Peach Kuchen-German peach cake

Peach Kuchen

By @beyondkimchee

I found this recipe while perusing the web and was looking for a new peach recipe.  I remembered my mother making a similar dessert for us when we were kids that I loved and decided to try it. Happily it was almost identical to the one my mother used to make and brought back many good memories. This cake is super easy, requires minimal equipment, in fact you can make it with no mixer; just a whisk and a fork if you want.   I’ll be honest, I use my food processor to cut the butter into the flour mixture since it take just a few seconds to do but if you don’t have one or just don’t feel like dirtying it, just use a fork or pastry cutter. I also peeled my peaches but you can get away with not peeling them if it doesn’t bother you. This cake differs from most others in that you spread the dough and fruit out in the pan and par-bake them for about 20 min. then pour the custard mixture over top and continue to bake until the cake is golden brown and starts to pull away a bit from the sides of the pan. This cake can be made a day in advance, just wrap it and pop it in the fridge but be sure to bring it to room temperature before serving so it will have that nice silky and custardy texture again. Happy baking!

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cup/180g all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cup/150g granulated sugar

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

• 1/4 cup/60g cold butter cut into small pieces

• 1/2 cup /120g whole milk

• 1 egg

• 3-4 fresh peaches, peeled and cut into 1/2” slices or 1 large can (850g) peach halves, drained and sliced into 1/2-inch thick pieces  

For the custard cream

• 1 cup/240g heavy cream
• 2 tsp flour
• 1/2 cup/100g sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch salt

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400˚F/200°C. Grease a 9-inch/23cm springform pan and set aside.
• Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a mixing bowl and stir well with a whisk. Add the cold butter pieces and with a fork, pastry blender or food processor cut it into flour until it resembles wet sand. 
• In a small mixing bowl, whisk milk and egg well. Pour the milk mixture over the flour mixture. Mix with a fork just until it becomes wet.
• Spread the batter on the bottom of the prepared pan. Arrange the peach slices on top. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
• To make the custard cream, combine 1/4 cup of cream with flour in a medium mixing bowl, and whisk together to get rid of big lumps. Add the rest of the cream, sugar, egg, vanilla, and salt; whisk well to mix.
• Take the cake out of oven, and carefully pour the cream mixture on top. Put the cake back in the oven, and immediately reduce the heat to 350˚F/180°C. Continue to bake the cake for 45-55 minutes.
• When the cake top is puffed, the edges are deep golden and starting to separate from the pan, the cake is done. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove it from the pan and let it cool completely on a cooling rack.