These super moist and tender peach upside down mini cakes are bursting with peaches in every bite. Easy to make, this recipe is a keeper for that indulgent peach season!
Why you’ll love this peach cake recipe:
Peaches are in season!!! I love peach season SO much. And these individual peach upside down cakes are one of my absolute favorites.
- Bursts of juicy fruits in every bite – thanks to overload of peach cubes in the batter.
- You won’t even miss the frosting, as these mini cakes are topped with brown sugar glazed peach slices.
- Plus, effortlessly beautiful presentation!
How to make peach upside down cupcake:
While it might look a bit complicated, it’s truly easy to make these mini cakes. Watch how I made this cake on Instagram.
1. To prepare the topping:
- Slice 2 peaches into thin slices, then cube the rest for the batter. No need to peel the peaches!
- Spray a standard size muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- Divide brown sugar and butter into 12 equal parts and place in to 12 muffin cups.
- Then arrange 3 slices of peach in each muffin cup over the butter and brown sugar. (Fan them out nicely! It’ll look pretty once cooked. ;))
Tip
Yes, you can slice 1 tablespoon of butter into 12 pieces.
Cut a tablespoon of butter in two equal sizes, then cut each one into two equal pieces. Then finely, slice each piece into 3 equal parts.
2. To make the batter
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a large bowl, whip butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Then add egg and vanilla extract and beat for another 3 minutes. It should be super fluffy and white. This step is key for soft and fluffy cake!
- Now, add half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and beat until just about combined. Then stir in buttermilk followed by the remaining flour mixture. Mix until just combined and no dry flour patches is visible.
- Fold in chopped peaches into the batter.
3. Bake
- Divide the cake batter into the prepared muffin cups.
- Bake the mini cakes for about 25 minutes at 350°F, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cakes in the pan for 5 minutes, and then run a butterknife (or a small offset spatula) around the edges to release the sides.
- Place a wire rack on top of the muffin pan and invert it to release the cupcakes. Be gentle removing the pan. Sometimes, peach slices fall slowly.
Tip
I love using my large cookie scoop for filling the cupcake pans. It’s mess-free and yields uniform cakes.
Serve warm peach upside down cake topped with vanilla ice cream!
Buttermilk substitutes:
I realize not everyone have buttermilk in the fridge like we do. (We sure love our buttermilk pancakes!) However, there’re 2 easy substitutes for buttermilk:
- Option #1: 1/3 cup sour cream, or plain Greek yogurt + milk (or water) to make 1/2 cup. Stir well before using.
- Option #2: 1/2 cup of milk + 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice (or white vinegar). Stir and let it sit for 5 minutes for milk to curdle.
Readers Feedback and Variations:
This recipe is LOVED by many, many people!! And I get ton of feedback and variations. So here’re some awesome feedbacks and variations from those who tried it.
- People love how these little cakes are not too sweet.
- Cinnamon is very popular addition!
- Besides peach, this recipe also works great with plums, blueberries, and nectarines.
- Fresh macerated peaches make a fabulous topping along with vanilla ice cream!
- Chopped pecans were a great addition.
- Frozen peaches didn’t caramelize, but it was still delicious.
- Canned peaches worked good as well.
- Egg replacement per Maïna: 1 heaping tablespoon of ground flax seeds + 3 tablespoon of water, whipped together and let to thicken for 5 minutes. Worked like a charm!
If you made this recipe, we’d love to hear your feedback as well!!
Storing Tips:
Store the peach upside down cake in the fridge, covered, for up to 2 days, if they last that long anyway. 🙂
These cakes don’t freeze well.
If you love peaches, try this grilled peach and mascarpone ice cream!!
Peach Upside Down Mini Cakes
Ingredients
For topping:
- Non-stick cooking spray
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) unsalted butter cold
- 6 teaspoons (5 g) light brown sugar
For cake batter:
- 3 fresh peaches Note 1
- 1 ½ cups (190 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup (130 g) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (90 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120 ml) buttermilk at room temperature (Note 2)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177° C). Spray muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
To prepare the topping:
- Cut 1 tablespoon of butter into 12 equal parts. (TIP: cold butter is easier to cut.) Place each butter piece in 12 muffin cups.
- Sprinkle ½ teaspoon of brown sugar into each muffin cup.
