Mike loves peach cobbler, and I’ve been trying to think of a peachy cupcake, but the two ideas didn’t meet until recently. A cobbler and a cupcake? One a sultry, spicy, fruity dessert and the other a cute, frosted mini-cake? The meeting of the desserts — living quite independently until now, thank you very much! — reminds me of one of my favorite poems, Thomas Hardy’s “The Convergence of the Twain.”
Alien they seemed to be:
No mortal eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history.Or sign that they were bent
By paths coincident
On being anon twin halves of one August event…
Or in this case, a June event! And a much happier one than that of the Titanic meeting an iceberg (read the rest of Hardy’s poem for that more morbid meeting).
It struck me while driving one day that a peach cobbler cupcake would be fun to construct — the spices of a cobbler, chunks of fresh peach, the crunch of some streusel, and a little cream cheese frosting to mimic a rich scoop of ice cream. I “cobbled” this recipe together after looking through recipes for brown sugar cupcakes, cobblers, and fruit-filled cupcakes. The result is delicious. If you love carrot cake, you’ll love these little peach spice cakes. One of my lovely Charlotte taste testers (my boyfriend’s mom) said that this is her favorite cupcake yet!
You may be looking at the photos and wondering why the cupcakes are a little flat up top. Initially, I only used baking soda to react with the acidity of the buttermilk, and no baking powder. Baking soda reacts immediately and therefore must be baked immediately to have an effect on the rise of the cupcake. With all the streusel and peach additions to these cakes, though, it’s hard to get them in the oven fast. I tweaked the recipe a bit, so the version below should produce cupcakes that are a little lighter and prettier.
Peach Cobbler Cupcakes
Recipe By: Me, “cobbled” together from this and this. Frosting by Paula Deen, with tweaking.
Yields: 12 cupcakes
Cupcake Ingredients:
1 stick butter
3/8 cup light brown sugar
3/8 cup white sugar
2 large eggs, room temp
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Splash of peach syrup from canned peaches (if you used canned)
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Fresh or canned peaches, chopped
Streusel Ingredients:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter (4 tablespoons)
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Splash of peach syrup from canned peaches (if you used canned)
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
Directions:
Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 wells in a cupcake pan. In a small bowl, make streusel. Add all the ingredients and cut the mixture into crumbles with two knives until it’s about the consistency of coarse cornmeal. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add the eggs one at a time and mix. Mix in the buttermilk, vanilla, and a little peach syrup.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add a little of the flour mixture at a time to the wet ingredients, mixing well after each addition. Beat the batter well until air is incorporated, about 2 more minutes.
Pour just enough batter into each of 12 cupcake wells to cover the bottom. Spoon a thin layer of streusel over this batter, and drop a 3-5 pieces of chopped peach on top (depending on the size of the pieces and your personal taste). Spoon another layer of batter over each well until each is about 3/4 full. If you love a lot of peach in your “cobbler,” you can add a few more hunks on top. Spoon a sprinkle of streusel over the top of the batter in each well. Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pan for a couple of minutes, and then on a cooling rack. Once cupcakes are completely cool, frost them.
Almost ready for the oven!
Mmm, these make the kitchen smell amazing.
Cream Cheese Frosting: In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter vanilla, and splash of peach syrup (this might also be nice with a spoonful of peach jam or preserves) together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy. Frost the cupcakes with a butter knife or pipe it on with a big star tip (I used star tip 1M.) I only put a puff of frosting in the middle so as not to overwhelm the peach cobbler flavor, or overdo the sweetness!
All frosted!
NOTE: I tried two methods for inserting the peach into the cupcake. The first and most successful is described above — chunks of peaches in a middle layer of the cupcake. The second, pushing a larger chunk of peach into the middle of the cupcake, was good but not great. I liked the fact that having many chunks of peaches ensured you’d get more peach per bite.
If you don’t use canned peaches, feel free to leave out the peach syrup in the cupcake batter and frosting and add more peach chunks.
Don’t overfill your cupcake wells, by the way! I always overfill mine and the cupcake “outgrows” its well as it bakes. This leads to the edges of the cupcake top being overdone.
Enjoy!
21 Comments on Peach Cobbler Cupcakes
2Pingbacks & Trackbacks on Peach Cobbler Cupcakes
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[…] Almost a month ago, I went to explore a blog post that had linked to my Peach Cobbler Cupcakes. […]
Cindy Barnes
June 29, 2009 at 5:31 pm (15 years ago)Just got finished baking these and I am waiting for them to cool before frosting.
What I did differently: only 2 tbsp butter in the cupcake (remaining part was margarine since that’s all I had left and I didn’t want to use it for the streusel or frosting), 2 sm. fresh peaches diced up which I squeezed for juice instead of using canned syrup. 1 1/2 cup flour instead of 1 1/3 and slightly less than the full amounts of baking powder/soda since I’m at high elevation and I keep going through the motions thinking someday I’ll bake something that won’t fall when I pull it out of the oven. Baked for the full 20 min.
I had way too much batter left over. Enough to fill a 5 1/2″ ramekin, although with slightly less peach than the others and I had to leave it in the oven a few extra minutes. Which is fine because that’s the time it look to finish brewing my iced tea. I am currently eating this for breakfast and I was so excited to find a not-quite-cobbler recipe to use up my peaches that I am still in my pajamas (it’s nearly lunchtime here). Parasaurolophus looks very interested in my breakfast.
