Strawberry-Blackberry Cake

by Dorothy Reinhold on May 20, 2012


Print This Post Print This Post Strawberry-Blackberry Cake

Some things are of-the-moment perfect.

Strawberry-Blackberry Cake on Shockinglydelicious.comThis Fresh Strawberry Cake is one. The berries are absolutely ripe and in season, the warming weather makes us yearn for fresh fruit, and most of all the need is upon us for a Memorial Day dessert, or a graduation cake, or a thank-God-school-is-almost-out treat, or even an I-survived-another-week brunch cake.

Strawberry-Blackberry Cake on Shockinglydelicious.comMake it for any of those reasons, or all of them. You deserve it!

I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the convincing. Try not to drool on your keyboard.

Strawberry-Blackberry Cake on Shockinglydelicious.com

An offset spatula helps spread the batter in the pie dish.

Strawberry-Blackberry Cake on Shockinglydelicious.com

Lay the halved strawberries on top of the batter.

Strawberry-Blackberry Cake on Shockinglydelicious.com

Toss the blackberries on top.

Strawberry-Blackberry Cake on Shockinglydelicious.com

Sugar on top of the berries helps them to turn jammy while baking.

Strawberry-Blackberry Cake on Shockinglydelicious.com

Baked, out of the oven and looking very fine!

Strawberry-Blackberry Cake on Shockinglydelicious.com

Up close and personal with the berries!

Strawberry-Blackberry Cake on Shockinglydelicious.com

A dusting of powdered sugar never hurt anything.

Recipe: Strawberry-Blackberry Cake

Strawberry-Blackberry Cake on Shockinglydelicious.comSummary: A bit like a baked strawberry shortcake, this easy dessert or brunch cake is perfumed with vanilla and Fiori di Sicilia, a specialty extract redolent of floral citrus and vanilla. The berries on top bake into little jam pockets.

Ingredients

  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, plus more for pie plate
  • 3/4 cup sugar + 2 tablespoons for topping
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia (or substitute orange extract)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 12 ounces fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
  • 6 ounces fresh blackberries
  • Garnish: powdered sugar or freshly whipped cream

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter (or mist with nonstick spray) a 10-inch pie plate, a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate, or a 9-inch Springform pan.
  2. Put butter and 3/4 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and mix in egg, milk, vanilla and Fiori di Sicilia. (The cold milk will likely cause the butter to clump. Don’t worry.)
  3. Reduce speed to low; add salt and baking powder and mix well. Add flour and mix until combined. Scrape batter into buttered pie plate; an offset spatula works well to smooth batter into pie dish. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible; sprinkle blackberries on top. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries (don’t reduce the sugar for topping because that’s what makes the berries jammy).
  4. Bake cake 10 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake another 1 hour, until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges and dust with powdered sugar at serving time, for pretty.
  5. Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days. It will remain moist.
  6. Makes 1 10-inch cake; 8 servings.

Source

The original seems to be at Martha Stewart Living, June 2005, followed by an adaptation at Smitten Kitchen, and another adaptation at Food On Paper  and probably a few dozen more I haven’t seen yet. The best recipes are those that can be successfully tweaked by each cook as she sees fit, aren’t they? The version above is my adaptation. What will you do to make this cake your own?

Variations

  • For July 4th, why not make it red, white and blue, with strawberries, blueberries and then some whipped cream on top at serving time?
  • Try using Trader Joe’s jarred (drained) morello cherries instead of strawberries, and add ½ teaspoon almond extract
  • You could add a handful of mini chocolate chips to the cake batter.
  • You could use raspberries and strawberries.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 70 minutes
Diet type: Vegetarian
Number of servings (yield): 8
Culinary tradition: USA (General)
My rating 5 stars:  ★★★★★ 

Strawberry-Blackberry Cake on Shockinglydelicious.com

Try to tell me you don't want a bite of this!

{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }

Anne Stockwell May 22, 2023 at 10:30 pm

I made it with strawberries and mulberries from the mulberry tree in my yard. I didn’t have any Fiori di Sicilia or orange extract, so I used zest from one orange instead and it came out really good. My family loved it. We had it warm with a bit of vanilla ice cream on top. Thanks for the great recipe!

Reply

Dorothy Reinhold June 5, 2023 at 3:24 pm

Anne,
Now you’ve made me jealous…I want a mulberry tree in my yard too! So happy to hear this worked for you, and I love your tweaks. Orange rind is a great substitute, as you found out. Next birthday or holiday, ask someone to give you a little jar of Fiori di Sicilia. You will swoon!

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Gwen @simplyhealthyfamily May 24, 2015 at 8:18 am

Ummmmm, how could I not drool on my keyboard? This will make an impressive dessert at our family’s Patriotic BBQ!

