High Altitude Spiced Peach Vanilla Cupcakes

These high altitude peach cupcakes are perfect for the end of summer, when peaches are at their sweetest! Fluffy vanilla cupcakes spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg are filled with homemade peach jam, and frosted with swirls of peach buttercream for the most delicious treat.

Looking for more peach recipes? You’ll love this peach crisp oatmeal, brown butter peach crumb bars, peach lattice pie, and peaches and cream cake.

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Why You’ll Love These Cupcakes

Fresh and Seasonal. I love to bake seasonally, and the homemade peach jam in these cupcakes gives them the most delicious flavor that complements the spices in the vanilla cupcakes.

Easy to Make Ahead. Make the jam in advance so it’s ready to go when you bake, fill and frost your cupcakes.

Perfect for End of Summer. Peaches are best in July and August, so these would be the perfect dessert to serve for a summer birthday party or end of summer BBQ.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Cupcakes

My classic, high altitude vanilla cupcakes use a standard blend of pantry ingredients. They’re soft, fluffy, buttery and tender. Read all about them in this vanilla cupcakes post!

This vanilla cake recipe also makes deliciously soft and moist vanilla cupcakes that are the perfect base for today’s peach cupcakes.

Buttercream

My formula for perfect American Buttercream is the beginning of all my buttercream recipes. For peach buttercream, I whipped in peach jam, which gave it a wonderful flavor to complement the vanilla cupcakes and peach jam filling.

Filling

If you’re not making your jam, be sure to use a good-quality peach jam made with sugar, not high fructose corn syrup, for the best flavor.

TIP: You’ll love this recipe for homemade peach apricot jam. Make it with just peaches, or both peaches and apricots for a more complex flavor.

Instructions

Cupcakes

• Preheat the oven to 350 F, and line a standard sized muffin pan with 12 paper liners.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 4 minutes, until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl occasionally.
• Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well combined.
• In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
• With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then the sour cream, 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then the buttermilk, and the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Increase speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds, until the batter is smooth and thick.
• Use a cupcake/ice cream scoop to scoop the batter into the pan, filling the cups about 2/3 full.
• Bake the cupcakes on the center oven rack for about 20 minutes, until the tops spring back with gently touched.
• Cool the cupcakes in the pans for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

TIP: For a quicker vanilla cake batter that doesn’t require any creaming, try making this vanilla cake recipe into cupcakes. Cut the recipe in half for a more manageable batch of cupcakes.

Buttercream

• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter and jam for 1 minute until smooth.
• In a separate bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt. With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar mixture by spoonfuls to the butter, mixing just until combined.
• Add the vanilla, and increase the speed to medium. Whip the buttercream for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until very light and fluffy, adding the milk as needed for desired consistency.

TIP: During the hot summer months, substitute vegetable shortening for half of the butter in your buttercream, to make a more stable buttercream.

Filling and Assembly

• Use a cupcake corer to remove the centers of each cupcake, but save the cake scraps.
• Spoon the peach jam into centers of the cupcakes.
• Spread or pipe the buttercream on top, then decorate the cupcakes with a little more jam, and crumbled cake crumbs.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will this recipe work with any flavor of jam?

Absolutely. Blueberry, strawberry, seedless raspberry, blackberry, rhubarb and apricot would all be delicious.

What piping tip did you use for the buttercream?

Tip 6B, which has a wide enough opening that chunks of jam in the buttercream won’t clog the tip.

Can these cupcakes be made in advance?

Yes, you can bake, fill and frost the cupcakes, store them in an airtight container, and refrigerate them up to 1 day in advance.

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