Peaches and Cream Cake w/ Warm Vanilla Sauce

Wow, this. was. yummy! It was pretty much peach cobbler in a cake, doesn't get any better! I was looking for a 4th of July dessert and this one caught my attention. I love peaches and I love cream cheese and this has both. I liked that this used canned peaches, since where I live fresh peaches are pretty much gross and not worth buying. So sad, since I LOVE fresh peaches. But the canned tasted terrific and are something most people probably have on hand all the time. As for the sauce, it actually comes from another recipe but when I realized I had no ice cream or whipped cream I opted to "steal" this and see what became of pairing the two. Pure tastiness, that what came of it! This was an easy, no fuss dessert that I will definitely be making again and again. And you should too.

Peaches and Cream Cake w/ Warm Vanilla Sauce

{Recipe source: Mels Kitchen Cafe-combined 2 recipes}

Cake:

1 1/2 cups flour

2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 T cornstarch

1 t vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup milk

6 T butter, melted

Peaches and Cream Cheese Layer:

29 oz. sliced peaches

2 pkgs (16 oz.) cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 cup sugar

6 T reserved peach juice

cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. In bowl of mixer, combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cornstarch. Add vanilla, eggs, milk and melted butter. Mix till well combined and spread batter evenly in the prepared baking dish.

Drain peaches, reserving 6 T of peach juice. Set aside. Slice peached into bite sized peaches and scatter over top of batter evenly. In same mixer bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and reserved peach juice until light and creamy. Dollop cream cheese mixture over peaches and batter. Then use spatula to spread as evenly as possible over all. It doesn't have to be perfect. (Mine was so runny that it spread itself over the peaches and batter, but my cream cheese was probably a little on the warm side to begin with) Sprinkle top with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake for 45-60 minutes until the edges are puffed and golden and the cream cheese layer is bubbled slightly. If the middle is still jiggly, bake until it no longer jiggles. Mine was right around 50 minutes. Serve warm or room temp (we liked room temp with the warm sauce) with ice cream, sweetened whipped cream, or warm vanilla sauce. Recipe follows...

Warm Vanilla Sauce

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 t vanilla extract

Melt butter in medium saucepan. Add the sugar and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until slightly thickened (it thickens more as it cools). Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and spoon over peaches and cream cake.