I adore peaches. Nothing sums up Summer quite like the heady waft of a ripe peach just before you bite in, followed by the trickles of sweet juice running down your chin. Ahh Summer days! Needless to say as a result I’m a sucker for all things peach- bakes and desserts. One of my favourites being Peach Cobbler. Being synonymous with the American South there’s a deluge of recipes of the sweet peachy dish which has been baked into the history and hearts of people, each tweaked in accordance with individual family traditions and tastes.

You will of course by now know of my love for the unexpected in baking, turning things on their heads. So why not Peach Cobbler- but make it cake? Yes, I know it’s been done before…but featuring tea as an ingredient? Welcome to my world!

For those of you who followed my adventures in the kitchen of Food Networks Canada’s Great Chocolate Showdown, you’ll of course remember there was a Tea Challenge- where bakers were tasked with incorporating a selected tea into their desserts. The perfect springboard for this recipe!

This recipe gave me the perfect opportunity to work with Pluck Teas. Pluck Teas is an award-winning female-founded Canadian small business and tea maker, producing premium quality tea blends in Toronto for tea drinkers who value quality and sustainability. Hand-blended in small batches with several of the brand’s favourite ingredients (like lavender, grapes and ginseng) grown and dried in Ontario, ensuring that the product is fresh while also reducing the brand’s carbon footprint.

I’ve created this Peach Cobbler Cake using their “Just Peachy” tea blend. “Just Peachy” is one of Pluck’s black teas – a delicious, soft, and fruity infusion featuring a full black tea character layered with luscious ripe peaches. Perfect for a Summer tea treat!

Layers of tasty cinnamon sponge filled with juicy Ontario peaches, peach flavoured crunch, enrobed in sumptuous brown butter buttercream, and finished with a delectable caramel drizzle. All infused with Pluck “Just Peachy” tea blend. Everybody likes tea and cake, right?

*This is a sponsored post

Ingredients

Cinnamon Sponge Cake

• 2/3 cup milk, room temperature
• 1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract, or paste

Cake Syrup

• 1 cup water
• 1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
• 1 cup white sugar

Peach Filling

• 5 Peaches, diced
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
• ¼ teaspoon fresh nutmeg
• 1 Tablespoon corn-starch

Peach Crunch

• 20 Golden Oreo Cookies
• 1 sachet (85g) Peach Jell-O powder
• 1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
• ¾ cup butter, melted

Brown Butter Buttercream

• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
• 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) butter (divided in to 2 sticks and 1)
• ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
• 5 cups powdered sugar

Caramel drizzle

• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
• 1 Tablespoon liquid glucose, or light corn syrup
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• ¾ cup heavy cream, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 3 Tablespoons butter, room temperature

*Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” sachets used here are from the “Just Peachy” Iced Tea selection. If you are using “Just Peachy” loose leaf it is 2 ½ Tablespoon equivalent (along with using a tea steeper ball where required)

Method

Cinnamon Sponge Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour three 8″ cake rounds and line with parchment
2. In a small pan combine the milk and tea sachet. Gently heat the milk to just below boiling. Remove from heat, set aside to infuse until needed later
3. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt until well combined. Set aside
4. Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and beat on med-high until pale and fluffy (approx 10mins)
5. Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla
6. Alternate adding flour mixture with cooled milk/ tea infusion, beginning, and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of cooled milk/ tea infusion). Fully incorporating after each addition
7. Spread batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth the tops.
8. Bake for approx. 35mins or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out mostly clean
9. Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10mins then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely

Caramel Drizzle

1. In a large pan, steep the tea sachet in the boiled water for 15mins.
2. Remove the tea sachet, add in the sugar, and glucose (or light corn syrup if using). Swirl the sugar to ensure it is fully soaked with the tea infusion
3. Heat over a low heat until the sugar is melted, gently swirling the occasionally
4. Increase to high heat to bring to a boil, allow to boil for 1 minute, then reduce to medium heat and simmer for 7 minutes
5. Remove from heat, add the heavy cream and salt. Take care here as the mixture will steam and bubble. Whisk at a steady pace to combine the mixture. If the caramel seizes around your whisk don’t worry continue to stir until almost combined
6. Return the pan to a medium heat and simmer for a further minute to fully melt the caramel. If the caramel bubbles too high, reduce the heat
7. Your caramel should now be smooth. Remove from heat, and gently stir in the butter pieces a Tablespoon at a time, ensuring each is fully melted before adding the next
8. Once all the butter has been added, transfer to bowl to cool fully

Cake Syrup

1. Combine all the syrup ingredients in a pan. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar
2. Increase to a boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and allow to infuse for 15 minutes before removing the tea sachet
3. Set aside to cool until needed

Peach Filling

1. In a large pan combine the chopped peaches, brown sugar, lemon juice and tea sachet
2. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally and taking care not to break the tea pouch
3. Once boiling reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes
4. After this time remove the tea sachet, add in the corn starch. Continue to simmer until the mixture has thickened
5. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl to cool. The mixture will thicken further as it cools. Set aside until needed

Peach Crunch

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Line a baking tray with baking parchment
2. Place the Oreo cookies in the bowl of a food processor, and process to a medium crumb
3. In a medium bowl, combine the cookie crumbs and the Jell-O powder. Stir to combine
4. Add in ½ cup of the melted butter and stir to combine. You’re looking for texture similar to cheesecake crumb base (damp sand). If the mixture is too dry, add the remaining butter a Tablespoon at a time until the desired texture is achieved
5. Once ready, spread the crumb on to the prepared baking try and bake f or 7- 8 minutes
6. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool until needed

Brown Butter Buttercream

1. In a small pan, combine the milk and tea sachet. Heat until just below boiling, remove from heat and set aside to infuse until needed
2. In a pan, heat 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter until fully melted. Continue to heat until the butter starts to foam. Take care in case the butter bubbles up too much. If it does, reduce the heat until it subsides, then return the heat. Continue to heat the butter, stirring constantly, until you noticed it start to turn a light brown and smell a nutty aroma. Transfer the browned butter to a heat proof bowl, chill until cool and almost set
3. Once cooled, combine the brown butter and remaining stick of butter in the bowl of a stand mixer, along with the salt. Beat until smooth and fully combined
4. Add in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating between each addition until fully combined
5. To the butter/ sugar mixture, add the milk/ tea infusion a tablespoon at a time. Beat rapidly between each addition to whip the buttercream
6. When all the milk has been added increase to a high speed and whip for 2 minutes until light and fluffy
7. Set aside and start assembling the cake

Cake Assembly

1. Gently brush the top side of each sponge layer with some of the cake syrup. Use enough so that the layers feel moist to the touch
2. Place the first sponge layer on a cake board, syrup side up. Spread a layer of butter cream over the top. Pipe an additional border around the edge of the sponge layer
3. Inside the buttercream border, spread some of the peach filling. Top this with the peach crunch sprinkled over (breaking up any large pieces)
4. On top of this place the next sponge cake layer and repeat the process with fillings and the third/ top layer
5. Apply a crumb coat of buttercream to the cake, before a final coat of buttercream, finished to your preference
6. Finish the top sponge with any remaining peach filling and a final sprinkling of peach crunch before drizzling with the caramel sauce (to your preference)

*I like to pipe a border around the edge of the top layer to keep the final peach filling/ crunch layer in place