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Some things are of-the-moment perfect.
This 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.
Make 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.
An offset spatula helps spread the batter in the pie dish.
Lay the halved strawberries on top of the batter.
Toss the blackberries on top.
Sugar on top of the berries helps them to turn jammy while baking.
Baked, out of the oven and looking very fine!
Up close and personal with the berries!
A dusting of powdered sugar never hurt anything.
Recipe: Strawberry-Blackberry Cake
Summary: 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
- 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.
- 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.)
- 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).
- 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.
- Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days. It will remain moist.
- 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
Try to tell me you don't want a bite of this!
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At ShockD, you’ll find scrumptious, tried & true, "scary good" recipes, tips and coaching to make YOU a fabulous home cook! Don't blame me if you need a 12-step program to wean yourself away!
E-mail me: Dorothy.Reinhold@gmail.com
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
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!
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!
Ummmmm, how could I not drool on my keyboard? This will make an impressive dessert at our family’s Patriotic BBQ!
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?
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.
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!
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!
Leann,
I love how this cake can handle all the changes you threw at it!
I just made the cake and it’s indeed surprisingly delicious! Super moist, so good!
Thanks, Nutty Acorn! It’s one of my favorites, for simplicity AND taste!
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?
Marian,
I like your plan!
looks delicious, have you ever made it with frozen fruit
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.
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?
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!
How do I sign up to get your great recipes by email?
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!
This IS perfect for Memorial Day or even the 4th of July, with it’s red and blue berries!!! Looks fab!
Oh! I so want a piece of that. Delicious ! We hardly get any good quality strawberries in India. How I crave for them.
This looks sooooo fantistic….but I want to know- where did you get that beautiful blue pie pan??????
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!
Gorgeous!! I want that NOW.
Well I was going to finish reading this, but I guess I am running out to buy berries. GREG
Greg,
Berries first. Read it second.
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