Strawberry Cake

This cake is stuffed with one pound of fresh, bursting with flavor, strawberries.  And these berries are no ordinary berries.  No! These strawberries have a story.



This particular berry story begins with being picked by young children who think that a strawberry on its last legs should be collected in the berry picking bucket... the story continues of these last legged strawberries being bundled into plastic bags and carted in a 2001 volvo with no-air con, in 90 degree heat (I know!!!  90 degrees in Portland in early June... amazing!) and probably lingered an hour or two longer than is ideal for a berry in the back of that old volvo station wagon... and eventually results in a slightly sad state of affairs for a berry: one where they find themselves in a slightly undignified mushy form.

Yep, this cake is overflowing with one pound of mushy, slightly over-ripe strawberries.

In a word...it is delicious.

Yes, we went strawberry picking this past weekend, and yes, they are disintegrating faster than my little family can eat them, and yes, I wanted something delicious to cook them in BUT...I wanted something strawberry-ie that was not a strawberry pie... pie seemed a little on the strawberry overload side... I wanted more mellow, yet scrumptious strawberry-ness

And then I stumbled upon this cake recipe.  Perfection!  The disintegrating strawberries mentioned above are transformed into melt in your mouth pockets of sweet, strawberry loveliness.

This cake works!

I was slightly impressed with myself creating this cake from scratch.  I mean, this cake recipe describes actions only possible by real cooks.  With words like "folding" and "medium-firm peaks" embedded into the recipe, and more miraculously actually occurring in my kitchen, I'm starting to feel like an actual cook these days.  And that same kitchen where peaks of egg whites were being whisked (by hand, I might add, KitchenAid!!) smelled like a little bit of heaven for a few hours there.  This cooking business is pretty cool!

Better yet, the kids gobbled up their pieces of Strawberry Cake for dessert. Gobble, gobble, gone.

I may have snuck a piece (or two) last night in the wee hours of the night, as I was alone, cleaning up the kitchen.  And those two, little, bitty, tiny pieces of cake may have found themselves with an extra heaping of whipped cream on the side.  And just maybe I snuck yet another piece this morning while my daughter was napping.  The cake is delicious... I'm telling you.

Please make and enjoy!

Strawberry Cake

by Simply Romenesco

Ingredients:

·         1/2 kilogram (1 pound) fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered

·         200 grams (7 ounces) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan

·         4 grams (1 teaspoon) baking powder

·         3 large eggs, at room temperature

·         200 grams (7 ounces) confectioners’ sugar, plus extra for dusting

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         50 ml vegetable oil

·         50 ml tap water, at room temperature

·         pinch of salt

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, grease a tin, about 9x9 inches

2) Combine flour and baking powder

3) Separate the egg yolks and whites

4) Beat the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract until all blended with an electric mixer

5) Gradually add the oil and water until well combined

6) In batches, add the flour and baking powder mix

7) In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until they form medium peaks

8) Fold these into the batter

9) Pour batter into the cake tin

10) Add strawberries on top of the batter... they float... it is the coolest thing!  I left no space un-strawberried.  

11) Cook for 45-50 minutes, until golden brown and a knife comes out clean of the cake.  

12) Dust with extra confectioner's sugar, and enjoy!