Name: Upside Down Peach Cake with Basil Ice Cream
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 100 min
Ingredients: 1.5 cups milk; 1 cup milk powder; 3/4 cups sugar; pinch salt; 1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum; 1 bunch basil; 1.5 cups heavy cream; 1 stick butter plus more for greasing the ramekins; 1/2 cup sugar; 1 egg; 1 tablespoon bourbon; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 3/4 cups flour; 2 tablespoons brown sugar; 1 large peach sliced

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This upside down grilled peach cake is honestly one of the best desserts I have ever made! The cake is so gooey and buttery and the hint of charred peach really makes it pop! Paired with basil ice cream it is exactly what I want to eat every summer evening. The inside of this cake was so soft and the outside was a little crispy from cooking on a hot grill. This is or the 8th episode of my summer Youtube series Grilling@, which you can watch here.

The inspiration for this recipe

Even though I don’t make as many desserts on here, I really love doing it. I especially love to put my ice cream industry experience to use! Peach and basil are one of my favorite summer combos so putting peach in the cake and basil in the ice cream was a great idea for a new twist on these flavors. Part of the plan for this dessert was, how can I get the flavors of charred peach into a cake?

Grilling the peach cakes

To get the flavors of the grill into the cake, I grilled the peaches first, then put them into the bottoms of the ramekins. The cake batter is lots of butter, egg, bourbon, sugar, and flour.

peaches on the grill, and cake on the grill!

Make the basil ice cream

First you warm up the milk and stir in the sugar. Let it sit with the basil for a few hours as it cools. Then strain out the basil, add the cold cream, and some chopped basil and it is ready to freeze!

I like to use liquid nitrogen to make the ice cream, but you can do it in your at-home ice cream maker if you don’t have access to Ln2. My ice cream is like a gelato/ice cream hybrid, and I use xanthan gum and milk powder to thicken and stabilize it instead of egg. I like it because I feel like it helps the flavors of the milk and basil really shine, when eggs tend to mute them.

Perfect rooftop basil ice cream!

Flip the upside down peach cakes

The cakes sunk a little after you take them off the grill. I tried to put as little flour in as possible, so the cake is gooey inside. This contributes to it not being as stable and sinking a bit. So don’t worry when you see it sink – the final flavor and texture will be perfect! And look how nice they slip out of the ramekins.

And you could see those great grill marks.

Serving the upside down peach cake with basil ice cream

After you flip the upside down peach cake, top it with the basil ice cream and eat it immediately! The ice cream drips down into the cake and the hot crispy cake edges balance so well with the creamy cold ice cream and the gooey cake center. Perfection in a dessert!

I absolutely loved this dessert. Check out the video to hear me describe it more!

Twists on this recipe

You could make this in the oven instead of on the grill. I would still try and toss the peaches in a frying pan on high heat for a few minutes to get the caramelization started before putting them into the ramekins. I would bake them at 400 for about 15-20 minutes.

This is the gooey butter cake vibe I was trying to capture in this upside down peach cake and I used that linked recipe to help me get there.

For more of my sweet recipes with a twist, check out my marjoram honey donuts, amaro shortbread sandwich cookies, or these chili basil ricotta brownies!

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