Strawberry Cake

This Strawberry Cake is just about the quickest and easiest cake you will ever make. Loaded with 500g / 1 lb of strawberries IN and ON the cake, it’s a great way to use strawberries when they’re in season! Yogurt makes the crumb moist, it’s not too sweet and you’ll love the hint of lemon.

No stand mixer, no creaming butter. Just one bowl and a wooden spoon!

A pink sponge cake with pink frosting made entirely with fresh strawberries without cheating* is a recipe that’s officially been in development for 3 years.

I’m confident 2020 will be The Year when I finally crack it. I’m getting close – and I’m SUPER excited to share it with you. And while infinitely doable by any home cook, it is quite an involved recipe.

So for now, here’s the cake you make with all those strawberries – the best easy cake recipe you will ever make bursting with fresh strawberries! * No cheating = no food colouring, no strawberry flavouring, no fancy pants ingredients like freeze dried strawberries.

The cake is made with a yogurt and oil based batter which keeps the crumb beautifully moist for days and gives it more structure than delicate sponge cakes made with creamed butter so it can stand up to the weight and considerable juices that sweat out of the strawberries. It’s still a beautifully soft crumb, it’s just not as delicate as traditional butter and sponge cakes. I’ve used it for Blueberry Cake and this Lemon Yogurt Cake if you’d like to read feedback from people who have tried it (spoiler: it’s good!)

     

    What goes in Strawberry Cake

  • Strawberries – 500g/1 lb to be exact! Some goes in the cake, most goes on top;
  • Flour, sugar, egg, baking powder, vanilla, salt – all the usual suspects in cakes;
  • Lemon – the freshness of lemon works so well in cakes made with berries! Proof -> Strawberry Cheesecake, Blueberry Cake, Blueberry Cheesecake Bars, Blueberry Lemon Loaf; and
  • Oil and yogurt or sour cream – as noted above, this is what keeps the crumb really moist as well as adding a touch of tang, reinforcing the brightness we get from the lemon.

    • How to make this easy Strawberry Cake

    Being that this doesn’t have creamed butter in it, it’s a one-bowl, hand mixed batter. Whisk Wet ingredients first, then mix the dry in.

    Some of the strawberries go inside the cake – not too much, I was a little overenthusiastic about this at first but the strawberries made the batter so wet and weighed it down so much it took 1 hour 40 minutes to cook! Most go on top – they hold their form pretty well but burst with juice when you bite into them.

    I’m so unoriginal that whenever I see strawberries and baked goods, I immediately think cream. So for me, a (big!) dollop of freshly whipped cream is mandatory for serving.

     

    Ingredients:

         STRAWBERRIES

  • 500g / 1 lb strawberries , hulled (ie tops removed)

    • WET:

  • 1 cup sugar , caster/superfine best but granulated ok too
  • 1/2 cup oil , canola or vegetable oil
  • ▢2 eggs , large (~50g/1.75 oz each)
  • 1 tbsp grated lemon rind
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice (1 large lemon)
  • 1 cup plain yoghurt , unsweetened (Greek or just plain)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (or essence)

    • DRY:

  • 2 1/4 cups flour , plain/all purpose
  • 4 tsp baking powder (or 1 1/4 tsp baking soda)
  • Pinch of salt

    • SERVING:

  • Whipped cream
  • Extra strawberries
  • Icing sugar/ powdered sugar , for dusting

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      Instructions

      • Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan).
      • Grease and line a 23 cm / 9" cake pan with baking paper/parchment paper. (Any type of cake pan is fine)

        • STRAWBERRIES:

      • For inside of cake: Dice some strawberries into ~1.5cm / 1" pieces to make 1 cup (about 1/3 of the strawberries)
      • Topping: Cut the remaining strawberries in half.

        • CAKE:

      • Place Wet ingredients in a bowl and whisk well for 1 minute.
      • Add Dry ingredients then whisk well until lump free.
      • Pour half into cake pan, smooth surface. Scatter over diced strawberries.
      • Top with remaining batter. Smooth surface, then top with halved strawberries, cut face down.
      • Bake 50 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. (Note 1) If you need to cook longer, cover with foil if it starts getting too golden.
      • Stand 15 minutes in the cake pan before turning out onto cooling rack.
      • Cool 15 minutes+ before serving warm or at room temp. Dust with icing sugar, and serve with cream or if serving warm, ice cream!



          • Recipe from Nagi.