Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Strawberries & Cream Cake

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tbls. butter (that’s 1/2 a stick), softened
1 egg
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups strawberries, sliced

Prep your cake pan & preheat your oven
Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 10-inch round cake pan.
Cut a round of parchment paper and fit it inside your buttered pan. Don’t make yourself nuts trying to make a perfect circle. If it creeps up the edges a little, that’s just fine.
Set the pan aside. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Make the cake batter
Put the sugar in the bowl of your mixer.
Slice up the butter and add it to the bowl.
Crack in the egg.
Beat the sugar, butter, and egg together to combine well.
When the mixture is fairly uniform, pour in the cream. Beat to combine.
Add the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Beat on high to combine.
Beat until the batter just comes together, like this. If you overdo it, the cake won’t be as tender. The batter will be really thick, almost like a soft cookie dough.
When your batter is mixed, toss in the strawberries.
Fold them in by hand with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Fold gently, so you don’t completely smoosh the strawberries.
You want the berries to be fairly evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Bake the cake
When the batter is fairly uniform, scrape it out into your prepared cake pan.
With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, smooth the batter down so it’s even. Pop it into your preheated, 375 degree oven.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the top is firm and golden brown, and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
Set the cake pan on a rack and cool it right in the pan.

When it’s completely cool, run a knife around the edge to loosen it up, then invert it onto a plate. Because you lined the pan with butter and parchment, it should slip right out.
Or you can do what I did, and serve it right out of the pan.
To serve, slice into wedges or squares.
Serve as is, or top with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or fresh, sliced strawberries.

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