Reply

sandy Peterson March 22, 2014 at 6:53 am

This sounds great! Do you think you could use an 8 x 12 rectangular dish? (I have a beautiful one I want to give as a gift with the cake in it) Could I perhaps double the recipe?

Reply

Dorothy Reinhold March 22, 2014 at 4:30 pm

Sandy,
I like your idea of baking a cake in a pan that you want to give as a gift! I might be tempted to 1 1/2 the cake for that size pan. You’ll have to bake it a bit longer as well, since you’ll have more volume, I’m guessing. Try it and tell me if that works.

Reply

Leann January 10, 2014 at 1:08 pm

I’ve made this cake several times; today I am making it with homemade applesauce in place of butter, Sugar in the Raw (I tried to grind it but then said F* it) and whole wheat flour. I accidentally put a bit too much baking powder, but we’ll see how it turns out (: I love this recipe–can’t wait to try it with Fiori di Sicilia, I have been using orange extract, and the first time I made this I squeezed a little bit of fresh Satsuma tangerine in it!

Reply

Leann January 10, 2014 at 1:09 pm

By the way, the first time I made this cake, I also forgot the egg (it was camouflaged with my counter and paper towels!) and it wasn’t very fluffy and it didn’t hold together the best but it was really delicious without the egg!

Reply

Dorothy Reinhold January 10, 2014 at 1:28 pm

Leann,
I love how this cake can handle all the changes you threw at it!

Reply

nutty_acorn April 22, 2013 at 11:12 am

I just made the cake and it’s indeed surprisingly delicious! Super moist, so good!

Reply

Dorothy Reinhold April 22, 2013 at 11:52 am

Thanks, Nutty Acorn! It’s one of my favorites, for simplicity AND taste!

Reply

Marian March 1, 2013 at 7:20 pm

Hi Dorothy,
I made this cake today with frozen fruit and it turned out good.
The cake was a little dry, so next time I make it I will take it out
5-10 minutes earlier and perhaps use the fruit frozen. I defrosted the fruit in a colander and did not use the juice that drained thinking it might make the cake to wet. What do you think?

Reply

Dorothy March 1, 2013 at 7:37 pm

Marian,
I like your plan!

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Marian February 27, 2013 at 6:33 pm

looks delicious, have you ever made it with frozen fruit

Reply

Dorothy February 27, 2013 at 10:36 pm

Marian,
I haven’t. If you try it, let me know and I will make a note on the recipe as to how it works.

Reply

Connie Kaiser June 5, 2012 at 7:54 am

OK – I made this Sunday – love my kitchen aid mixer!!!! I was a bit disappointed in my version though – not taste -wise – REALLY DELICIOUS!!! But although the cake and blackberries came out beautifully the strawberries turned pale pink and lost their red color. Yours still look fresh and red. What did I do wrong?

Reply

Dorothy June 5, 2012 at 2:16 pm

Connie,
You probably did everything right! Strawberries do lose some of their color when they are baked. Well lit computer screens can make some things seems brighter than they might be in average kitchen lighting, I have found. Carry on! Don’t be too hard on yourself!

Reply

Jean Katz May 31, 2012 at 2:38 pm

How do I sign up to get your great recipes by email?

Reply

Dorothy June 1, 2012 at 11:36 am

Jean,
So glad you asked! You may absolutely sign up to get a notification by email when I have a new post. To sign up, you go onto my home page, click the orange button with the white envelope on the top right side (hover your mouse over it and it says “blog updates by e-mail”). A form will pop up into which you put your e-mail address. Then you will get a confirmation e-mail from FEEDBURNER EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS (check your spam basket if you don’t see it), click the link inside that e-mail, and you’re all set. Tra la! Thanks for being a fan!

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Christina May 22, 2012 at 12:01 pm

This IS perfect for Memorial Day or even the 4th of July, with it’s red and blue berries!!! Looks fab!

Reply

Rituparna May 22, 2012 at 7:07 am

Oh! I so want a piece of that. Delicious ! We hardly get any good quality strawberries in India. How I crave for them.

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Terry Oliver May 21, 2012 at 11:24 am

This looks sooooo fantistic….but I want to know- where did you get that beautiful blue pie pan??????

Reply

Dorothy May 21, 2012 at 9:03 pm

Terry,
Thanks! I got the Emile Henry pie plate last summer from entering the KCRW Pie Contest. They gave these to the first 100 entrants! BEST SWAG EVER!

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Ginny May 21, 2012 at 10:46 am

Gorgeous!! I want that NOW.

Reply

sippitysup May 20, 2012 at 3:40 pm

Well I was going to finish reading this, but I guess I am running out to buy berries. GREG

Reply

Dorothy May 21, 2012 at 9:04 pm

Greg,
Berries first. Read it second.

Reply

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