Peach Cake — The Same Sweet End to the Same Holy Easter

Easter week, and the dinner will be four: Naomi, Robert, James, Mama. Elise is with her family in Columbia. Carrie is at Emory. Joy will visit for the afternoon. The four is the number, and the number is sufficient, because sufficiency is the lesson I have been learning for seven years and that I learn again every time I set the table for fewer than I want and find the fewer enough.

The Easter ham was glazed and studded with cloves and served on the good china with the cloth napkins and the crystal glasses, because Easter is not the holiday for casual, and the non-casual is the respect I pay to the tradition that Mama built and that I maintain with the particular devotion of a woman who considers the maintaining as important as the building.

Mama was present for the dinner — in the wheelchair, at the table, wearing the pearl earrings and the blue dress. She did not bless the food. The blessing has become mine now, fully, the words no longer started by Mama and finished by me but started and finished by me, with Mama sitting in her chair in the silence that is either peaceful or empty and that I choose to call peaceful, because the choosing is the only power I have left over the narrative, and I choose peace.

Joy came for the afternoon in a flower crown that she made from construction paper and tape and an amount of glitter that Mrs. Patterson has stopped trying to contain. Joy ate ham with her hands. She clapped when we sang a hymn. She said, "Jesus!" when the ham was particularly good, and the exclamation was either theological or culinary, and in this house the two are the same.

I made the full Easter dinner: ham, deviled eggs, collard greens, mac and cheese, sweet potato casserole, cornbread, peach cobbler. The food was the same. The same is the Easter. The Easter is the same.

The peach cobbler I made this year came from the same place the peach cake always comes from — the need to close a holy meal with something golden and unhurried, something that asks nothing of you except that you sit still long enough to eat it. Joy had ham on her hands and glitter in her hair, Mama wore her pearl earrings, and I had said the blessing myself, fully, all the way through — and when all of that is true, you need a dessert that matches the weight of the afternoon without adding to it. This peach cake is that dessert: simple enough to let the day breathe, sweet enough to be worthy of the good china.

Peach Cake

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 cups fresh or canned peaches, peeled and diced (drained if canned)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar (for topping)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (for topping)

Instructions

1. Preheat and prepare. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and lightly flour it, tapping out any excess.
2. Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together with a hand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract.
5. Combine wet and dry. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the sour cream (begin and end with flour), stirring gently until just combined. Do not overmix.
6. Fold in peaches. Gently fold the diced peaches into the batter with a spatula until evenly distributed.
7. Add topping and bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Mix the brown sugar and remaining cinnamon together and sprinkle over the top. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the top is golden.
8. Cool and serve. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature, plain or with a dollop of whipped cream.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 248 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 36g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 198mg