Take advantage of peach season with these brown butter peach cupcakes. Moist, spongy cakes stuffed with peach puree, fresh peach chunks, and aromatic brown butter. Each cake is topped with fluffy buttercream filled with peach puree, vanilla bean and just a touch of heavy whipping cream to provide the perfect summer treat. If you have a bridal shower or birthday coming up – these are a great option!
The story behind the dessert
Cupcakes are one of my favorite treats, but peach cupcakes can be particularly challenging. They can be dry, the fruit can sink to the bottom, or the peach flavor just doesn’t come through in the final bake. HOWEVER – these brown butter peach cupcakes deliver: moist, balanced and very peachy.
It took me several times to perfect this fresh peach cupcake recipe but I finally have an easy recipe worth sharing!
Equipment needed to make brown butter peach cupcakes
Here’s what you need to make these cupcakes:
- Stand mixer – like a KitchenAid. Or you can use a hand mixer. This is helpful for the buttercream.
- Large bowl – for our peach cupcake batter
- A whisk
- A spatula
- A standard cupcake pan – with 12 wells. Also called a muffin pan 😉
- Small saucepan – to make our peach puree and brown butter. Le Creuset makes great ones.
- Blender – a small one works fine.
- Piping bag – for frosting the cupcakes. Definitely optional! You can also just use a butter knife.
Ingredients for this recipe
For the Peach Puree
- Several large peaches – I used yellow peaches for this recipe, but you can also use white ones.
- Brown sugar
- water
For the Peach Cupcakes
- Brown butter – if you don’t want to brown your butter, just melt it in the microwave. However, it adds marvelous flavor.
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs – keep them room temperature!
- Peach puree! From the recipe above
- vanilla extract
- All purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- More peaches – diced this time, for some nice chunks in each cupcake.
For the Peach Vanilla Bean Buttercream
- unsalted butter – at room temperature!
- more peach puree
- A vanilla bean – this is extremely optional as I know they are expensive. If you don’t want to deal with the beans, swap in a dash of vanilla extract.
- Powdered sugar – definitely do not use granulated sugar for this! It will ruin the buttercream and make it gritty.
- heavy whipping cream – this will make the frosting a little fluffier and lighter in color.
Directions
Let’s make brown butter peach cupcakes!
Step 1
Prepare the peach puree. Add 2 sliced peaches to a saucepan with the brown sugar and just a small splash of water (just about a tablespoon). Place the saucepan over medium heat. The peaches will begin to melt and form a sauce – stir occasionally and let heat for five minutes. You can use your spatula to smash the peaches so that they release their juices faster. The sauce should become a bit thick and syrupy. Remove from the heat and let cool.
Step 2
Meanwhile, brown the butter. Add the butter to a saucepan over high heat and watch closely as it warms, stirring occasionally for 4-5 minutes. Brown butter can be tricky because it can burn quickly! Once it starts to bubble, keep careful watch. It will start to turn golden and it will smell nutty and delicious. Once it is an amber shade, quickly remove the butter from the heat and transfer it to a heat-safe bowl. Place the bowl into the freezer to cool for 5-10 minutes.
Do not leave it in there any longer – it will solidify once it gets cold!
Step 3
Finish the puree. Add the peach syrup mixture to a blender and THEN add 2 more peaches to the blender. This will create a sweet but vibrant sauce. Add some water to the blender as well. Pulse until smooth.
NOTE: this should create over a cup of peach puree – if it doesn’t, add more peaches and add some more water! We need at least 1 cup, and the remainder will go into the frosting.
Step 4
Make the batter. Preheat the oven to 325°F and grease a standard cupcake pan with oil or butter. In a large bowl, add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, browned butter, and 1 cup of the peach puree. Whisk together until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix. Then add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold until just combined.
Step 5
Add the diced peaches to the batter and fold gently. You can determine how many peaches you want. One peach will provide a few chunks per cake, 2 peaches will have far more chunks!
Step 6
Fill each cupcake tin with batter until each well is about ¾ths full. Then place them in the oven to bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a knife comes out (almost) clean when inserted. They should feel springy and a little sticky, not super smooth and dry. Let cool completely and transfer them to a wire rack.
Step 7
Make the buttercream. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and beat it on medium speed for 60 seconds until fluffy. Add in the remaining peach puree (1/4 cup or less) and the vanilla bean, and beat on low speed until incorporated. Then add the powdered sugar and beat on medium-high for about 2-3 minutes. The buttercream should look thick and sweet.
Step 8
Add the heavy whipping cream and beat the frosting on high for an additional 1-2 minutes. The frosting will turn lighter in color and thicken.
Step 9
Frost the cakes! You can pipe them, knife them or even use a spoon! Enjoy!
Recipe Substitutions
Here are some easy substitutions for these brown butter peach cupcakes:
- Use vanilla extract instead of a vanilla bean – vanilla beans are expensive and can be annoying to use if you aren’t familiar with them. Add a dash of vanilla extract to your buttercream instead.
