White Chocolate Peach Cake

I have a friend staying with me in my apartment this month for an away rotation. She loves baking like myself. So we plan on baking quite a bit this month. Along with her possessions, my friend brought several baking books. I quickly skimmed the books and they look awesome. I am so excited to try some of their recipes. This White Chocolate Peach Cake recipe comes from the book, Chocolate from the Cake Doctor Mix by Anne Byrn. My friend has made this recipe before and described the cake as "heavenly". I simply can not pass up the opportunity in making a "heavenly cake". Enjoy!

Ingredients for the cake:
Solid vegetable shortening for greasing the pans
Flour for dusting the pans
8 larges fresh peaches
1/4 cup sugar
6 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 large egg whites
Fresh Peach Buttercream Frosting

Directions for the cake:
1) Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 F. Generously grease two 9-inch round cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pans aside.

2) Peel, pit, and slice 4 of the peaches. Place the peach slices in a small glass bowl, add the sugar, and toss to coat the slices well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill.

3) Peel, pit and quarter the remaining 4 peaches. Place the peach quarters in a food processor and process until pureed. You should have about 1 1/4 cups. Pour 1/4 cup of the puree into a small glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and reserve in the refrigerator. Pour 1 cup of the puree into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

4) melt the white chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly 3 to 4 minutes. Or microwave the white chocolate in a small glass bowl on high power for 1 minute, then stir with a small rubber spatula until smooth.

5) Place the cake mix, oil, whole eggs, and egg whites in the mixing bowl with the peach puree. Pour in the slightly cooled white chocolate. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.

6) Bake the cakes until they are golden brown and spring back lightly pressed with your finger, 30 to 33 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack, then invert again on another rack so the cakes are right side up. Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes more.

7) Meanwhile, prepare the Fresh Peach Buttercream Frosting.

8) Place on cake layer, right side up, on a serving platter. Spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer, right side up on top of the first layer and frost.

9) Slice and serve cake, topped with sweetened peaches.

Fresh Peach Buttercream Frosting
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
3 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 to 4 tablespoons pureed fresh or thawed frozen peaches
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons peach puree, and vanilla. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporate, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more. Blend in another tablespoon peach puree if the frosting seems to stiff.

2. Use to frost the top and sides of the cake of choice.

Okay...time to evaluate. My first impression is that this cake tastes really good. It is moist and the frosting is melt in your mouth buttery. My second thought is wait.... what's the name of the cake again? ....White Chocolate Peach Where's the peach my friend, where's the peach? I can't really taste it. I recall watching my friend peel the peaches and putting them in the blender to puree. I remember then putting the pureed peaches in the frosting and cake batter, but the peach taste just isn't there. I also don't really taste the white chocolate. The flavors are too subtle in my opinion. The cake still reminds me quite a bit of the original white box cake. Don't get me wrong. The cake still tastes good. Good enough to get 3.5 out of 5 stars in my book in fact. The frosting is to die for and I probably would use this frosting on a non peach cake in the future. The consistency was excellent for spreading. I guess the peach made it easier to spread. However, all of this being said, next time I make this cake I will use more peach and more white chocolate in the cake itself. My overall disappointment and lower rating of this cake is mainly substantiated upon the fact that the cake doesn't live up to its name.