Strawberry Cake

This is a simple cake that is perfect for beautiful summery strawberries.  Once they have arrived at your Farmer’s Market, this is a must do recipe.

Martha asks for a 10 inch pie plate.  Unfortunately I don’t have one but I do have a 9-1/2 inch deep dish (1-1/2 inches deep) glass pie plate, which I highly recommend and that worked very well for this recipe.   Per Smitten Kitchen a 9 inch regular glass pie dish (less than 1 inch deep) will be too small.  Deb Perlman also suggests using a 10 inch spring form pan if you don’t have a pie plate.  I experimented with this and I agree, it will work as well.

Be very careful measuring out your flour.  When I made it this second time, I was careless and the batter was overly thick.  So the third time, I made sure I fluffed and stirred my flour before measuring.  The batter had a much better consistency.

**Also, make sure you reduce the temperature of the oven from 350 degrees to 325 degrees.  I made a mistake and kept the oven going at 350 the whole time.  It was good but the outside was a bit too crusty.

Serve this with ice cream, whipped cream or just a sprinkling of confectionery sugar.

Strawberry Cake (Martha Stewart via Smitten Kitchen in the recipe section, Strawberries, Strawberry Summer Cake)

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1-1/2 cups flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved (small to medium size strawberries are the best)

2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 10 inch pie plate or 9-1/2 inch deep dish (1-1/2 inch deep) pie plate or a 10 inch spring form pan with Pam with Flour or Bakers Joy.  Set aside.

Measure flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and whisk together.

Place egg and vanilla extract in small bowl.

Place butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed.  Add sugar and mix until thoroughly incorporated.  Add egg/vanilla mixture and beat for 3 minutes until fluffy.

Reduce speed to medium low and add milk.  Gradually add flour mixture until just mixed.

Pour batter into prepared pan.  Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut side down placing them very close together.  Sprinkle the berries with the 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Bake cake for 10 minutes.   ****Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.*****  Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch.  About 1 hour.

Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

Cut into wedges and serve.

Spray pan with Bakers Joy or Pam with Flour

Wash strawberries, remove stem and leaves and cut in half:

mise en place cake batter:

batter into the prepared pan:

place strawberries on top and sprinkle with sugar:

after 1 hour of baking:

delicious!