It's been HOT here in northern Virginia, and turning on the oven to bake just heats up the house even more, so I've opted to "bake" in my air fryer. This recipe for peach cakes works incredibly well in the air fryer, and the cakes come out soft and moist inside and brown and crispy on top. The cakes--which air fry in 6-inch round pans--are more like old-fashioned "pudding cakes" or cobblers than actual cakes. You can eat the cakes "as is," or dress them up with a fluff of whipped cream. The cakes also are quite good accompanied by a cooling scoop of ice cream. If you're included toward sweet treats to start your day, the cakes make great breakfast treats (though you might want to switch out the whipped cream or ice cream for yogurt). You won't need to haul out a lot of equipment to make the cakes, and you can use fresh, canned, or thawed frozen peaches. Enjoy!
Air Fryer Peach Cakes -- Makes Two 6-inch Cakes
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of plain yogurt (or use 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt and 1/2 cup of milk)
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 cup of canola oil
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups of diced peaches
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of cloves
2 tablespoons of sugar
Line two 6-inch cake pans with aluminum foil and spritz the foil well with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl whisk together well the sugar, yogurt, eggs, vanilla, and oil. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk them in until combined. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans. Sprinkle half of the peaches over the batter in each pan. Sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over the peaches in each pan and then sprinkle half of the cinnamon and cloves over the sugar in each pan. Spritz the tops of the sugared cakes with non-stick cooking spray (this will keep the sugar in place in the air fryer). Place one filled pan in the air fryer basket, put the basket in the air fryer and air fry the cake at 320 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Check the cake at about 25 minutes and turn down the heat to 300 degrees if the cake is browning too much for you. Remove the cake when it is a dark golden brown, just barely pulling away from the edges of the pan, and a pick inserted in the center comes out with only crumbs and no wet batter attached. Repeat the cooking process with the remaining pan of batter. Glaze the hot, baked cakes with the topping and let the cakes cool to warm or room temperature before serving them with or without whipped or ice cream.
Topping
2-3 tablespoons of peach juice or 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
2-3 tablespoons of apricot or peach jam or preserves
Mix the topping ingredients together well and brush or drizzle the topping over the two baked cakes.
