Peach Upside-Down Skillet Cake With Bourbon Whipped Cream

Sorry, not trying to be smart, but by unpeeled, do you mean peeled? In the photo the peaches look peeled.

I've made this twice, following the recipe exactly using a spring form pan. Came out perfectly both times.

Peaches vary a lot in moisture content,so it might be wise to macerate the peaches with a little sugar first,to draw out some excess liquid. You are liable to end up with an overly wet bottom (haha). Also I always cook the caramel on the blonde side for upside down cakes,as the sugar is going to darken while baking. There is no going back from burnt caramel.

I agree with the suggestion to use brown sugar instead of caramelizing white sugar - just melt 1/4 c of the butter and 1/4 c of brown sugar in the iron skillet, take it off the heat, arrange the peaches, spread on the cake batter. It's easier, no fear of burning the sugar. Works for me.

I used a reader's suggestion and included blueberries in with the peaches. The cake came out great! It was a learning experience for me making the caramel for the first time; had no idea it was just water and sugar! Took two tries to get it the right shade of amber. I followed a suggestion in The Joy of Cooking to swirl the pan as it heated.

This is the easier recipe.

Good, but not stunning. I would wish for a little bit more complexity in the flavor: next time I would add some ginger, maybe cinnamon, maybe cardamom, to the batter. Also, I would caution you to set your oven time for far less than 40 minutes. At 25 minutes I could smell it burning (and, yes, my oven was at precisely the right temp). I pulled it out then and while it could have gone a few more minutes, it sure wasn't undercooked at 25.

I added pecans to the pan after turning out the cake. Sprinkled a little brown sugar and a pinch of cinnamon until the nuts were toasted and coated. After cooling, I rough chopped the nuts, sprinkling on top of the cake when serving. In place of the bourbon, I substituted amaretto in the whipped cream. The crunch added a great texture and the amaretto really paired well with the peaches.

Made it today with ripe local Long Island peaches. Followed recipe exactly. No problem at all with being too moist, in fact it was delicious and quite beautiful. I agree that the addition of a touch of salt might improve it, and when I make it next I might increase cake recipe by half as it was a touch flatter than I wanted. Also agree that 45 minutes wld have been way too long. I took it out just after 25 minutes. Served with vanilla ice cream.

Ok this is so delicious!!! Here are my alterations after reading the other comments 1) added a generous sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg to the peaches and did not peal 2) used salted butter 3) doubled the batter ingredients besides the sugar 4) still only used 2 tbsp of butter with the peaches 5) added 1/2 tsp salt to batter 6) still only needed 40 mins to bake 7) skipped the whip 8) meant to add raspberries with the peaches but forgot would have been a great addition, next time

Instead of white sugar, I use brown. Also after peaches are added, I include pecan halves.

I notice the ingredients list doesn't mention how ripe the peaches should be. Any advice on that?

I’m not a baker so i follow cake type recipes closely.. My peach version was picture perfect (goddess bless cast iron) and tasted great with the bourbon whipped cream. I felt it was just a touch dry. Also was finished in 25 minutes. Feeling confident I created a pear version. I marinated the unpeeled pears in a bit of brandy, added a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg and then the tablespoon of leftover brandy I tossed into the cake batter and probably added about 2 more TBSP of sour cream. AWESOME!

I've made it with both, and the version with nonfat yogurt was fine, but with sour cream it was definitely better...richer, and higher.

So maybe this works well with those hard dry peaches you buy at the supermarket, but with ripe homegrown peaches it is pretty sloppy. Maybe more cake batter would improve it and perhaps more texture in the cake like the peach polenta cake recipe that NY Times also had running this season which came out with a much better appearance. That said, this cake does taste good.