- Use nectarines – these fruits are part of the peach family anyway, and some people prefer them since they aren’t fuzzy.
- Make whipped cream frosting instead of buttercream – whipped cream frosting is super light and fluffy. You’ll first want to whip a cup of heavy whipping cream before adding your peach puree and powdered sugar. Beware that the cupcakes will melt easier with this type of frosting.
Other common questions
What is the difference between vanilla frosting and buttercream?
Frosting is a standard cake topping that can be made with shortening, cream cheese and sometimes butter. Frosting tends to be sweeter, and traditional frosting doesn’t include a lot of butter because the yellow color will prevent most frosting from being a true white – which is important for weddings, etc.
Buttercream has a butter base, and it’s typically less sweet because you don’t need to add that much powdered sugar to create a malleable texture. I personally do not like sweet frosting, which is why I often make buttercream. You butter needs to be room temperature though!
How to split and use a vanilla bean?
Place your vanilla bean on a cutting board, flat. With a sharp paring knife, slice into the vanilla bean and drag the knife through the middle of it, longways. You may need to pry it open from there with the knife or your fingernails.
Take the knife to it horizontally and push the blade through the opening of the bean so that it scrapes up the black specks inside of it. There won’t be a ton in each bean, but the flavor is potent. Repeat this process until you have gotten most of the insides out.
You can keep the empty pod, which still has flavor. You can add it to a small jar full of vodka or rum and let it sit for a few months. It will make vanilla extract!
Recipe Storage
These peach cupcakes with peach buttercream will be really moist, so it’s imperative that you put these cupcakes in an air tight container. You can leave them at room temperature (but NOT a very warm house, the buttercream will melt), but after 3 days, place them in the fridge. Otherwise, they could start to mold.
Before eating, take them out of the refrigerator and let them sit for 10 minutes so the buttercream softens.
Other Recipes to Try
If you liked these brown butter peach cupcakes, check out these other recipes:
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Brown Butter Peach Cupcakes with Peach Vanilla Bean Buttercream
Equipment
- 1 stand mixer or hand mixer, for the buttercream
- 1 large bowl for the batter
- 1 Whisk
- 1 spatula
- 1 standard cupcake pan with 12 wells
- 1 small saucepan
- 1 blender
- 1 piping bag optional
Ingredients
Peach Puree
- 4 large peaches sliced
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- ¼ cup water
Peach Cupcakes
- ¾ cups unsalted butter melted and browned
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 cup peach puree cooled
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1-2 peaches diced
Peach Vanilla Bean Buttercream
- 2 sticks unsalted butter room temperature, (1 cup)
- ¼ cup peach puree
- 1 vanilla bean optional
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Prepare the peach puree. Add 2 sliced peaches to a saucepan with the brown sugar and just a small splash of water (a tablespoon). Place the saucepan over medium heat. The peaches will begin to melt and form a sauce – stir occasionally and let heat for five minutes. The sauce should be bit thick and syrupy. Remove from the heat and let cool.1 tsp brown sugar
- Meanwhile, brown the butter. Add the butter to a saucepan over high heat and watch closely as it warms, stirring occasionally for 4-5 minutes. Once the butter is bubbling, golden and smells nutty, quickly remove the butter from the heat and transfer it to a heat-safe bowl. Place the bowl into the freezer to cool for 5-10 minutes.¾ cups unsalted butter
- Finish the puree. Add the peach syrup mixture to a blender and add 2 extra fresh, sliced peaches and the water to the blender. Pulse until smooth and set aside.4 large peaches, ¼ cup water
- Make the batter. Preheat the oven to 325°F and grease a standard cupcake pan. In a large bowl, add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, browned butter, and 1 cup of the peach puree. Whisk together until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix. Then add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold until just combined.¾ cups unsalted butter, 1 cup brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar, 2 eggs, 1 cup peach puree, ½ tsp vanilla extract, 2 cups all purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp salt
- Add the diced peaches to the batter and fold gently.1-2 peaches
- Fill each cupcake tin with batter until each well is about ¾ths full. Then place them in the oven to bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a knife comes out (almost) clean when inserted. Let cool completely and transfer them to a wire rack.
- Make the buttercream. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and beat it on medium speed for 60 seconds until fluffy. Add in the remaining peach puree and the vanilla bean, and beat on low speed until incorporated. Then add the powdered sugar and beat on medium-high for about 2-3 minutes. The buttercream should look thick and sweet.2 sticks unsalted butter, ¼ cup peach puree, ¼ cup powdered sugar, 1 vanilla bean
- Add the heavy whipping cream and beat the frosting on high for an additional 1-2 minutes. The frosting will turn lighter in color and thicken.1 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- Frost the cupcakes how you please and enjoy!
