94 deg today so summer is finally here! Aah..... welcome to long days filled with pool parties, barbecues, fire flies, mosquito bites and sveltering heat!
But for the folks down under, summer brings the promise of these and along with it all yet another joy, especially for us cooks. Farmer's markets, fresh produce which for me especially translates into days of stocking up on summer berries.
I have no doubt that by the time autumn rolls in, you will have had enough of me and my berriful recipes. Every week I find yet another excuse to incorporate black, blue or straw - berries into a dessert or cake so much so that my kids have stopped asking what they can have for snack. They know well enough they'll either be chowing down a bowl of the fruit or digging into some berry-concoction or the other.
And yet, you know me to be of discriminating tastes and of the plethora of recipes that grace our seasonal kitchen, I have my favorites - kinda like the 'bill of rights' of my culinary world.
I am embarrassed to say that this crumble cake right here is one I disguise on oh so many ways and sneak it back into our weekly rotation. I am waiting for the days when my kids finally wise up to the fact that their Mum is actually baking the same cake over and over gain, disguised under a blanket of crumble, sometimes without and always switching the seasonal fruit around.
So when Ananda at A Pinch of Love whose culinary skills when it comes to cakes and desserts far out weighs mine and the magic she wields with the camera leaves me panting for more, announced me as the winner of her Zucchini contest, I was surprised and delighted! Yippee!!! And then asked me to host a contest of my own!
I had little choice but to turn to my love of summer fruit and announce the secret ingredient for the June 2011 contest to be, the ruby of summer berries -strawberries!
So please submit your fave strawberry recipes by following these required albeit tedious steps -
- Culinary Smackdown Battle – Strawberry time will be held throughout the month of June on Weave A Thousand Flavors. Entry submission begins on June 7 - June 30, 2011, 11:59pm PST.
- I will select and announce one winner who will also host the next month’s edition of this contest on July 1st, 2011.
- Only one entry per person please.
- It is compulsory to link back to this post on your blog.
- The entry does not have to be a new post and may be an archived post.
- The Smackdown Battle is open to anyone, anywhere in the world.
- The purpose of this battle is to reach out to lots of bloggers and foodies around the globe, share culinary ideas and have fun!
And what may you win?
My favorite, gourmet 'secret ingredient' for your pantry!
Powered by Linky Tools - Click here to enter your blogpost link. Once you submit your entries to this link, drop me an email - [email protected]
So while I for one can't wait to see what you kitchen divas come up once you don on your culinary thinking caps and bring out the creative strawberry side of you, here is my favorite strawberry recipe to inspire you to kick up those creative juices.Humble as it may be but I bet you anything, you too will be trying to sneak this back to the dinner table and potlucks more often than not!
Gather the ingredients for the cake - all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, butter at room temperature, white sugar, pure vanilla extract, eggs at rooms temperature, milk, sour cream and fresh, ripe strawberries.
Gather the ingredients for the crumble topping - all purpose flour, chilled butter & light brown sugar. Also required is a 9" non-stick spring foam pan.
Take a piece of parchment paper and trace the bottom of the pan over it. Cut out the circle and line the bottom of the pan with the paper. Grease the pan with some non-stick baking spray so the lining will stick to the bottom without folding over.
Strawberries - Wash the strawberries. Cut away tops, hull and halve or dice. Set aside till ready to use.
Preheat the oven at 350 deg F.
In a large mixing bowl, with an electric beater cream the butter and sugar till fluffly, light and creamy.
Crack & beat one egg at a time into the butter till thoroughly combined. Add the milk, vanilla extract and lemon emulsion.
Place a sieve over the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture into the sieve and tap so the flour mixture falls into the mixing bowl.
Using a rubber spatula fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, mixing till it is thoroughly combined but do not over mix. The batter will be quite thick.
Empty the batter into the prepared cake pan and using the back of the spatula smooth out the top surface.
Arrange the strawberries over the cake batter in a single layer.
Meanwhile in a seperate small bowl, combine the crumble ingredients - all-purpose flour, butter cut up into small chunks and light brown sugar. Using clean hands, rub fingertips into the butter and flour till the mixture ressembles coarse bread crumbs.
Sprinkle to completely cover the strawberries.
Bake for 55-70 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center of the pan.
Cook's Note - My oven runs quite hot and all ovens are different so check after 55 minutes and every 10 minutes as the cake in other ovens has taken as long as 1 hr-10 minutes to thoroughly bake & the skewer to come out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and allow to slightly cool on a wire rack.
Cut into wedges and serve the cake warm.
Sink into the taste of fresh strawberries in a luscious cake with a wonderfully flaky and buttery topping and a dollop of fresh cream while sipping a hot cuppa.
Thanking me while you bite into this is optional. The fresh whipped cream is not!
The taste of summer in every bite. Enjoy!
Recipe for
Summery Strawberry Crumble Cake
Preparation time - 20-25 minutes
Baking time - 55-70 minutes
Shopping list
Cake :
1 cup white sugar
1 stick butter ( 1/2 cup ) at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp lemon emulsion (available at specialty food stores such as Whole foods/A J's fine foods)
2 eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
fresh, ripe strawberries to yield about 2 cups sliced or diced.
Crumble:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 of a stick chilled butter (1/4 cup) salted or unsalted
1/4 cup light brown sugar
Also required is non-stick spray & parchment paper
Preparation-
Preheat the oven at 350 deg F.
In a large mixing bowl, with an electric beater cream the butter and sugar till fluffly, light and creamy.
Crack & beat one egg at a time into the butter till thoroughly combined. Add the milk, vanilla and lemon emulsion and beat to combine.
Place a sieve over the wet ingredients.
In a separate bowl, combine the all-prupose flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture into the sieve and tap so the flour mixture falls into the mixing bowl.
Using a rubber spatula fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, mixing till it is thoroughly combined but do not over mix. The batter will be quite thick.
Empty the batter into the prepared cake pan and using the back of the spatula smooth out the top surface.
Arrange the strawberries over the cake batter in a single layer.
Meanwhile in a small bowl, combine the crumble ingredients - all-purpose flour, butter cut up into small chunks and light brown sugar. Using clean hands, rub fingertips into the butter and flour till the mixture ressembles coarse bread crumbs.
Sprinkle to completely cover the strawberries.
Bake for 55-70 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center of the pan.
Cook's Note - My oven runs quite hot and all ovens are different so check after 55 minutes and every 10 minutes as the cake in other ovens has taken as long as 1 hr-10 minutes to thoroughly bake & the skewer to come out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and allow to slightly cool on a wire rack.
Cut into wedges and serve the cake warm with fresh whipped cream.
Enjoy!
