Peach Cakes

By ellepal

Hi…I’ve had many requests for this recipe. They are time consuming, but so worth it. You can freeze the shortbread ahead of time, but you should not freeze the peaches once they are assembled. See my photos for pictures!

Peach Cakes

Ingredients

For the shortbread
2 cups sugar
8 eggs
2 cups oil
8 cups flour
2 TBs baking powder
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For the French buttercream
1.5 cups granulated sugar
¾ cup milk
1.5 Tbsp all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
3/8 cup heavy whipping cream
3 sticks salted butter, and 2 sticks of unsalted butter
To assemble the peaches.
Whole almonds
Dark chocolate
peach schnapps
peach jello crystals
French buttercream
Mini decorative leaves (from a craft store

Instructions

For the shortbread:
1. Heat oven to 350 and lightly grease cookie sheets or use parchment paper.
2. Mix sugar, eggs and oil first, and then add the flour and baking powder. (I use the dough attachment to mix this on my kitchenaid mixer) The dough may seem oilyDONT WORRY!!!
3. Form 1 balls (shortbread should be flat on the bottom where they rest on the cookie sheet ) and bake about 10-15 minutes, until very lightly browned on the bottom. Make sure the balls are uniform and do not overbake.
4. While still warm, take a small pointed knife and scoop out a nice-sized pocket on the flat side of each shortbread. (it will make a well for the almond and the cream). I try to scoop out as much of a well as I could, so that more buttercream can fit into the center. I also discovered that if you let the cookies sit in a plastic container overnight, they will soften enough for you to easily scoop a well into each side. They are fragile, so be careful not to break too many!!
For the French Buttercream:
1. Make a custard by heating milk and sugar until sugar crystals dissolve. Add flour and salt and whisk over an ice bath until the custard has cooled, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for ½ hour to cool the misture. Whisk in the vanilla extract.
2. 2. Pour the custard misture into a mixer bowl with a paddle attachment. Add cut up butter little by little, and then whipping cream. Mix on LOW speed to incorporate ingredients. Gradually increaset he speed to MEDIUM_HIGH until the misture begins to thicken. It takes at least 7 to 9 minutes for the butter to be completely incorporated. (DONT WORRY IF IT STARTS OUT LOOKING LIKE COTTAGE CHEESE.IT WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME A FLUFFY CREAM!!)
3. This must be stored in a fridge and re-whipped before use.
To assemble the peaches:
1.Pour about 4 inches worth of peach schnapps into a bowl so that the peaches can be dipped entirely.
2.Pour a box of dry Peach jello onto a dinner plate.
3.Get out a double boiler and melt your chocolate.
4.In the meantime, put your buttercream into a pastry bag.
5.Take two halves of your shortbread, and fill each half level with the butter cream.
6.Add a whole almond standing straight up into one side of the peach.
7.Drizzle a thin line of the chocolate on the inner edge of one side of the peach, and then seal the two sides together. You should get a mini peach.
8.Dunk the peach into the peach schnapps for a few seconds, and then immediately roll into the peach jello crystals.
9.Add a decorative wire leaf, and you have a gorgeous peach cake.
10.Keep peaches in the fridge until serving.
11.Make sure that the peaches dont go longer than two or three days. They dont last too long. Make them as close to your event as possible.
Some people suggest peach jam instead of the buttercreamits all personal!!
Let me know if they turn out ok for you!!
Fattening