Strawberry Cake

My father was a master gardener, growing juicy red tomatoes, crisp, green cucumbers, and super-sized zucchini, in abundance. The summer that I turned twelve years old, my father offered me a small patch in his garden to grow a crop of my own choosing. When I announced that I was going to cultivate strawberries, my father was all on board. I watered and weeded my plants faithfully, but nary a berry appeared. Until one day, my father called me outside with a cheery smile.

Strawberry Cake

As I approached my corner of the garden, I spotted more than one ruby red strawberry peeking out from the green leaves of my plants. My mother was following hot on my heels and both my parents were grinning from ear to ear. This should have served as a hint to me that something was up. It was only when I bent down to inspect my luscious harvest, that I noticed that the strawberries were carefully attached to their stems with Scotch tape. Gotcha! We all had a good laugh but unfortunately those were the only strawberries that appeared in my garden that summer. Thankfully, you won’t have to grow your own berries to make this easy strawberry cake, published in Martha Stewart Living (June 2005). This light and tender cake is studded with a whole pound of strawberries. As the cake bakes, the batter buckles and dimples around the jammy strawberries so that every bite is filled with the sweet taste of summer.

Assemble you ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 F. I used an 8-inch pan with 3-inch sides to make this cake. You can also use an extra deep pie plate (a regular pie plate won’t work) or a 9-inch spring form pan. Grease the sides of the pan well with baking spray and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl and set aside. Scrub the skin of a whole lemon well and grate the outer skin of the lemon into the sugar using a microplane grater. Rub the lemon rind into the sugar using your fingers until the sugar starts to look like wet sand and releases a lemony scent. (I call this step aromatherapy.) 

Place the butter/margarine and the sugar mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium-low and mix in the egg, milk (plant-based or dairy), and vanilla. The mixture will look extremely curdled. Reduce the speed to low. Gradually mix in the flour mixture. The batter should smooth out and appear very thick.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, levelling the top evenly. Arrange the hulled and cut strawberries on top of the batter, cut side down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle the top of the cake with turbinado sugar or granulated sugar. Don’t skip this step. It adds to the jamminess of the strawberries. Bake the cake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 F. and continue to bake until the cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, 50 minutes to 1 hour. When the cake is cool, you can flip the cake out of the pan onto a cake plate or serve the cake directly from the pan in thick wedges. The cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, for up to two days. This cake also freezes very well.

Print Recipe

Strawberry Cake

Cookies, Cakes, Pies and Desserts

By Martha Stewart Living, adapted slightly by me – Serves: 8

Prep Time: 20 minutes – Cooking Time: 60-70 minutes – Total Time: 80-90 minutes

This light and tender cake is studded with a whole pound of strawberries. As the cake bakes, the batter buckles and dimples around the jammy strawberries so that every bite is filled with the sweet taste of summer.

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, dairy or plant-based (margarine), softened
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar + 2 tablespoons sugar (granulated or turbinado)
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup milk (dairy or plant-based)
• rind of a whole lemon, grated with a microplane grater
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pound strawberries, hulled, cleaned well, and halved

Instructions

1

Preheat the oven to 350 F. I used an 8-inch pan with 3-inch sides to make this cake. You can also use an extra deep pie plate (a regular pie plate won't work) or a 9-inch spring form pan. Grease the sides of the pan well with baking spray and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper.

2

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl and set aside. Scrub the skin of a whole lemon and dry it well. Grate the outer skin of the lemon into the sugar using a microplane grater. Rub the lemon rind into the sugar using your fingers until the sugar starts to look like wet sand and releases a lemony scent. (I call this step aromatherapy.) 

3

Place the butter/margarine and the sugar mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium-low and mix in the egg, milk (plant-based or dairy), and vanilla. The mixture will look extremely curdled. Reduce the speed to low. Gradually mix in the flour mixture. The batter should smooth out and appear very thick.

4

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, levelling the top evenly. Arrange the strawberries on top of the batter, cut side down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle the top of the cake with turbinado sugar or granulated sugar. Bake the cake for 10 minutes at 350 F.. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 F. and continue to bake until the cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, 50 minutes to 1 hour. When the cake is cool, you can flip the cake out of the pan onto a cake plate or serve the cake directly from the pan in thick wedges. The cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, for up to two days. This cake also freezes very well.