Come stone fruit season, I am swamped with ideas for the umpteen fruit desserts that I can make. From cobblers to crumbles and bars, plus ice creams, pies and cakes — the list goes on. Today I am sharing a very moist, delicious and flavorful Peach and Saffron Cake that I love serving with Saffron Whipped Cream.
Peaches and nectarines are my favorite stone fruits, especially yellow ones because they have a slight tingle of tartness to balance the sweetness. White peaches, meanwhile, tend to be mostly sweet.
Types of Peaches
Peaches come in two varieties: freestone and clingstone. I recommend looking for freestone because the flesh is not attached to the seed. Cut right around the center of the peach from the top, and the flesh will detach perfectly in the center. With clingstone peaches, the flesh is attached to the seed, making them harder to prepare for baking.
I did not grow up with peaches in Mumbai. I had my first peach after I came to the Bay Area, where there’s an abundance of fruit farms within a 60 mile radius. My first bite into a juicy, fleshy, sweet and sour peach was pure bliss! I ate it like an apple, biting all around the seed with juices dripping down my fingers and arms.
When my kids were babies, we would go fruit picking quite often. I have the cutest picture of my second one, then 11 months old, sitting in a stroller, nibbling on a peach as my older daughter went around having the time of her life picking more. His clothes were messy and his hands were dripping with peach juices, but he had that sparkling, unmatched joy on his face.
A little about saffron and its origins
I make tea cakes quite often so I can have a slice in the late afternoon with my chai. My husband likes them with his morning coffee. They tend to be easy to make, and this Peach and Saffron cake is no exception. It has notes of saffron, a spice that is believed to have originated in the Mediterranean region and now grows in Greece, Morocco, Iran and India.
Saffron is expensive because it takes around 75,000 flowers to make one pound. Luckily, a pinch goes a long way. Saffron needs to be bloomed first to extract its beautiful orange color and sweet-and-floral flavor, and a good way is to put it in warm milk or water. That’s the first step of this cake: making Saffron Milk.
This cake also has a hint of cardamom that pairs perfectly with peaches. However, I wanted saffron to shine, so you will get the taste of saffron as you take a bite of the cake, and the cardamom will hit the back of your tongue.
Ingredients for this Peach and Saffron Cake are:
- All purpose flour
- Almond flour: I love adding almond flour in my baked goods. I have been doing that for years now and I love the texture and flavor that it imparts to the final product.
- Baking powder: leavening agent always required for cakes
- Freshly ground cardamom: freshly ground is truly the best for the most potent floral notes.
- Salt: salt is always required to balance off the sweetness in the cake
- Unsalted butter: at room temperature for easy whipping
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract and almond extract: I always add extra of both cause it gives the final product a wonderful flavor
- Eggs: It helps to make the batter light and airy
- Greek yogurt: It makes the cake moist
- Peaches: I love peaches in the summer season and peaches truly make this cake wonderful.
- Saffron milk: Saffron is steeped in the milk for the flavor and color. Milk adds to the moisture in the cake as well.
- Turbinado sugar: is added on the top for that added crunch factor.
Inspiration for the Peach and Saffron Cake
I got the inspiration of pairing peach with saffron in a cake from one of my favorite jams that I have ever made: Apricot and Saffron Jam (find the recipe in my cookbook, “Mumbai Modern”). The jam is so beautiful and delicate, and like saffron itself, it can go sweet or savory.
I incorporate peaches into the cake in multiple ways: There are peaches in the batter, thinly sliced peaches neatly layered on top, and I recommend serving with more fresh peaches on the side. For the top of the cake, feel free to layer the peach slices in any manner that you like, be it concentric circles or the way I have layered it in the picture like the scales of a fish.
Other ways to serve the cake
If you don’t want to make the Saffron Whipped Cream, vanilla ice cream is also a lovely way to serve the cake. It’s a crowd-pleaser, ideal for summer parties or even picnics.
Other Peach inspired recipes on my blog are:
- Peach-saffron and corn macarons
- Corn pakoras with a Peach, Nectarine and Heirloom Tomato Salad
- Easy Summer Peach, Tomato and Herb Salad
If you do make this recipe, please tag #thejamlab on Instagram and/or leave a comment on this blog post.
XO
Amisha
Peach and Saffron Cake
Ingredients
Saffron Milk
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 2 pinches (about ½ teaspoon) saffron
Cake
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1 stick + 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup Greek yogurt
- ⅔ cup just ripe yellow peaches (about 2 medium peaches), cut into tiny cubes, plus 1½ yellow peaches, cut into ⅛-slices, and additional slices for serving
- 1–2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
Saffron Whipped Cream:
- ¾ cup cold heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- Saffron Milk (recipe below)
Get Recipe Ingredients
Method:
Saffron Milk
- Heat the milk in the microwave for 30 seconds.
- Add the saffron to the milk, and let sit. The color of the saffron will slowly stain the milk a pretty yellow-orange hue. Mix to combine. Set aside in the fridge until ready to use.
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, add the all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Coat an 8-inch cake pan with cooking spray. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Lightly spray the paper with cooking spray.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, add the butter and the sugar. Starting slowly and gradually increasing the speed to high, cream the mixture, until the color is a pale yellow and the butter looks fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Using a rubber spatula, clean the sides of the bowl to bring the mixture to the center.
- Add half of the Saffron Milk (about 2 tablespoons), vanilla extract, almond extract, eggs and yogurt, and mix to combine. The mixture should look homogenous.
- Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, mixing after each addition, until just combined.
- Fold in the peach pieces with a rubber spatula, until well distributed.
- Add the batter to the pan. Spread with a small offset spatula to make the top even.
- Layer the peach slices in a fish scale pattern, starting at the bottom of the pan, overlapping them slightly as you layer up to the top of the cake.
- Distribute the turbinado sugar evenly on top of the cake. (Use 1 tablespoon if your peaches are already extremely sweet; use 2 if they are slightly tart.)
- Bake for about 1 hour 20 minutes, or until the cake is light brown and a cake tester comes out clean.
- Let the cake rest for 1 hour.
- Place a plate over the cake and invert the pan to release the cake. Remove the parchment paper.
- Place the serving plate on top of the bottom of the cake, and invert again to reveal the pattern on top of the cake.
Saffron Whipped Cream:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, with a whisk attachment, add the heavy cream and powdered sugar, along with the remaining saffron milk.
- Whisk at high for about 1 minute, until it forms soft peaks. Do not over whip, or else the whipped cream will not be smooth.
Serve the cake with the Saffron Whipped Cream and additional peach slices on the side.
Notes
- The cake will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 days, but it is best eaten the day of.
- If you don’t want to make the Saffron Whipped Cream, vanilla ice cream is also a lovely way to serve the cake. It’s a crowd-pleaser, ideal for summer parties or even picnics.
