Peach Pudding Cake

Whenever I visit my mom in Washington, we always have a Girls' Night and invite my aunt and cousins over to eat, have girly drinks, chat, and watch a movie.  Usually my mom and I cook something.  This time, she chose the recipes.  Together we made a delicious roasted green chile and corn lasagna (still need to get the recipe from her!) and I made this hideous yet delicious cake.  The recipe is from a restaurant called Hyde Park Bar & Grill and was featured in Bon Appetit a number of years ago.  It's probably the ugliest dessert you will ever make- sorry there aren't any pictures, just trust me- but it's also one of the most amazing ones!  Wonderful fresh peaches, a hint of cinnamon (which was entirely my doing, the recipe doesn't call for cinnamon sugar), and perfect, moist cake.  It's heart breakingly old fashioned and absolutely a must try recipe.  And if you really must, you can cover the ugliness with whipped cream or ice cream :oD

Quick note:  A great way to peel peaches is to bring a big pot of water to a boil and submerge the peaches, one or two at a time, for about 30 seconds to a minute for ripe peaches or up to 3 minutes for less ripe peaches.  Scoop the peaches out of the water with a slotted spoon, let them cool (you can speed this along by dunking them in cold water), and the skins will slip right off.

Peach Pudding Cake

1 3/4 C flour
2 1/4 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
3/4 C softened butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 3/4 C sugar
2 T vanilla extract (yes, 2 tablespoons!)
2 eggs
3/4 C buttermilk
4 C peeled, sliced peaches (about 3 lbs- I just covered the entire surface of the cake with peaches)
3 T sugar
1/2 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 inch baking dish as well as a piece of aluminum foil large enough to cover the top.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda, and set aside.  In a medium bowl, beat butter until creamy.  Beat in sugar in 3 additions.  Beat in vanilla extract, then eggs one at a time.  Alternately mix in dry ingredients and buttermilk in 3 additions each.  Batter should be smooth.  Spread batter in prepared baking dish and cover with a layer of peaches.  Don't worry too much about whether they're arranged prettily because they will sink to the bottom of the cake!  Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top. 

Cover the baking dish with the foil and bake for 45 minutes, then remove foil (don't worry if some of the cake sticks, like I said earlier it is an ugly cake!) and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 40 minutes longer.  If your cake turns out anything like mine, the surface in the middle will look shiny and raw even when it's baked through, so start testing the cake after 20 minutes!  Let cake set for about 15 minutes and then serve warm.

Yield: about 12 servings