5-Ingredient Blueberry-Peach Crumb Cake

/ Sunday, June 5, 2016



Everyone needs an easy recipe in their back pocket for making the most of fresh summer fruit. Something quick, delicious and almost mindless to make. This sweet, buttery blueberry-peach coffee cake is the simplest of treats, perfect for any lazy morning or special occasion...


There are some great recipes for coffee cake out there. Personally, my favorites always start with yellow cake mix. I was raised on the stuff and nothing tastes more like "cake" than the golden goodness of the store-bought shortcut. 
You gals also know that I'm a sucker for cake mix hacks and I'm obsessed with the two ingredient trick: 1 box cake mix + 1 bottle soda. So with National Best Friends Day on June 8th and a box of IZZE's Sparkling Peach juice in the fridge, I decided to create the easiest, breeziest summer coffee cake a bestie could dream of. 
Here's an idea: Instead of your standard wine date or Netflix's binge, put together a Bestie Basket for a surprise celebration. Whether she's a lady-boss, lady with a baby—or both!—a midday pick me up is unexpected and such a sweet way to show your love. Step one, make this frickin' coffee cake.


Everyone knows the best part is the crumb topping. To keep things easy, I crumbled a sleeve of graham crackers into a bowl just using my hands (no extra equipment needed) and mixed them with melted salted butter. Genius! Steal this immediately. Imagine the perfect graham cracker crust but, like, on a buttery cake with peaches and blueberries. Yes, you're welcome.


We wait all year for fresh peaches and blueberries, so I was psyched to test out this flavor combination. My best friends love blueberry crumb bars and peach pound cake, so it seemed like a no brainer. 

For the cake base, you need yellow cake mix and IZZE's sparkling peach juice. This was my first time trying IZZE peach and I was really excited about how, well, "peachy" it smelled when I unscrewed the cap. Because there's no added sugar or crazy chemicals in the juice, the cake comes out with the most lovely soft stone-fruit flavor. People will wonder if you whizzed up fresh peaches into the batter. Honestly, it's amazing.
Here's my other trick: I bake the cake base halfway so it's a little firm before sprinkling on the blueberries and buttery graham cracker crumbs—this way they don't sink to the bottom. Works like a charm.

Now back to Best Friends Day. I decided to put together a "break basket" filled with cute desk supplies and snacks to drop off at my bae's office right after lunch. Does your bestie live nearby? Would you do something similar? 
I picked up a few notebooks and the cutest flamingo tape from Flying Tiger, an awesome store near my new job. Everything is so colorful, cheerful and inexpensive. 

To complete the basket, I added two drinks and the coffee cake. You can get the full recipe, below. The cake mix coffee cake is so fast to make, I actually made it in the morning before work between coffee and checking Instagram.






Because my besties be fancy, I cut the coffee cake into squares, wrapped each one in parchment and tied 'em with twine. Totally optional. Tupperware works just as well (probably better) but, like I said, does a BFF deserve anything short of amazing!?



If you'd like to tweak the recipe to fit your best friend's taste, I say go for it! You can swap in a different sparkling drink like blueberry, grapefruit or another soda. Raspberries could take the place of blueberries. Maybe even chopped up apples or pineapple.

Here's my question: Are you excited for National Best Friend's Day now!? I'd love to know if you have anything planned or if you feel inspired to create a little last-minute surprise for your main guy or gal.






5-INGREDIENT BLUEBERRY-PEACH CRUMB CAKE
SERVES: 10 to 12

1 box yellow cake mix
1 (12 oz) bottle IZZE Sparkling Peach
1 sleeve graham crackers
3 tablespoons butter, melted
6 ounces blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. 

2. Mix the cake mix and soda in a medium bowl until smooth with a few lumps. Transfer to the prepared baking pan. Bake 10 minutes or until slightly fluffy and golden. Meanwhile, crumble the graham crackers into a bowl and toss with the butter until combined.

3. Remove the cake from the oven. Sprinkle with the blueberries and buttery graham cracker crumbs. Continue baking 15 to 20 minutes or until golden and set in the middle. Remove from the oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

4. Use parchment to lift coffee cake out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Slice into square. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.




Disclosure: IZZE sent me these products to try, which was so nice! As usual, all content and opinions are that of my own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who support Hey, EEP!


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