Traeger Baked Peach Crisp Cake

My Traeger Baked Peach Crisp Cake is sure to wow your taste buds with browned butter yellow cake layers, smoked peach compote, cinnamon crumble and vanilla bean buttercream. 

It’s the first weekend of our summer vacation and I’m excited to be spending the day at the Gygi Grilling Gala in Salt Lake. The Grilling Gala is a free, annual event Orson Gygi (home to my cake classes) puts on for the community. This full-day event features chefs and BBQ pit masters teaching free grilling and smoking classes to the local community. This year, Gygi asked me to join in on the fun and challenged me to come up a cake we could grill!

A First for Everything

Not one to turn down a challenge, I jumped on the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and try something new. Up until now, I’ve never baked a cake in anything but a traditional oven. I’ve also never grilled or smoked anything other than meat and vegetables. Time to switch things up!

The timing also couldn’t have been more perfect. Just a couple weeks ago I attended an event at the Traeger Grills headquarters and learned just how easy it is to bake everything from cookies, to pies, and even cakes on a Traeger.

With a little more knowledge under my belt, I got started on planning out my cake for the gala.

Traeger Baked Peach Crisp Cake

As I thought about what kind of cake I wanted to demo for the Grilling Gala, I originally thought I wanted to make something totally new. But, the more I thought about it, the more I kept thinking about my Peach Crisp Cake. It’s not only one of my favorite cakes, it’s also the one cake that reminds me of every camping trip I ever went on. I swear we always had a peach crisp baking in the dutch oven over the camp fire.

To change things up a little from my original recipe, I wanted to give the cake a real smoky flavor. Don’t worry, I didn’t take away all the sweet. I just wanted to tone it down a little for this one. Before making the cake batter, I decided to brown the butter over the stove. Doing this gives the cake a bit of a nutty flavor. I then baked the cake layers on the Traeger with a bag of mixed pellets and oh, my, goodness! The flavor of this cake is outstanding!

I then smoked the peaches on the Traeger as well, but left the frosting and cinnamon oat crumble the same as the original recipe.

I love how the slightly savory cake and smoky peaches compliment the sweet buttercream and crumble. It’s a match-made in heaven!

If you’re up for trying something new and are looking for the perfect summer BBQ dessert, this Traeger Baked Peach Crisp Cake is for you!

Enjoy!

Traeger Baked Peach Crisp Cake

5 from 3 votes

My Traeger Baked Peach Crisp Cake is sure to wow your taste buds with browned butter yellow cake layers, smoked peach compote, cinnamon crumble and vanilla bean buttercream. 

Servings 1 3-layer, 8-inch round cake

Prep Time 2 hours hrs

Cook Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Total Time 4 hours hrs 5 minutes mins

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Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

FOR THE PEACH FILLING

• 2 cups (240 g) peaches chopped approximately 2 large peaches
• 2  tablespoons (27.5 g) light brown sugar  packed
• 1 teaspoon (2.5 g) cornstarch 

FOR THE CAKE

• 1 cup 2 sticks (226 g) unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup (72.6 g) canola oil
• 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5.6 g) salt
• 5 large eggs room temperature
• 2 large egg yolks room temperature
• 3 cups plus 3 tablespoons (366.5 g) cake flour
• 2 teaspoons (8 g) baking powder
• 1 cup (240 g) buttermilk room temperature
• 1 teaspoon (4.2 g) pure vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons (8.4 g) butter extract

FOR THE OAT CRUMBLE

• 3/4 cup (67.5 g) oats
• 1/4 cup (55 g) firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (30 g) all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons (42.4 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon (1.3 g) ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon (1.4 g) salt

FOR THE BUTTERCREAM

• 2 cups 4 sticks (452 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 cups (750 g) powdered sugar measured and then sifted
• 1 tablespoon (4.2 g) vanilla bean paste
• 1 teaspoon (4.2 g) pure vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup (57.75 g) heavy whipping cream

Instructions

 

FOR THE PEACH FILLING

• Combine the chopped peaches, sugar and sifted cornstarch in a cast iron pan.
• Set aside until you cook the cake layers in the Traeger. You’ll then smoke the peach mixture while you bake the cakes. 

FOR THE CAKE

• Preheat your Traeger Grill to 350 degrees F. Spray three 8-inch or four 6-inch pans with non-stick spray, line the bottoms with parchment paper and spray again. Set aside.
• In a medium sized saucepan, brown the butter over medium heat on your stove. You want the butter to boil and start to pop. At this point, the butter will also start to cook. Keep a close eye on it and let it cook until it’s browned and has some dark specs. Remove from heat and let cool back to room temperature. I suggest putting the butter in a bowl and refrigerating it so it can harden slightly, or making the browned butter a day ahead. 
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the cooled butter, oil, sugar and salt. Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
• Turn the mixer to medium-low and add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl in between each addition.
• With the mixer on low, alternately add the flour and baking powder with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour. Mix until combined.
• Add the butter extract and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined.
• Evenly distribute the cake batter in the three pans, about 16 to 17 ounces of batter in each 8-inch pan or 12 ounces in each 6-inch pan.
• Bake the cakes on the Traeger for about 23 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out with only just a few crumbs on it. At this point, you’ll also want to put the peaches on the Traeger as well. The peaches will cook for about 40 to 45 minutes. 
• Cool the cakes on wire racks for about 10 minutes. Carefully invert the cakes onto cooking racks to cool completely. If you don’t plan to stack and decorate the cake right away, level the cakes if needed and then immediately wrap each layer in plastic wrap or tin foil and freeze. 
• About an hour before assembly, remove the cake layers from the freezer.
• Let the peaches cool completely before using in the cake.

FOR THE OAT CRUMBLE

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon and salt. Mix by hand with a wooden spoon until the mixture resembles clumps of sand. Spread the crumble over the parchment paper and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring halfway through. The crumble should be golden brown. Let it cool completely and then crumble the mixture into smaller pieces, if needed.

FOR THE BUTTERCREAM

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
• With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the powdered sugar, followed by the heavy cream, vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract and dash of salt.
• Continue to beat the frosting on medium-high speed for an additional 5 minutes.    
• Before frosting your cake, mix the frosting by hand with a wooden spoon to push out the air pockets.

ASSEMBLY

• Place the first cake layer, top side up (crumb side up), on a cake board or cake plate. Using an offset icing spatula, spread a thin layer of frosting over the cake layer. This creates a barrier between the cake and peach filling so the cake doesn’t become soggy. 
• Pipe a rim of frosting around the edge of the cake layer. This will help support the cake layers and prevent the peach filling from spilling out. (You may even need to pipe a second time over the first rim you made).
• Spread about half of the peach filling on the cake layer. 
• Sprinkle about half of the crumble over the peach filling.
• Gently place the second cake layer on top of the filling and crumble and repeat steps 2 to 4.
• Place the final cake layer top side down on the second layer of filling. 
• Freeze the cake for about 10 minutes to help set the frosting and filling, making it a bit more stable for when you frost. If the cake still feels wobbly, add a dowel to the center of the cake (or you can even use drinking straws for this).
• After the filling is set, use a small amount of frosting to apply a crumb coat around the entire cake. Freeze the cake again for another 10 minutes to set the crumb coat.
• After the crumbs are locked in, continue to frost and decorate the cake.
• Save remaining crumble and compote to serve on the side of each cake slice.

Author: Courtney Rich

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Cake