyme compote

1. Fruit: This is a Peach cake so you will need some peach to make the compote topping. Use regular peaches or nectarine can work too. I find it looks better if the compote is a mixture of puree and fruit pieces.
2. Thyme: If you have not tried pairing fresh thyme with peach, you are seriously missing out! Honestly, I am not a huge fan of thyme on meat but with peach, it takes that fruit to a completely different level! Please don´t leave it out
3. Sugar: Simple white granulated sugar is working perfectly fine
4. Lemon juice: Juice of lemon, freshly squeezed. Remember, lemon juice balances the flavors, just like salt in the cake
5. Gelatine sheet: It´s an odorless, tasteless, and colorless thickening agent, very often used by pastry chefs, particularly in mousse cakes. Powder or sheet versions are available, in my recipes I always use sheet (1,7 g / sheet), which I found easier to handle. You can replace it with equal gelatin powder of the same weight. If using the sheet, simply soak the gelatine sheet in cold water for a few minutes before you need them and use it according to the recipe. Please note that gelatine is not suitable for vegetarians. Agar agar can be a good substitution for vegetarians however replacing gelatine with agar agar is not 1:1 and can only be done by reformulating the recipe slightly.

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe

1. How to make the yogurt base sponge cake

This is a wonderful and easy Yogurt based cake recipe you can use with various fruits eg. apple, pear, cherry, strawberry, etc. A super moist, fluffy cake with velvety crumbs, incredibly delicious. It is also easy to prepare, the key is not to overwork the batter.

1. Ingredients must be all measured with a Digital scale
2. Prepare a baking pan 15 cm (6 inch) round cake pan with parchment paper
3. Pre-heat oven to 180 C / 356 F
4. Eggs as well yogurt must be at room temperature, yogurt can form lumps easily if used cold
5. Whisk oil, egg, yogurt, and the sugar just until combined
6. Sift dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) before adding to the mixture, whisk just until combined
7. Cut peaches into small chunks then fold them into the cake batter
8. Pour cake batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 30 minutes. Do not open the oven door during baking

💡 Top Tip: After about 30 minutes (each oven is different so observe the color of your cake) you will want to check the middle of the cake. When a toothpick is inserted it should come out clean. If the cake is not well baked, it will collapse after baking

2. How to easily release the cake from the cake pan

There is nothing worst than a beautiful cake stuck in the cake pan! Never again!

How to avoid it?

With the help of a pastry brush, brush the inside of the cake pan with a tiny bit of oil then use parchment paper on the bottom and side as well. The oil is only needed for the parchment to stick to the pan. What I love about this pan preparation is that no matter what cake I bake, with the help of the parchment paper it is always incredibly easy to release the cake from the pan.

💡 Top Tip: Make sure you do the cake pan preparation before starting to mix the ingredients!

3. How to make the Peach thyme compote topping for the cake

I love making this compote, it is sweet, fruity, and floral at the same time and gives a perfect addition to your Yogurt Peach cake! This compote will be used as another layer on the cake therefore some stability is required in its structure - some thickening agent must be used, I am using gelatin sheets.

1. Prepare and cut peaches and make the peach puree
2. Soak gelatine sheets in cold water
3. Cook peach, peach puree, some fresh thyme, sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat for 5 minutes
4. Remove saucepan from heat, squeeze excess water from gelatine sheets and stir them into fruit compote

I am using a 15cm / 6 inch tin, make sure to adjust the quantity of the apple compote and other ingredients if you are using a larger cake tin.

💡 Top Tip: Gelatin can be substituted with agar. As you can imagine the fruit puree needs to thicken otherwise it would not set on top of the cake. Use any substitution according to the instructions on the package

4. How to assemble

First and foremost make sure your cake is cooled even chilled in the fridge for half an hour. Place the chilled cake into a Mousse cake ring (adjustable in size) set to 15cm / 6 inch. Alternatively, use a spring form.

Pour warm but not hot compote over the cake and smooth the top with an Offset spatula. Chill the cake for 4 hours, then carefully remove the mousse ring and acetate cake collar.

💡 Top Tip: Use acetate cake collar around the ring inside for neat-looking end results.

🎓 Expert tips

• While making the sponge, make sure all ingredients are at room temperature for proper emulsification
• Do not over-bake your sponge as that would result in a dry texture
• An inexpensive Rubber spatula is super useful whenever "fold" is mentioned in the recipe. With the help of your spatula, you will be able to fold the cream gently without breaking it
• Peach can be easily substituted in the recipe with strawberry or apricot
• Feel free to experiment with flavor pairings peach goes super well with eg. pear, ginger, cardamom, vanilla bean, rosemary

❓ Recipe FAQs

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