Strawberry Buttermilk Cake

At the end of March I saw this great fruit cake recipe in Monica's blog “Playing with flour”. I loved it and wanted to try it straightaway, which I did the following day. This is a simple little cake: easy to make and scandalously good.  It is the perfect combination of all the ingredients, with its softened strawberries and a hint of lemon.   I have slightly adapted Monica's recipe.

Bake this cake in a 20 cm diameter pan, since it's a thin cake (I actually used a 23 cm tin).

Ingredients

130g all-purpose flour

2g baking powder

2g baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

56g salted butter, softened

130g sugar

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 vanilla pod

1 large egg

118ml buttermilk

10 medium-sized fresh strawberries, sliced in half (I used 5 because my strawberries were big and sweet, but regret doing so because they shrank when cooked, so I advise you to use 10)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 190 °C. Lightly butter and flour the cake pan. Line the bottom of the pan with a round of greaseproof paper for easier removal later.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

In another bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar. Add the lemon zest.  Beat the mixture at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla, then the egg. Beat well.

At low speed, mix the dry ingredients with the buttermilk in several batches. Mix until just combined and smooth. Scrape the batter into the cake pan, spreading it out and smoothing the top.  Place the fresh strawberry halves, cut-side down, evenly around the top.

Bake until the cake is golden (about 20-25 minutes).  Remove from the oven, place on a wire rack and let the cake cool for about 15 minutes in the pan. Carefully remove the cake from the pan and let it cool further on the wire rack.  For me, this cake is best served at room temperature.

Serves 8

A massive thanks to Monica!