Perfect for brunch, Sunday breakfast, or taking to parties. This delicious, dense textured cake will stay fresh and moist for several days. Upside-down cake is best using a tube pan, which is the same pan used for angel food cake. The recipe can also be baked in a large bundt pan. This cake will look beautiful in the traditional upside-down fashion, but, turned “right-side-up” it will have a striking, crusty top.

Preheat oven to 350°, have all ingredients at room temperature. Grease and flour tube pan. Peel and chop peaches, mix with VANILLA SUGAR in a small bowl, set aside. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and CINNAMON, set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until well blended, light and fluffy. Add eggs 2 at a time, blending well after each addition. This is the most important part, as the cake will rise much higher if the sugar and butter are well mixed and the eggs are thoroughly beaten. Starting and ending with dry ingredients, gently blend in flour mixture and peaches, one third at a time. Use a large spoon or blend on lowest speed to just combine these ingredients. Pour into the pan. Make sure not to get batter on the upper part of the tube, which will prevent the cake from sliding out of the pan. Place on middle rack in oven, bake about 70-75 minutes, until cake is browned and springy to the touch, or a thin skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven, let cool five minutes, run a butter knife between the cake and the outside wall of the pan, turn pan over onto a rack and let the cake slide out. Turn the cake over at this point if you so desire, and let cool completely. Place the cake on a serving plate. The cake is easiest to cut when cool, and that is also the time to sprinkle with powdered sugar if you so desire–though serving the slices warm with a thin pat of butter is quite tasty too.

Yield: 16-24 slices
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 1 hour and 10 minutes