Gluten-free Peach Upside Down Cake is the perfect summer cake. Caramelized peaches end up on top of a buttery almond flour cake that is light and tender. This easy to make cake is perfect for a summer cookout or potluck.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
This Gluten Free Peach Upside Down Cake is made with ultra flavorful, fresh in-season juicy peaches. Canned peaches are fine to use out of peach season and are still very flavorful.
The buttery gluten-free cake is made with a blend of almond flour and a gluten-free flour blend which provides the perfectly light and tender crumb. The almond flavor of the cake is enhanced with almond and vanilla extract, making the cake so delicious even on it's own!
This cake is so easy to make, no need for a cake mix! Only a few simple pantry ingredients are required! This is a small batch recipe, making one 8 or 9-inch cake. Feel free to double the recipe for a 9x13 cake!
This cake is actually a twist on my gluten-free vanilla cake recipe, so if you like this recipe be sure to check out that one as well!
Serve this cake warm or at room temperature with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. The perfect snack cake for backyard bbq's, summer cookouts, or potlucks. Or serve it as a coffee cake at your next get together, I promise you'll get rave reviews!
If peaches are one of your favorite fruits, I'm confident you'll love this delicious cake made with fresh summer peaches!
Before you go, be sure to take a peek at this perfect gluten-free peach crisp! You can never have too many peach recipes! If you love baking with almond flour, check out this almond flour bread recipe.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Sweet Peaches: You can use fresh in-season peaches or canned sliced peaches out of season. Drain canned peaches first.
- Gluten-free Flour Blend: King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour was tested in this recipe. Other gluten-free all purpose flour blends with Xanthan Gum for baking, such as Bob's Red Mill 1:1, should also work in this recipe.
- Almond Flour: Almond flour (not almond meal) adds great texture to the cake itself. If you cannot use almond flour, you may omit it without further substitutions. I get mine from Costco.
- Butter: Substitute Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks for dairy-free.
- Buttermilk: For dairy-free, place ½ tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice in a measuring cup, fill to the ½ cup mark with almond milk, soy milk, or other non-dairy milk. Let stand 5 minutes. (This trick works with regular milk as well if you don't have buttermilk.)
Instructions
This cake is so easy to make! See below for a walkthrough of the steps. As far as equipment, you'll need an 8 or 9-inch cake pan, either a square or round pan is fine, and some parchment paper. The cake can me mixed by hand but an electric mixer does come in handy!
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- If using fresh peaches, you may wish to remove the skins before slicing. If you like the extra texture, you can leave the skins on.
- Layer melted butter and brown sugar in the bottom of the pan. Then arrange thin slices of peaches on top.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Blend the melted butter, sugar, and eggs.
- Blend half of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients.
- Then blend in half of the buttermilk.
- Finish with remaining dry ingredients and the last of the buttermilk.
- Spread the cake batter over the sliced peaches.
- Bake the cake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a serving platter.
How to Remove Skins From Fresh Peaches
Removing the skins from peaches is super simple. You don't necessarily want to use a vegetable peeler because it may not work well and will remove too much of the peach flesh.
To peel skin from the peaches:
- Simply drop the peaches into a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds.
- Remove the peaches and place them in an ice bath.
- Once cool enough to handle, the skins should easily peel off using just your fingers or a paring knife.
- Then you can cut the peaches in half going around the pit, remove the pit, and slice the peaches lengthwise.
Variations
- Go the classic route and substitute peaches with canned pineapple slices for a pineapple upside down cake.
- Substitute any stone fruit for the peaches, such as nectarines or plums.
- Sprinkle sliced almonds on the brown sugar before arranging the peach slices. They add a little extra texture!
- Layer some berries, such as blueberries or blackberries, in along with the peaches!
Storage
The cake is best eaten as fresh as possible, ideally the day it's baked.
Once cooled, you may store this cake in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
Top Recipe Tips
- Make sure your peaches are ripe. They should have some give when gently pressed.
- Plan ahead. This means you may need to plan ahead and buy your peaches a few days in advance to make sure you have properly ripe peaches when you're ready to bake.
- Use thinly sliced peaches. Here, each medium-sized peach was sliced into 6 slices, about ½ - ¾ -inch thick. If using canned peaches, slice any large pieces in half lengthwise.
