Peach Queen Cake with Dulce de Leche Swiss Meringue Buttercream

in Cakes & Cupcakes, Dulce de Leche, Fruit, Peaches and apricots, Project Pastry Queen

Peach Cake with Dulce de Leche Frosting

It’s my turn to host Project Pastry Queen this week so I picked cake. But that’s not just any cake, that’s a birthday cake!

A 50 something-th birthday cake for the man who made sure that I knew more about football at 11 than most grown men. The man who searched the entire neighborhood for his “missing” daughter, only to find her safe at home, asleep under her bed. The same man who thought it was “funny” to knock on her bedroom window on Halloween night wearing a Jason mask. (Spoiler alert. Not funny.)

I’m not sure how either of us survived to his 50 something-th birthday 😛 But we had a fancy cake to celebrate! A fancy cake studded with peach chunks and roasted pecans. A fancy cake filled and topped with dulce de leche frosting. And more roasted pecans.

The peach-pecan-dulce de leche combination is a winner. It’s great in ice cream form and wonderful when paired with a moist cake. I took a few liberties with the original recipe:
– I made half the recipe and baked it in 3 6-inch pans.
– I cut back the sugar by half.
– I replaced the suggested American-style buttercream frosting recipe with the dulce de leche swiss meringue buttercream recipe that we’ve eaten far too much of lately.
– I filled the cake with frosting instead of the suggested peach preserve-pecan mixture and decorated the cake with the leftover pecans.

The recipe as I made it is below. It’s a lot of butter and sugar, but to get a big 3 layer, 9-inch cake, simply double the cake recipe. The frosting recipe is enough to liberally fill and frost the cake, with leftovers. To frost a 9-inch cake, consider only increasing the frosting recipe by 50%.

Peach Cake with Dulce de Leche Swiss Meringue Buttercream

A moist peach cake topped with dulce de leche swiss meringue buttercream.

Ingredients

  • For the cake:
  • 1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup peeled, chopped peaches
  • For the frosting:
  • 4 egg whites
  • 1 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3 sticks unsalted butter, cubed and at room temp
  • 1/3 cup dulce de leche

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Place chopped pecans on a baking sheet and toast 5-7 minutes until fragrant. Set aside to cool.
  3. Spray 3 6-inch cake pans with baking spray.
  4. Cream butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy.
  5. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla and sour cream.
  6. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low until just incorporated.
  7. Fold the peaches and 1/2 cup pecans into the batter.
  8. Divide the batter equally between the cake pans.
  9. Bake 18-20 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  10. Let cool 10 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a rack to cool.
  11. To make the frosting, whisk the egg whites and sugar over a simmering pot of water until the mixture reaches 160 degrees.
  12. Transfer to a stand mixer and whisk on high 10 minutes, until the meringue reaches room temperature (the bowl should feel neutral/barely warm when touched).
  13. Add butter, a few cubes at a time until all butter is mixed in.
  14. Add dulce de leche and mix until combined.
  15. Frost and fill the cake, and press the remaining pecans into the frosting.
  16. Store at room temperature for 2 days or up to a week in the fridge.

Notes

Yields: 8 servings

Source: Cake recipe adapted from The Pastry Queen

Estimated time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Having problems with your swiss meringue buttercream? Read how to fix it here.

Check out the other Project Pastry Queen members take on the peach cake:
Fake Ginger
Smells Like Home

22 comments… add one
  • That is the most beautiful cake ever. A perfect way to say happy birthday to someone you love. Yummy!

  • What an amazing cake selection, it sounds unbelievable!

  • Happy birthday! And the Jason mask thing sounds truly horrifying. He must have done a good job making up for that to get a cake like this. 🙂

  • Erin

    A beautiful cake and a beautiful picture!

  • This cake sounds so yummy! Great post! I’ll be sure to check out your blog as well 🙂

  • Gorgeous picture! The cake looks awesome – I’d love a slice! 🙂

  • Gorgeous cake…would be so hard to slice this cake!

  • uhmm….WOW! What a gorgeous cake! and the recipe just makes this sound like the most uniquely scrummy thing on earth. You are so very talented! Gorgeous 🙂

  • What an amazing birthday cake!

  • I want someone to bake that for me on my next birthday. LOL
    Peaches and dulce de leche — a seriously dreamy combo.

  • The most prettiest looking cake i have ever seen .. and i think peaches are all over the blogging world!

  • I’ve wondered about this cake ever since seeing it in PQ. I’m glad to see it here and hear your positive review. I’ll have to try this some time. I bet your dad loved it!

  • This looks amazing. The flavour combination sounds incredible, I’m going to have to try it out!

  • WOW! How did I miss this?? Absolutely incredible.

  • Amey Cramer

    I just made the icing and it’s so liquidy. I followed the recipe exact. ????

  • Angela battista

    I have to day I have been excited to make this for awhile .I bake for the restaurant I work for and decided to try this..the cake turned out beautiful, although it turned green in some spots where the peaches are..it looks like a chemical reaction of some sort…I used fresh peaches but increased the recipie to 1 cup. The cake is only 2 days old…kept in the fridge..can you tell me what went wrong? It tastes amazing..but can’t serve it..what do you think?

  • Camila

    I just made this for my stepfather’s birthday, and this is by far the best frosting I have ever made in my life. Thank you so much for turning me onto Swiss meringue!

  • Odelle Smith (U.K.)

    What a fantastic cake, making this (large version) for my Sisters 6oth Birthday, she’ll love it, as will I.
    I’m making the same recipe as you apart from doubling the quantities of frosting as I will use it in some of your other recipes & who doesn’t adore a cake, brownie or anything else decorated with this delicious, lush, dulce de leche Swiss Butter-cream Frosting…
    This can turn the most simple of cakes, bakes, muffins into the most delightful, tasty, impressive looking & tasting even better with the addition of this frosting, we all love it.
    This cake is suitable for any occasion such as Birthdays, Easter, Parties, tray-bakes, muffins, cup-cakes or just because you love it, as will my family, friends & neighbors.
    I shall have plenty of people calling, as usually happens when I’m baking which is every-day as I do love to cook & bake.
    Sharing what I make make for others to enjoy too, makes it all the more pleasurable, the simple gift of a cake, loaf, home-cooked meal is a small price to pay for the rewards that it brings to all concerned, especially if having a home-cooked hot meal is perhaps the only time that they have the opportunity to eat correctly as opposed to ‘ready-meals’, which unfortunately are some neighbors only means of eating.
    Here in the U.K. we’re having very cold, frosty weather with severe gales & snow, which is why I do like to take a good, hot meal to those that are unable to make something for themselves.
    It is greatly appreciated, takes nothing to make a few extra portions of food, a hot dessert, drink & ensure that they are warm & to the best of our ability as a family, generally taking care of their basics needs, which is what we do, it’s easy & the rewards are knowing that these neighbors know that they are cared about by us, which is a great feeling for both them & us.
    Many thanks for a superb site, you’ve provided me with some great ideas for recipes.
    Yours gratefully,
    Odelle Smith. (U.K.)

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