Peach Melba Cake

This recipe for peach melba cake — delicately sweet peaches married with tart raspberries and a rich peach buttercream — is moist, buttery, and ideal for summer.

As the name suggests, the flavour combination is inspired by a classic peach melba. Let me set the scene: After embezzlement and fraud, a Swiss hotelier and French chef are sacked from the Savoy in London. They opened the Ritz Carlton, which soon became one of London’s most fashionable places to “see and be seen,” with one dessert as the showpiece: peach melba, a combination of sweet peaches with raspberry puree and vanilla ice cream, named for one of the most celebrated singers of the era, Australian soprano Nellie Melba.

Almost 150 years later, peach melba remains popular, although in different forms. This cake contains the three base flavours of peach, raspberry, and vanilla, although I’ve taken it up a notch by including fresh and juicy peaches in the cake batter and the icing.

Peach melba cake is surprisingly easy to bake — since it’s made in a loaf pan — but is nonetheless suitably impressive for parties. Dress it up with a few edible flowers and a sprinkling of fresh fruit and you have a real showstopper.

I love packing up slices and taking them to the park for picnics alongside fizzy raspberry peach lemonade. Trust me … try it!

🍰 Ingredients for Peach Melba Cake

There are a few ingredients here you may not be used to adding to your cakes, but don’t panic — they’re easy to find and elevate this raspberry and peach cake to new levels of luxury.

• Peaches are diced and stirred through the batter, infusing it with a subtly sweet flavour and gentle floral touch. I used fresh doughnut peaches, but any fresh ones will do; I haven’t tried canned (tinned) or frozen peaches, although I believe it would work. I like to keep the skins on, although this is optional.
• Raspberries add a tart juiciness to the peach melba cake. You can use fresh or frozen — just allow slightly more baking time if using frozen fruits.
• Plain flour (all-purpose flour in the U.S.) serves two purposes: making the bulk of the cake batter and dusting the fruits to stop them from sinking. More about this in the expert tips section!
• Butter provides a rich flavour and makes the crumb gorgeously light.
• Cream cheese amps up the moistness of the cake, resulting in a truly beautiful texture. It also adds a subtle depth of flavour.
• Sugar makes this raspberry and peach cake perfectly sweet.
• Yoghurt is creamy and tangy, adding a touch of tartness that complements the raspberries and makes the cake batter pleasantly dense.
• Eggs help the cake rise and enhance the richness of the batter.
• Salt elevates the other ingredients.
• Baking powder gives the eggs a little boost to make the peach melba cake rise.

Let’s Talk about the Peach Buttercream …

I loooooove flavoured buttercream. Don’t get me wrong — buttercream frosting is delicious enough as-is, with that richness of flavour and smooth, silky texture.

But adding extra flavour can make everyone rave about your bakes. It’s the extra touch you need to make them professional-standard. I’ve done it before in my banana Biscoff cake, and adding peaches here is inspired.

PLUS, we mimic the flavours in the peach melba cake and double up on the cream cheese, too.

• Cream cheese provides a slight tang, adding complexity to the peach buttercream frosting.
• Butter is the core ingredient of buttercream. I like using salted, but unsalted is also fine; just use excellent quality butter (no margarine or spread, please).
• Icing sugar also known as confectioner’s sugar in the U.S., is essential for sweetening the icing. It’s incredibly fine, allowing it to incorporate nicely with a beautiful smooth mouthfeel.
• Peach is the secret ingredient. You’ll just need one ripe and juicy peach (I use doughnut peaches) to make the puree. It adds a touch of almond flavour with an intense sweetness.

🧑‍🍳 How to Make Peach Melba Cake

This peach melba cake is shockingly straightforward. It follows the standard cake-baking procedure, so it’ll be a walk in the park for experienced bakers, but even beginners will have no issues.

More detailed instructions can be found in the recipe box below (along with ingredient quantities). I recommend reading over these shortened steps first to familiarize yourself.

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (365 F).
2. Gently toss the fresh fruits in flour until coated and set aside.
3. Beat the butter and sugar until pale.
4. Whisk in the eggs, then the yoghurt and cream cheese.
5. Fold in the flour until the batter is mostly smooth and quite thick. Then carefully fold in the fruits. Don’t overmix.
6. Pour into a loaf tin and tap to remove any bubbles. Bake for around 70 minutes (1 hr 10 mins), or until a skewer comes out clean.

Making the peach buttercream only takes a few minutes. You can also make the buttercream up to one day in advance!

1. Puree the peach using a blender.
2. Beat the butter until fluffy and smooth.
3. Whisk in the icing sugar, then cream cheese. Finally, add the peach puree.

💭 Expert Tips

I come from a family of bakers (my ancestors baked for the British royal family!) — meaning I have a wealth of expert baking tips passed down through the generations.

This peach melba cake may be straightforward, but this checklist will ensure you don’t have any unexpected disasters like curdled cake mix, undercooked centres, or fruit pooled at the bottom.

• Use a scale! I advocate using a scale in all recipes, sweet and savoury. However, in baking, where accuracy is key, using a scale (as opposed to cups/volume measurements) can mean the difference between success and failure. If you plan to bake regularly, you should invest in an accurate, good-quality cooking scale.
• Dust fruits in flour to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake. This method ensures you have evenly distributed juicy fruit pieces throughout all slices of the peach melba cake. It only takes two seconds!
• Use room-temperature butter and eggs to ensure the cake batter doesn’t seize or curdle while mixing.
• If you’re using frozen fruit, allow more time for the cake to cook. This is because frozen berries (or peaches) will lower the overall temperature of your cake mix. To avoid this issue, use fresh or thaw your fruit before baking.
• Cover the top of the peach melba cake if it starts to get brown. This cake has a longer cooking time than most, and it can turn brown before the inside is done. To counter this, cover the cake with tin foil and place a baking tray on the oven shelf above.
• Decorate with edible flowers for the WOW factor. I use violas from my garden, but you can buy colourful freeze-dried flowers too.

Follow these easy tips and you’re guaranteed to get endless praise for your awe-inspiring skills as a baker 😉.

🍑 Why You Should Make This Peach Melba Cake:

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