Strawberries are starting to flood the supermarkets, and not just any strawberries– huge strawberries that are actually ripe and delicious! I bought four pounds one day and had finished them before the week was out. And one of the things I used them in was this cake– billed by one of my favorite food bloggers as “tasting like summer.” I had to try it.
The cake is simple to make and rustic to look at, and uses a full pound of strawberries to really pack in the fruit flavor. While I’d prefer if it didn’t require the use of a mixer to cream the butter and sugar together, I’m willing to do it since the rest of the recipe is pretty low-fuss. The crumb is almost shortcake-y, and the sprinkling of sugar on top makes a delightful little crunch when you cut into it– but the fruit is the star. I’m going to try this next with peaches, but I’ll bet blueberries or raspberries would also be excellent.
The recipe takes almost an hour to bake (50 minutes total for me), and Deb insists that it’s even better the second day, so I’m going to start making this the night before as a breakfast cake. I think it would be excellent with a dollop of vanilla yogurt!
Strawberry Summer Cake
From Smitten Kitchen
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate
- 1 cup (200 grams) plus 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup (118 ml) milk
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 1 pound (450 grams) strawberries, hulled and halved
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and butter a deep-dish 9″ pie plate. (must be deep dish or you’ll overflow– if you don’t have a pie plate, use a round cake pan at least 2″ deep)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light in color and somewhat fluffy, about 3 minutes. The high proportion of sugar may keep it from getting truly fluffy, so don’t worry if it doesn’t get there.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Scrape down the sides of your mixer and add egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat until combined.
- Stir in dry ingredients just until it all comes together.
- Scrape your batter (it will be thick) into the buttered pie plate and top with strawberries in a single layer if possible.
- Sprinkle the top with your last two tablespoons of sugar.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, then lower oven temperature to 325 and bake for another 40 minutes or so, until a toothpick comes out batter-free.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
It's All Frosting... 