Skip the frosting and go for a crunchy melted sugar crust with this Cinnamon Sugar Peach Bundt Cake.  Full of fresh summer peaches, it’s an easy mix-by-hand, dairy-free dessert (or breakfast!).

If you know me, you know I love fruit desserts more than just about anything in the world. 

I couldn’t let the summer go past with at least one peach-filled dessert, and this one.. well, this takes the cake.  The bundt cake, to be precise.

This cake is a summery twist on one of my most frequently made recipes, an amazing Jewish apple cake. 

There’s actually nothing “Jewish” about an apple cake (it’s actually probably Pennsylvania Dutch in origin), but rumor has it that it inherited the Jewish designation because it’s dairy free, and thus a popular Kosher dessert.

It’s full of apples and cinnamon and perfectly embodies fall.  Would it work if we gave it a summery twist with fresh peaches? 

Why yes, yes it does – it works deliciously!  (Dare I say… even better than the original apple version?!)

And perhaps my very favorite part: in lieu of frosting, we’re covering the outside with a crunchy cinnamon sugar crust – it’s unlike anything you’ve had on a bundt cake, and it is amazing!

Perfect Peach Cake

Just as I suspected, the transition to a peach bundt cake worked beautifully.  Just a few simple modifications necessary. 

Peaches are a lot juicier than apples, so we’ll drain off some of the juice first.

But! Don’t discard it — we’ll use the juice to coat the outside of the cake.

The rest of this cake is super easy.  It’s mixed together in one bowl by hand.  Because it uses vegetable oil instead of butter, there’s no need to bring ingredients to room temperature beforehand. 

Since we’re not using any milk in this dairy-free cake, we’ll use a little juice for moisture.  Peach juice helps play up the peach flavor even more, but as I said earlier: I’m all about using what you have on hand.  Orange juice works fine.  Apple juice would, too!

When we pour the cake into the bundt pan, do it in three layers.  Batter, peaches, batter, peaches, batter, peaches. 

The peaches are heavy and will sink to the bottom, which becomes the top when you flip the cake.  Adding them in layers ensures peachy deliciousness in every bite. 

Even though we’re going to end with peaches on top, the batter will rise up around them, giving us a layer of cake on the top of the bundt pan (which then becomes the bottom when we flip it) so there’s a nice flat surface for the peach bundt cake to sit on.

Sugar Crust on a Bundt Cake

I’ve made an awful lot of bundt cakes, but all have some sort of frosting or glaze.  This time I wanted to try something different: a cinnamon sugar crust.

Last year I made an apple cider donut cake, dusting the cinnamon and sugar on the outside after the cake bakes.  But… this time, I wanted a thicker layer.  Something crunchier.  A whole layer, not just a dusting.  

How do we make this work?  It’s time for my favorite subject… kitchen chemistry!

Kitchen Chemistry

We’re all familiar with sugar for its sweetness.  Adding sugar to a cake makes it delicious!  But sugar also creates the shiny, crackly crust on top of brownies and cakes.  While a cake bakes, moisture evaporates from the surface, which causes the sugar to re-crystallize.

With brownies or cakes with a high sugar content, this crackly crust occurs on the top.  But the top of a bundt cake touches the bottom of the pan and we flip it.  The part touching the pan, however, gets really hot. 

If you coat the bundt pan itself with a thick layer of cinnamon sugar, it will start to melt and dissolve, and then cool again after you remove the cake from the oven, making that delicious crunchy crust.

Two things we have to keep in mind for this to work:

1. It’s important to use vegetable oil rather than melted butter for this.  Butter has a high water content (~16-20%) and the sugar will dissolve into the butter, and thus into the batter.
2. The cinnamon sugar layer has to cool back to a solid crust before removing from the bundt pan.

The crunchy cinnamon sugar coating worked perfectly, and is delicious.  But in all honesty, it wasn’t the prettiest – once the sugar melts a little, it loses some of the ‘sparkle.’

So remember that peach juice we saved?  We’re just going to go ahead and brush a little bit of it right on top of the cake and dust some additional cinnamon sugar on top.  Talk about the best of both worlds.

Recommended Tools to Make Peach Bundt Cake

• Mixing Bowls: My all-time favorite set of mixing bowls (microwave and dishwasher-safe, too!).
• 12 Cup Bundt Pan: You’ll want to use a 12-cup metal bundt pan to bake this cake.
• Pastry Brush: Use a silicone pastry brush to brush the bundt pan with vegetable oil and to brush the cake with the remaining peach juice.
• Cooling Rack: This three-layer cooling rack is foldable for easy storage but sturdy enough to support cooling a bundt cake still in the pan.

Tips and Tricks for the Best Peach Bundt Cake

1. New to baking in bundt pans?  Looking for the best tips and tricks to ensure your cake turns out perfectly?  Check out THIS POST for all my best bundt tips!
2. Use ripe, juicy peaches for the most peach flavor. Under-ripe or un-flavorful peaches will lead to a blander tasting cake.
3. Don’t overbake the cake – this will result in a drier, crumbly texture.  Bake just until the edges begin to pull away from the pan and the top is springy when pushed back.
4. Grease the pan well so the sugar crust sticks to the cake and not to the pan!

More Peach Recipes:

• Peach Pie Bars
• Spicy Whiskey Peach BBQ Sauce
• Blueberry Peach Coffee Cake
• Baked Peach French Toast
• Blackberry Peach Galette

This Peach Bundt Cake recipe was originally published on 08/13/2018.  It was republished with updated text and tips on 07/23/2020.