For the last 3 days of cakes and muffins series, I have cakes. Had initially planned on doing 6 days of cakes for this week but husband was not on board. Then I had to chance the theme to cakes and muffins. The first cake in this series is strawberry cake. To check all the bakes I posted for this baking marathon, check here.

This is an easy recipe; preparation is very quick but long on baking. This cake needs to be baked for an hour. My cake was dense but the taste was good. I was expecting a moist cake with juices from the baked strawberries soaking the cake. After baking, strawberries were still firm. I made the cake in mid-March and my berries were not very ripe. When I went back to the original recipe and after reading and seeing the original recipe, I figured I should have used very ripe strawberries. The berries I used were just ripe. Nevertheless, we liked the cake. Below picture taken with my phone.

My nephew likes strawberries and this is another bake I tried in India. As I could not figure out my mom’s oven settings, the cake was done very quickly in less than 20 minutes and was a little dry. I had baked the cake for my older nephew but the younger one seemed to have liked it a lot. He kept on coming back for more cake. You can see him in the below picture. That is how he use to eat his breakfast and snacks; sitting down on the kitchen floor, bowl or plate in his lap. Last week when I spoke to his mom, she told me he doesn’t want to sit on the flour anymore. Now his favorite place to sit down and eat is kitchen countertop! When I baked the cake in India, after I started prepping for the cake I realized I did not have enough strawberries. I used chocolate chips to make up for the berries. When I baked it in my oven after coming to NY, I used only strawberries.

Source: Smitten Kitten
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes – 1 ½ hours
Preparation: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 60 – 70 minutes
Yields: 9″ cake

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp. Unsalted Butter, at room temperature + more for greasing the pan
• 1 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 ½ tsp. Baking Powder
• ½ tsp. Salt
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar + 2 tbsp. for sprinkling on the berries
• 1 Large Egg
• ½ cup Milk
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1 lb. Strawberries, hulled & halved (if the berries are large, cut into 3-4 pieces)

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 350 F.
• Butter a 10” pie/cake pan or 9” spring form pan. I used a spring form pan.
• Mix together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and keep aside.
• In a large bowl beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale & fluffy, about 3 minutes with an electric mixer.
• Mix in egg, milk and vanilla extract until combined.
• Fold in flour mixture until smooth.
• Pour into a prepared pan; arrange strawberries on top of the batter, cut side facing down. Arrange berries as closely as possible and you may have to overlap some of the berries and that is fine. Sprinkle 2 tbsp. of sugar over the berries.
• Bake at 350F for 10 minutes, reduce the temperature to 325 F and bake for 50-60 minutes until tester comes out clean. Gooey strawberries might stick to the tester and that is ok.
• Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack.
• Cut into wedges and serve. I served it as it is but can also be served with lightly whipped cream.
  Cake stayed fresh for about a day at room temperature in a loosely covered container. I made the cake in mid-March and temperatures were in the 40s.

This day in 2014: Amritsari Fish from Punjab

Events: This goes to Anniversary Meal hosted by Srivalli. And do not forget to check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51