From 2009-06 (Jun)
I was skeptical of how peachy this would taste but it’s just fine even with the smaller quantity of peach in the ramekin, and the streusel has a nice sugary texture. I imagine if I was using canned peaches I’d have to use a lot more to get the same peachy flavor. The cupcakes fell a bit when I pulled them out of the oven but that happens to just about every cake thing in Colorado. A little more work than I will normally do for a recipe but I’m pretty lazy when it comes to baking. This is worth it.
Willow Bird Baking
June 29, 2009 at 5:36 pm (15 years ago)So glad it was worth it!! HA and I love your little dinosaur friend; I was thinking Parasaurolophus must be your cat before I clicked on the picture 🙂
Thanks for trying it out! Does your kitchen smell lovely? I miss that spice cake scent…
Cindy Barnes
June 30, 2009 at 12:43 am (15 years ago)I kinda screwed up the pic link, meant to post it direct. *sigh* The kitchen did smell great and I could still taste/smell the spices after I left the house. Hubby tried one when he got home and knew right away it was peach, so the cupcakes must have turned out exactly right. I don’t have any pastry tips so I just put a blob of frosting on each and still had tons leftover…so the batter portion and the frosting portion quantities need to be tweaked I think.
We do have a cat but our SUV was already named Parasaurolophus before we got her. 😀 Otherwise it would have been fair game. Her name is Amazon. The dino doesn’t have a name yet so we just call her by her genus…I think I will call her Peaches from now on.
charlottespoon
June 30, 2009 at 1:04 am (15 years ago)She seems to like peaches; I think it fits!
I think the issue with the frosting is that I used this amount to frost both these and the 6 Peach Lemon Cupcakes I made, so I didn’t notice the extra!
Glad you all enjoyed them 🙂
Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella
October 2, 2009 at 6:26 am (15 years ago)What a scrumptious idea! I’ve never seen this before-you are so innovative merging the two 🙂
Julie
October 2, 2009 at 6:50 am (15 years ago)Thank you, Lorraine! These were fun little projects!
Staci Sadler
February 25, 2010 at 3:25 pm (15 years ago)I used these for a bake Auction at our church it was a huge success. I have told everyone that I can think of that these peach cobbler cupcakes are the bomb. I am a cupcake fanatic and this has really inspired me to try other ideas. Thanks for your wonderful imagination. God Bless.
Staci Sadler
Julie
February 25, 2010 at 4:43 pm (15 years ago)Staci, that is so wonderful to hear!! I’m so glad they were a hit! 😀 Thanks for your sweet comment.
SP
July 7, 2010 at 11:11 am (14 years ago)Hi!
Came across this recipe and, can’t wait to try it. But, I thought the “3/8 cup” measurement was odd. Is that correct, 3/8 cup each of brown & white sugar? I suppose together that makes 3/4 cup of sugar total so, maybe that *is* right!
Also, I plan to double this recipe to make 24 cupcakes. I assume I should just evenly double everything, is that right?
Can’t wait! Will take pictures & post, soon.
Thank you!
Julie
July 7, 2010 at 11:19 am (14 years ago)It’s right! It’s all a little weird because I cobbled the recipe together from various ideas and sources.
Julie
July 7, 2010 at 11:35 am (14 years ago)PS — Yes, to double, just double everything!
SP
July 7, 2010 at 11:12 am (14 years ago)Also, how many (cups of) peaches, for a 12-cupcake recipe?
Julie
July 7, 2010 at 11:18 am (14 years ago)The number of peaches just depends on how much peach you stick in each cupcake — I think 2 or 3 peaches, chopped small, will be plenty for 12 cupcakes!
SP
July 7, 2010 at 11:30 am (14 years ago)Excellent and, wow, quick responses, I totally appreciate that! Can’t wait to try this recipe. Report back, coming soon. Thanks again, Julie! You are doing many of us novice bakers a true service by posting these amazing recipes . . . 🙂
Julie
July 7, 2010 at 11:34 am (14 years ago)Aw, thanks, SP! Hope you love these! Mike’s mom said they were her favorite cupcake of all time. 🙂
Christie
March 3, 2012 at 6:04 pm (13 years ago)I have made these cupcakes on a couple of occasions now and they are FABULOUS. However, I am a big fan of buttercreme icing as opposed to cream cheese icing, which my family isn’t that crazy about unless it’s on top of a big carrot cake. So I improvised on my own original buttercreme (basically the Wilton recipe), but used peach juice from the canned peaches in the place of the water, and also some homemade peach jam, with just a smidgen of freshly grated nutmeg in the mixture to lightly echo the nutmeg in the cupcake itself. I hit a home run with that one!! All the grandkids (and big kids!) loved ’em and they are now a “you must make, Mimi” request at family gatherings! Thanks for a great recipe!!
Julie @ Willow Bird Baking
March 3, 2012 at 8:08 pm (13 years ago)What a fantastic frosting idea, Christie! Sounds yummy. I’m so glad to hear your family enjoys these cupcakes! Thank you 🙂
Laura
June 17, 2012 at 10:05 pm (12 years ago)I figured if it’s still generating comments after 3 years, it must be a good recipe. I was not disappointed! I subbed all the butter with coconut oil, and used soured coconut milk for the buttermilk (to accommodate my husband’s dairy allergy). Defrosted some frozen peaches and macerated. Subbed a vegan buttercream for frosting. Otherwise followed to a T. Thank you so much for sharing this. I was a bit of a cupcake hater and was only making this as a treat for my husband. Now it’s my go-to recipe this summer.
Julie @ Willow Bird Baking
June 18, 2012 at 2:14 am (12 years ago)Aw, I love that, Laura, and thanks for sharing your dairy-free adaptation!! So glad you all enjoyed them!!