I've long had a love affair with peaches.  Fruit at the Bottom peach yogurt?  Awesome. Can sometimes rival ice cream when I'm feeling generous.  Canned sliced peaches?  A staple of my childhood since my parents didn't like my brother and I having Twinkies or Ho-Hos in the house.  Peach cobbler?  I ain't from Oklahoma for nothin'.

So when I saw the recipe for Peach Cobbler Muffins in The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook, I instantly bookmarked it and set for some fresh peaches at the farmer's market.  I hit jackpot that weekend with some beauties at a great price--4 for $1. I love The City Market.

The summer has been unnecessarily unkind around here, so I avoid turning on the oven as much as possible. I'm fortunate enough that my parents love me and support my baking habit by buying me nifty appliances like a countertop convection oven.  It's not big enough to handle 12-cup muffin tins, but a simple square cake pan?  Easy breezy.

I had big plans of wowing my co-workers with a beautiful, scrumptious cake.  The ingredients came together quickly, and sweet-spicy scent that wafted from the oven while the cake baked made it hard not to sample a piece right away.  However, as I lied in bed that night, long after I took the cake out of the oven to cool, I realized that I had forgotten the oil.  The next morning, I debated for a long while about bringing in the cake.  I mean, what if it tasted like absolute garbage?  I wouldn't be able to live that down.

I needn't have worried.  The cake miraculously remained moist and was devoured without issue.  Perhaps it was the buttermilk?  Or the juicy chunks of peaches?  The fact that it was basically fat free with a big selling point.

Peach Cobbler Cake
(Adapted from The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook )

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of bourbon
1 1/2 cups peeled, cubed peaches 

Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F.  Spray a 9-inch square cake pan with non-stick vegetable oil spray and set aside. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, vanilla, and bourbon. Sprinkle the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and granulated sugar on top of the liquid mixture. Mix until just hints of dried flour are left. Fold in the peaches with a light hand.  Please try not to overmix unless you're not into fluffy cakes.  

Spread the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until the top is golden brown, the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan a bit, and the top lightly springs back when pressed upon. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out with tiny crumbs clinging to it.  Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.  Serve warm from the pan.