Summertime means ripe and juicy peaches, and nothing quite says summer like these Peach Bourbon Cupcakes! Moist peach and bourbon-infused cupcakes topped with a real peach and bourbon buttercream!
So I realized I am severely lacking in the peach-flavored treats department on my blog.
Peach lovers everywhere: I’m sorry.
Peaches admittedly aren’t my favorite fruit, so I tend to overlook them. But I know they are the favorite fruit of no less than 9 million people in the world, so I’m doing this for you.
Plus, any excuse I can get to enjoy bourbon while eating dessert is a win in my book.
These cupcakes came to me after I discovered the magic of freeze-dried fruit with my Raspberry Lemonade Gooey Bars. Freeze-dried fruit is real-fruit that’s been, uh, freeze-dried (duh) so it has all that amazing fresh fruit flavor packed into little crunchy fruit bits. And nowadays, they have like, every type of fruit freeze-dried for your convenience. I seriously saw everything from mangoes to pineapple to even blueberries.
In the past, I’ve attempted to make peach cupcakes but the only peach flavoring I could use was peach Jell-O. Which, no offense to Jell-O, is delicious but not what I was going for. And the peach buttercream was always lacking. Enter: freeze-dried peaches to the rescue!
The peach cupcakes are made with ground up freeze-dried peaches and chunks of real peaches mixed in for a true peach flavor. The buttercream is swirled with the freeze-dried peaches and a splash of bourbon for a nice little kick. Bourbon and peaches should be together from this point forward. Let’s sign a petition!
And while we’re petition-signing, let’s dive into these magical cupcakes!
Peach Bourbon Cupcakes with Peach Buttercream
Ingredients
- FOR THE CUPCAKES:
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup peach nectar or water
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 cups freeze-dried peaches ground to a fine powder in a food processor
- 1 can peach halves drained
- 2 Tbsp bourbon optional but recommended
- FOR THE BUTTERCREAM:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 Tbsp bourbon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup freeze-dried peaches ground to a fine powder in the food processor
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3½-4 cups confectioners' sugar
- Fresh peach slices for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 muffin tins with about 18-20 paper liners; set aside. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat together the cake mix, eggs, oil, peach nectar or water, brown sugar, bourbon, and freeze-dried peach powder with an electric mixer until combined and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add in the peach halves and beat for about 30 seconds to break up the peaches into pieces.
- Portion the batter evenly among each muffin cup, filling about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for approx. 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Cool completely.
- For the buttercream: In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, bourbon, and vanilla extract until creamy, about 1 minute. Add in the freeze-dried peach powder and one cup of the confectioners' sugar, beating until combined. Alternate adding in a little of the heavy whipping cream and the remaining confectioners' sugar until frosting is light and fluffy.
- Pipe or spread the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and top with a fresh peach slice, if desired.
Moist and tender peach cupcakes bursting with real farmstand peach flavor and topped with a bourbon-infused peach buttercream. These cupcakes are HEAVEN!
Have a super sweet day!
xo, Hayley
Want more peachy goodness?
This post is not sponsored by Maker’s Mark – they sadly don’t know I exist. I just love their bourbon in this recipe!
Katherine says
These look beautiful! I’ve never tried to use freeze dried fruit. Need to try it!
thedomesticrebel says
Katherine, it’s my new favorite trick! It really gives the baked goods that fruity punch, and it’s real fruit and not like, an extract or anything. So good!
cakespy says
Bourbon baking, BABY! These look incredible.
Danielle says
This looks so delicious! For the cupcakes, is it two cups of peaches before grinding to powder or two cups ground? I usually prefer to bake using weights. I think it’s pre-ground volume because two cups of powder would be a lot! Thanks!
thedomesticrebel says
Hi Danielle, yes – two cups of peaches before grinding!
Kindra says
What would be added from the ingredients if I did a homemade cake batter? Just the peach water, peach powder, peaches, and bourbon?
thedomesticrebel says
Yep, sounds perfect!
ashly says
I’ve made these cupcakes before and they were a great hit, now I want to try to make a cake using this recipe. If I were to make a cake instead of cupcakes would I have to adjust oven temp. and baking time? If so how would you recommend making the adjustments? Are there any other adjustments I may have to make?
Angela Lowe says
Is the measurements for the freeze dried peaces before or after the are ground?
thedomesticrebel says
Hi Angela! You grind the freeze-dried peaches first, then add in the ground powder to the batter.
Laura says
Just made these with Crown Royal Peach Whiskey. They were delicious.