If there’s a better taste than a fresh summer peach, I don’t know what it is. Seriously. They’re so good. I love peaches, and I always have. So, I decided to dedicate this volume of my Boozy Bakes series to the most delicious summer fruit: the peach. These peach cupcakes have some seriously delicious cinnamon cake as a base, and are filled with a homemade peach bourbon jam and topped with a cinnamon swirl frosting. They’re super good, and they are the perfect recipe for the remainder of the summer, and will also be perfect for the fall.
Someday, I will bake without making a mess.
Not interested in hearing my (admittedly humorous) story about an incident involving my lazy susan? Totally get it. Skip to the next heading for recipe information. If you are interested in a laugh at my expense, by all means, read on.
Jump to RecipeFor my birthday last year, Matt bought me a beautiful baking book written by famed chef Thomas Keller, which features recipes from his bakery “Bouchon.” The book is terribly intimidating, but I do turn to it occasionally for inspiration or instructions on complicated pastry techniques. However, the thing that has stuck with my from the book is something he said in the introduction. I’m far too lazy to go upstairs and get the book to get an accurate quote, so I will paraphrase. It was something along the lines of “keep your work area clean, and then apply that concept to everything you do.”
I have to tell you, Thomas Keller, I have failed. I fail at that literally every single day. For some reason, I am unable to bake without covering my kitchen with clouds of powdered sugar. Or spilling royal icing in the refrigerator. Or dumping lemon curd all over the stove. Or… well, you get the idea.
We are going to have to move.
My latest kitchen mishap was particularly terrible. I recently filled an order for a caticorn cake, which of course involved making buttercream.
I carefully measured out six cups of powdered sugar into a giant bowl, and then leaned the bowl over my stand mixer and dumped it in.
Or, I guess I should say that’s what I meant to do. What actually happened is I dumped all six cups into my lazy susan, spreading it evenly into the various pieces of my juicer, all over my crock pot and mandolin, and down into every single crevice of my waffle maker. After surveying the aftermath of this incident, I sat on the floor of my kitchen and briefly considered just selling the house and moving away to avoid cleaning it up. I then got out my vacuum cleaner, said many words that are not suitable for this family-friendly blog, and cleaned it all out.
I guess it was probably time to clean my juicer anyway.
Someday I will make beautiful baked goods in a kitchen that remains spotless throughout the entire baking process. That day is not today.
Peach Cupcakes with bourbon and cinnamon swirl frosting: the elements.
Even without the peach bourbon filling these cinnamon cupcakes would have been really delicious all by themselves. The are made with cake flour and sour cream, and they stayed quite light and fluffy.
After I used my cupcake corer to remove the centers of my cupcakes, I had every intention of replacing the cores after filling them with my peach bourbon jam, but….that’s not what happened.
I ate them. I ate them all. I’m not sorry.
The peach bourbon jam was easy to put together, and it gives you an opportunity to adapt these peach cupcakes to your taste. I dumped quite a bit of bourbon in because I like it, but you could do less (or none) if that’s not your thing. I used 1792 Bourbon, and I definitely recommend it, both for baking and sipping. It is smooth. However, you can use whatever whiskey or bourbon you prefer!
Last element? Some awesome cinnamon swirl buttercream, of course.
Making that swirl pattern looks tricky, but it’s actually very easy. This is a technique you can apply to any two-tone icing. I made a nice vanilla buttercream, and put half of it in a long cylinder on a piece of saran wrap. I added (a lot) of cinnamon and other good spices to the remaining buttercream, and laid it alongside the plain buttercream. Using a youtube trick I have learned, I rolled up the saran wrap, tucked the tube of frosting into a piping bag, and was able to pipe out nice little two-tone swirls. So cute, right?
Getting ready for a new year…
In addition to developing the recipe for these peach cupcakes, I’ve been busy getting ready for school. I’ve settled into my new little office, and I love it. Do I really need a diffuser and a bean bag chair? Probably not. But listen, I spend like sixty hours a week at school, so I’ll have a diffuser if I want one.
I’ve also been working on lots of orders for birthday parties and whatnot, including lots of royal icing cookies. Next week I get to make Sesame Street cupcakes, and I am PUMPED. If you live in Indy and you would like to order these cupcakes or anything else from Kelly Likes to Bake, you better get those orders in soon, because my life is about to start again at the beginning of August! Email kellylikestobake@gmail.com for pricing and more information.
Enjoy this recipe, and don’t worry about making a mess. Joy is messy sometimes.
Easy Peach Cupcakes with Bourbon and Cinnamon Swirl Frosting!
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy12
cupcakes30
minutes20
minutes300
kcalThese easy peach cupcakes are made with a tender cinnamon sponge, a boozy peach bourbon jam filling, and a sweet and flavorful cinnamon swirl buttercream topping!
Ingredients
- For the cinnamon cake:
2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup (300g) granulated sugar
3/4 cup loosely packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup room temperature sour cream
3/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 T ground cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
1/4 t nutmeg
- For the peach bourbon filling:
2 fresh peaches, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup bourbon
2 t cornstarch
pinch of salt
- For the cinnamon swirl buttercream:
1 1/2 cup (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1 t vanilla extract
pinch of salt
3 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground nutmeg
2 T milk or heavy cream
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and prepare your cupcake trays with liners and cooking spray. If you are using standard-sized cupcake liners, this recipe will make approximately sixteen. In the pictures for this recipe, I used large tulip liners, and it made twelve.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the brown sugar, sugar, salt, and butter together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the bowl occasionally. Add the sour cream, mix until combined. Whisk together the baking powder and flour in a separate bowl. Add half of this to the butter mixture with the milk, mix until just combined. Add the remaining flour mixture, vanilla, and spices, mix until just combined. Spoon into the cupcake liners, filling 3/4 full. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely.
- While the cupcakes are baking, make your peach bourbon filling. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, peaches, and salt, and heat over medium heat until the peaches start to break down, stirring occasionally. That will take approximately 5-7 minutes. Combine the bourbon and cornstarch in a small bowl, whisking to create a slurry. Add this to the peach mixture, and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil, and cook until it has thickened. The more you cook it, the more the alcohol taste will cook off, so taste as you go. I like to cook mine for about 4-5 minutes. Put your jam in the fridge and chill for about an hour. Core your cupcakes with a cupcake corer or a knife, and fill with the jam. Replace the cores, or just eat them.
- Make your buttercream. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until it is light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl frequently, about five minutes. Add the vanilla, salt, and half the powdered sugar, and beat until well-combined, about three minutes. Add the remaining sugar and the milk and beat well, about five minutes. Adjust the consistency with more milk or more sugar as necessary.(If you just want to make cinnamon frosting, skip the following steps, add the spices, and frost your cupcakes.) If you would like to make a swirled frosting, remove half of your buttercream and lay it into a piece of plastic wrap in a long strip. Add the spices to the remaining buttercream, and beat until combined. Taste, and add more cinnamon if you think it is needed. Lay the cinnamon buttercream alongside the vanilla buttercream on your plastic wrap, and roll it up into a long frosting sausage. Put the wrapped frosting directly into a piping bag fitted with the tip of your choice, and pipe swirls onto your cupcakes. Pour yourself a drink and enjoy!
[…] sorry for the delay since my last post. It is easy to use this as an excuse, but I really have been so busy. New job, wedding planning, […]