- Slice 1-2 peaches into thin slices. Arrange about 3 slices into the bottom of each muffin pan.
To make the cake batter:
- Cut the remaining peaches into small cubes. You should get about 1 cup of cubed peaches. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy and creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Add egg and vanilla extract and beat it for another 2-3 minutes, or until well combined. The mixture should be fluffy and white. (Note: It's totally normal for the mixture to curdle right after adding egg, but keep mixing and it'll turn nice and fluffy!)
- Add half of the flour mixture into the batter, beat for 1 minute on low speed.
- Stir in the buttermilk and beat for another minute.
- Add the remaining flour mixture and beat just until combined. Don't overmix the batter, or it'll make tough cake.
- Fold in the cubed peaches.
- Divide the batter into 12 muffin pan cups. (TIP: This large cookie scoop makes this step super easy – one scoop of batter in each muffin cup.)
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cakes in the pan for 5 minutes. Then carefully run a butter knife around the edges to release the cake from the sides. Now, place a wire rack over the muffin pan and carefully turn the pan upside down to remove the cakes.
- Serve the mini cakes warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Video
Tips & Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published in August, 2014.
Do you have to do the brown sugar and butter on the bottom? I would like to lessen the sugar.
Hi, Chris. No, I guess, you don’t have to (but I haven’t tried it myself.) Keep in mind, you won’t get that nice caramelization.
Loved this recipe. The flavor of butter is wonderful.
I don’t use my mixer for muffins usually so it was a bit more work creaming butter and sugar by hand. Next time I will either use the mixer or melt the butter. At first the baked cakes didn’t fall out after resting 5 minutes on the rack. My hint would be to use a knife to circle each cup before flopping the pan over. Perfect. Oh and I added some bluerries too.
Great tip, Joan. Thank you for sharing your tip on removing the cakes and for your feedback!
Seems like the 1 TBL spoon of butter for 12 is not enough. Anyone else change this up? Brown sugar did you use more?
Hi, Dawn. Why do you think it’s not enough? Have you tried it? I know, it sounds ridiculous to divide that little bit of butter into TWELVE pieces, but trust me it does work. Remember cupcake cup is pretty small too, and you don’t want pool of butter in there. This recipe has been made by many, many people, and I haven’t read any comment that anyone had trouble with too little butter. Please let me know if you give it a try.
I am going to try it this weekend. I make pineapple upside down and they are wonderful. Excited to try yours. I was just thinking how would you divide i TBLS 12 ways but I am sure it can be done.
My fingers got very buttery! But it can be done! Lol
Made these last night and they were a huge hit with the family!!! So delicious, will definitely be making again 😊
Question: I didn’t see instructions to grease or spray muffin tin. Is it “OK” to not do so? Thanks in advance for an answer!
Hi, Teresa. In step 1, it says to spray the muffin cups with a cooking spray.
Excellent. I did not have buttermilk but followed a simple plan to make with milk and lemon juice. I used muffin paper cups and they flipped out so nicely. Thanks for sharing.
These were wonderful! I added a bit of cinnamon to the batter, but otherwise made as written. Very good! Will be making again.
IMO the ratio of cake to butter/brown sugar was all wrong and did not mirror a true upside down cake.
Hi I made these upside down peach muffins and they came out great. Very tasty, not dry at all, soft and I will make these again. I can’t wait to try serve this to the rest of my family. Thank you for posting this recipe, look forward to try more new ones from you
Hi! Was wondering if there is an egg replacement that you recommend? I can’t eat eggs and I really want to try this recipe! Thanks in advance!
Hi, Andrea. Unfortunately, I’m not very experienced with egg replacements and have no advice.
Hello! I don’t eat eggs either and I just replaced it by a large flax egg (1 heaping tbsp of ground flax seeds + 3 tbsp water, whipped together and let to thickens 5 minutes). Worked like a charm!
Thank you for the recommendation! Going to bake these tonight!
Wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing this info, Maïna!!! Super helpful!
Can I use other fruit? I have cherries I would like to use up and thinking these would be yummy.
I’ve read a few different comments where people used different fruits. I can’t remember which fruits, but you can certainly try with cherries,
Thank you I did a half recipe and used Atomic cherries (soaked in cognac) look good. Will post pic after dinner tonight.
How many calories?
Hi, Jen. It looks like about 190 calories per mini cake. I just updated the recipe with nutritional information.