Peach and Blueberry Coffee Cake

08.26.14

If I bake a cake, I always want to eat a slice for breakfast the next day. It’ll sit on the countertop tempting me in the morning: Don’t wait until after dinner! Eat me now!

How can I resist? And why should I resist? Do I really have to wait until after dinner for dessert? And isn’t it better to have a full day of burning off all that butter and sugar, right?  That’s what I love about coffee cake: I never feel guilty about eating a slice for breakfast because it is, afterall, meant to be served in the morning alongside a cup of coffee. The biggest tempation with this cake,though, was the desire to eat it all in one sitting. It’s seriously that good. So I brought it to work.

Only ten minutes after placing it at the front desk, I received an email with the subject line, “You are here by banned from baking for the rest of 2014!!!!” Uh-oh.. Was there something wrong with it? And here I thought it was one of the best things I’ve baked all year. Then I opened the email.. she liked it too much and also had trouble saying ‘no’ to another slice. Whew.

And then, less than an hour later, the coffee cake was gone, devoured by hungry co-workers.

I’ll definitely be baking more soon.

Active Prep: 30 minutes
Total Time: 90 minutes

Ingredients

Crumb Topping

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 8 tbs. unsalted butter, cold

Cake

• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup wheat beer
• 2 tbs. bourbon (optional)
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 large peaches, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup blueberries

Steps

1. Using a food processor or pastry blender, cut together all topping ingredients until small crumbs forms. Be careful not to overprocess. Set aside.
2. Heat oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour an 8-inch baking pan.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. The butter for the cake should be soft, but not warm or melting. This will help with the creaming process, which creates air pockets in dough resulting in a light, fluffy cake. Cut butter into a few cubes and place in the bowl of an electric mixter. Mix with the paddle attachment for about 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl with a rubber spatula. Add sugar and mix on medium speed for 5 to 6 minutes, scrapping the bowl a few times inbetween. It’s creamed and ready when it has doubled in size and is pale in color.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add beer and mix until combined; at this point, the mixture will look like it’s separating, but it’s okay! Add flour in three additions, mixing on low speed until just combined – be careful not to overmix! The batter should become a delicious, homogenous mixture after final flour addition.
6. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Arrange peaches over top, slightly overlapping each slice. Cover peaches with a layer of blueberries, then sprinkle with crumb topping.
7. Place in middle of oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. When ready, a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

Serve with coffee, or a beermosa made with equal parts orange juice and wheat ale.

Tags: baking • baking and beer • blueberry • brown sugar • butter • coffee cake • cooking with beer • craft beer • crumb cake • peaches • recipes featuring beer • wheat ale

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