Lightly spiced vanilla cake is covered in gooey brown sugar peach topping to make this vegan peach upside down cake. It's a delicious summer treat that you absolutely must make while fresh peaches are in season!
Are you one of those people who can't get enough of fresh peaches this time of year? Well, hey friend ... ME TOO!
In fact, I tend to overbuy them, and they don't last all that long, which always leads to baking projects where peaches are the star, like my vegan peach cobbler and vegan peach pie. This year I decided to create a vegan peach cake recipe, and I took some inspiration from my vegan pineapple upside down cake and made it a peach upside down cake.
This cake is moist, tender, and smothered in buttery brown sugar peach topping. It's delicious on it's own, or even better with a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream.
Jump to:
Ingredients You'll Need
- Vegan butter. I used Earth Balance to create this recipe. Melt and Miyoko's are a couple other brands to look out for. Vegan butter can usually be found right near the regular butter at the grocery store.
- Brown sugar. Use organic brown sugar, as conventional brown sugar is often processed using animal bone char, so it's not considered vegan.
- Peaches. You'll need two or three fresh peaches to make this recipe.
- Flour. The recipe calls for all-purpose wheat flour, also known as white flour. Will it work with other varieties like spelt or gluten-free flours? Probably, but I can't make any promises.
- Baking powder.
- Baking soda.
- Ground cinnamon.
- Salt.
- Non-dairy milk. Use an unsweetened variety of non-dairy milk. Just about any type that works for drinking will do! I used almond milk. Check out my guide to dairy-free milks if you need help choosing one.
- Vegan yogurt. Just like with the non-dairy milk, you can choose your favorite variety of yogurt, as long as it's unsweetened. I used coconut yogurt, but soy, almond, or oatmilk yogurt are great options as well.
- Vanilla extract.
- Sugar. As with the brown sugar, this needs to be organic.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
To make the topping, first add vegan butter to a round cake pan. Roll the pan around to coat the sides in the butter, then sprinkle it with brown sugar.
Arrange fresh peach slices over the butter and brown sugar layer. You can make a pretty design, but it's certainly not required. Just try to get them in a relatively even layer. Pop the pan in the fridge to chill.
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl: flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Now mix the wet ingredients in a small container: non-dairy milk, yogurt, and vanilla extract.
Tip: With any baking project, always make sure your ingredients are at room temperature, unless otherwise specified. This means you may need to set your milk and yogurt out for a bit, or warm them up slightly before using them.
Now grab another mixing bowl and add your room temperature vegan butter, brown sugar, and sugar. Cream these ingredients together with an electric mixer.
Alternate adding your wet and dry ingredients to the butter mixture, beating in about a third of each at a time.
Once you've added the last of your wet and dry ingredients, beat the batter just until it's fully mixed.
Transfer the batter into the pan, spreading it over your topping. Smooth out the top, then stick the pan into the oven.
Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
When the cake comes out of the oven, let it cool on a cooling rack for a bit. Remove the cake from the pan while it's still warm, running a knife around the edges to loosen it, then inverting the pan onto a plate.
You can serve your vegan peach cake while it's still warm, or let it sit a bit before slicing and enjoying it!
Shelf-Life & Storage
Vegan peach upside down cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about a day, or in the fridge for about three days.
You can freeze it, but it will probably get a bit sloppy when you thaw it out (it'll still taste good though!). It will keep in an airtight container in the freezer for about three months.
More Vegan Summer Desserts
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Peach Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
For the Topping
- ¼ cup vegan butter, melted
- ¼ cup organic brown sugar
- 2 cups sliced fresh peaches (2 to 3 medium peaches)
For the Cake
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup unflavored and unsweetened non-dairy milk
- ⅓ cup plain vegan yogurt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup vegan butter, room temperature
- ½ cup organic brown sugar
- ¼ cup organic granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- To make the topping, first pour the butter into a 9-inch round cake pan, then gently roll the pan around to coat the bottom and sides of the pan with the butter. Sprinkle the butter evenly with the brown sugar.
- Arrange the peach slices over the butter and brown sugar mixture.
- Place the pan with the topping into the fridge to chill while you mix the cake batter.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Set this aside.
- Stir the milk, yogurt, and vanilla together in a small container, such as a bowl or liquid measuring cup. Set this aside.
- Place the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar into a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer at high speed, cream the butter and sugars together until fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Beat about a third of the flour mixture into the butter mixture at low speed, then beat in about a third of the milk mixture. Keep alternating adding the dry and wet ingredients to the butter mixture until the batter is fully mixed.
- Take the cake pan out of the fridge and spread the batter over the topping. Smooth out the top with a spatula.
- Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
- Place the cake onto a cooling rack when it comes out of the oven. Let it cook for 20 to 30 minutes.
- While the cake is still warm, run a knife around the outside edges of the pan, then carefully invert the cake onto a plate (see Note).
- Slice the cake and serve.
Notes
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Greetings How do you substitue all purpose flour with gluten free flour? It would be helpful if it ws placed in the recipe. Thanks
I can't say for sure if substituting gluten-free flour will work. Developing a cake recipe takes a lot of trial and error, so I don't often have time to try out variations. If you'd like to give it a try, I'd recommend just directly substituting an all-purpose gluten-free blend like Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur's. I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try it!