An Easy Recipe for Sourdough Discard Coffee Cake with Fresh Peaches

In this video & post I’ll be sharing my recipe for one of my favorites – sourdough discard coffee cake, but with a layer of fresh peaches and a powdered sucanat glaze.   This recipe can be made without sourdough discard as well, I included both versions!

I may be compensated for some items linked in this post at no extra cost to you.

We have 2 peach trees in the back of the garden that are a year old. They are growing fabulously, but it will be a couple years before they bear fruit.  Thankfully, we live just a couple miles up the road from a big orchard and berry farm!  So we go picking with friends at least a few times throughout the summer.  We went peach picking and I turned all 3 big kids loose with big harvest bags that they filled to the brim.  $100 in peaches later and here we are, modifying all of our favorite sweet recipes to use our peaches.

This coffee cake recipe can be made with or without sourdough discard.  I included both versions in the recipe.  I used to keep a huge starter, but lately, I’ve been keeping a smaller one since we’ve been so busy this summer and I haven’t done quite as much bread baking.  However, I had some discard to use so I whipped up the version in the video above and with a new twist on cream cheese icing, and it was DELISH.

Kid-approved and all, I even got their approval on camera so you know it’s legit.

The sucanat glaze was very earthy in the most delicious way.  I just recently started experimenting with sucanat after ordering it in my Azure Standard order and so far I’m liking it!  Sucanat is just cane sugar in its most whole, unprocessed form.

Shopping bulk foods for cooking and baking from scratch

Azure Standard has quickly become my favorite source for groceries and food storage supplies.  When you homeschool and make pretty much every meal and snack from scratch, you go through a lot of food very quickly – so it just makes sense to shop in bulk.  Azure Standard delivers monthly drops at a co-op location near you.  I regularly buy staple ingredients like flour, rice, sugar or sucanat, beans, raw cheeses, organic veggies, etc. in bulk.  They also have storage items I use a lot of like food grade buckets, mylar bags, gallon and half-gallon jars, etc.  

Q & A

Can this be made with frozen or canned peaches?

• Yes!  You can use fresh, frozen, or canned peaches.  Just make sure the peaches are well drained if you use canned.  You can actually use any seasonal fruit.  Coffee cake is a classic breakfast for us.  Sometimes I make it plain, and sometimes I add a middle layer of whatever fruit we have on hand.  You can also spread jam or preserves in the middle layer in place of plain fruit as well.

Can this be made in cast iron?

• Yes!  I usually make this coffee cake in a cast iron skillet.  However, all of my smaller skillets were in use so I used a 9″ round.  Any 8″ or 9″ baking dish should do just fine.

Is the sourdough discard easy to taste in this recipe?

• Yes, you can taste the discard.  It’s slightly sour and tangy – a taste you probably love if you’re a seasoned sourdough baker.  But if you’re not used to sourdough, you may prefer to skip the discard and use the option included in the notes.

What is sucanat?

• Sucanat is unrefined, pure, dried cane sugar juice.  It retains its natural molasses and minerals like calcium, iron, potassium, and B Vitamins.  It’s the “healthiest” form of sugar and has a natural, earthy, sweet taste.  It can be ground into a powder with a blender to use in place of powdered sugar.  It makes for a thick, syrupy glaze in this recipe.

Tools

• Mixing Bowls
• Whisk, Hand Mixer, or Stand Mixer
• Blender for Making Powdered Sucanat (I use a Vitamix)
• 9″ Baking Dish

Ingredients

Coffee Cake

• 1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/2 cup sourdough discard
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt

Cinnamon Peach Filling

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 t cinnamon
• 3 peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced

Crumb Topping

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 3 T butter, softened

Sucanat Glaze

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sucanat or powdered sugar
• 2 T milk

How to Make Sourdough Discard Coffee Cake with Fresh Peaches

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 9″ round pan or cast iron skillet.

Coffee Cake

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.
2. Then, add in the eggs and mix on low until well incorporated.
3. Stir in the sourdough discard, sour cream, and vanilla.
4. Add the dry ingredients and stir until incorporated. Do not over-mix.
5. Make the cinnamon peach filling – in a small bowl, whisk flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon together and set aside
6. Spread half of the cake batter in the greased pan. Top with sliced peaches and sprinkle the cinnamon filling mixture over top. Then, spread the other half of the cake batter into the pan.
7. Make the crumb topping – use a fork to cut the butter into the flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Then sprinkle the crumb topping over the cake.
8. Bake on the center rack at 350F for 55 minutes or until the middle is set

Sucanat Glaze

1. In a medium bowl, beat the softened cream cheese with a mixer until light and creamy, set aside
2. Add 1/3 cup sucanat to a blender and blend on high until powdered. Then sift into the bowl with cream cheese. (If using powdered sugar, skip this step and just add the powdered sugar to the bowl.)
3. Beat the powdered sucanat and cream cheese until smooth. Add milk 1 T at a time until desired consistency is reached.
4. Pour the glaze over the coffee cake once it’s finished baking and serve warm.

 Learn How to Make a Sourdough Starter in This Post

Water Bath Canning Peach Jam