I hope you enjoy this gluten-free peach cake! This recipe may quickly become one of your favorite gluten-free desserts. The moist cake is light, tender, and buttery with flavorful peaches that just scream for scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Recipe
Gluten-Free Peach Upside Down Cake with Almond Flour
Ingredients
Topping
- 3 Tablespoons butter (or Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 3 or 4 medium-sized peaches (or 1 can sliced peaches, drained)
Vanilla-Almond Cake
- 1 cup gluten-free flour (King Arthur Measure for Measure )
- ½ cup almond flour
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup butter (oil or Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup buttermilk (or ½ tablespoon vinegar + enough milk to reach ½ cup. Let stand 5 min.)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8 or 9-inch cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper.
- Melt 3 tablespoons of butter and pour over the bottom of the cake pan.
- Sprinkle with ½ cup brown sugar.
- Arrange sliced peaches on top. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together gluten-free flour, almond flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In large mixing bowl, blend together granulated sugar and butter.
- Add in eggs, vanilla, and almond extract. Blend until well combined.
- Blend in the flour mixture alternately with buttermilk.
- Then, mix on medium speed for 1 minute.
- Pour the batter over the peaches in the pan. Spread evenly.
- Bake at 350°F, 40-50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully flip cake out onto a serving plate. Cool before serving.
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Estimated Nutrition
* Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and should be used as an estimate only. See the nutrition policy for more information.
Farziya Ahsan says
Hello, all the way from Germany Katie!
Since of late I am trying to cut out normal sugar and any kind of flour in my dessert. I am looking at natural alternatives, more like what Mother Nature provides.
So I tweaked your recipe a bit, I added 1 1/2 cups of almond flour. And I did not have corn flour, so I substituted rice flour instead. Plus I used coconut sugar. I tell you the out come was just amazing.
Pair that with vanilla ice cream and it’s just spot on.
Can’t wait to explore more of your recipes. Thank you!
Katie Olesen says
Glad you enjoyed it, Farziya! Thank you for sharing your substitutions and how they worked for you. That's always helpful to hear. I love that you're based in Germany. Nice to connect with you here!
Elia says
This was so good! Rave reviews from my guests. They loved the peach and almond flavors!
Camille says
I made this a couple weeks ago. It was delicious - only lasted a couple days! Thank you!
Katie Olesen says
Thanks for coming back to leave a review! So glad you enjoyed the cake!
Debra Dawson says
Made the recipe exactly as written and kept the thin peel on the peaches. I used a 9” cake pan and 5 medium peaches. My husband and I loved it warm out of the oven. Delicious, especially for my Celiac hubby! Next time I will try Amaretto for the almond extract for fun.
Sydney says
This was such a hit at work for a GF coworker's bday! Thank you for the awesome recipe.
Katie Olesen says
So glad to hear that Sydney!
Hailey says
I made this! I used almond milk with white vinegar as a substitute and it was perfectly fine. I added maybe 2 tablespoons of peach juice from the can as my batter was a little thick and the cake turned out absolutely delicious!
Katie Olesen says
Great to hear Hailey! Thanks for sharing your substitutions!
Melissa says
Made it just like the recipe says. All of my people loved it but it was a bit mushy for my preference. I will make it again if they ask but wouldn’t for myself.
Melissa says
Also, I made in a springform pan.
Crystal says
Can you substitute coconut sugar or maple sugar for the granulated sugar in this recipe?
sandra says
This was delicious. Made it exactly as written.
Tamarra Oliver says
Just made this cake and it is amazing! Personally, I would put a little less almond extract, but I will definitely make it again. I'm going to make it for a church dinner and not tell them it's gluten free! It sure doesn't taste like it!
I tried to post a picture but could figure out how.
Tamarra Oliver says
I forgot to comment that there was no oven temperature on the recipe but I cooked it at 350 degrees for 40 mins.
Katie | Wheat by the Wayside says
Thanks for pointing that out! Can't believe I overlooked that! All fixed now!
Katie | Wheat by the Wayside says
So glad you enjoyed it! Yes, almond can be a little strong! I tested it with 1/4 teaspoon and 1/2 teaspoon and didn't think the 1/2 teaspoon was too strong but it's just a matter of preference! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Roberta Rainwater says
In the middle of making this recipe, I realized there were no instructions on preheat or baking temp??? Did I miss it???? I am assuming 350 degrees.
Katie | Wheat by the Wayside says
Yes 350! Oof! Sorry about that!