Peachy Caramel Coffee Cake

Is it ever really too hot to turn on the oven? It’s an issue surrounded by much controversy, really. You’ll read articles that tell you to take it easy in the summer, grill out, eat raw fruits and vegetables and keep your oven cooking to a minimum.

I’ve never been one to follow the rules.

My oven is always on…and I’m not even that crazy about my particular oven. In fact, I’ll venture to say that when I get a new oven, I’ll be lethal. No beef will go unbraised. No cookie will go unbaked (you hear that, New York Times cookie recipe? I’m talking to YOU).

If you’re tough…like me…and don’t use the 90 degree heat as an excuse to stay out of the oven, (or if you live in a small condo with no yard, thus no grill…and yes, this blog entry is really about the fact that I’m extremely bitter that I do not have a grill) this one’s for you.

Peachy Caramel Coffee Cake...because even tough guys like me love peaches.
(modified from Upside Down Coffee Cake, from Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter
2 cups light brown sugar
3 1/2 cups fresh peaches, pitted and sliced thin
2/3 cup margarine
1 1/3 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups milk
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Extra Topping (optional)
1/2 cup butter
2 cups light brown sugar

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. You’ll need a deep sided 10 inch pan, like this one for this cake, because it rises a lot…If your pan has a removable top like mine, you should place it on a cookie sheet to bake.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter. Bring to a boil, then pour into the deep sided pan. Place sliced peaches on top of the brown sugar and butter topping.
In a large bowl, cream together 2/3 cup margarine and the white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk. Pour batter over caramel and fruit in pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 90 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto serving platter and carefully remove pan. Don’t be afraid if some of the caramel and fruit juices leak out of the pan…that’s why you used that cookie sheet!

You may want to consider making a little extra caramel topping to drizzle over the cake when it’s done baking. I would make this while the cake is cooking…you don’t want to make it too early on in the process, because the caramel can get hard pretty quick. This is a dense, sweet summer cake, and if you want to take advantage of the beautiful peaches, ripening as we speak, try this recipe.