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BBC MUNDO RADIO
Strawberry Summer Cake
Photo © Deb Perelman
But I know it’s coming. I know it’s coming because strawberries appeared at the Greenmarkets last week and if you think I dork out pretty badly when the first asparagus stalks appear, you ain’t seen nothing like my “the strawberries are here!” dance. (And hopefully, you never will, or at least until Jacob gets his tell-all YouTube channel.) Suffice it to say that it is awkward but that’s almost besides the point. Strawberries — the kind that really taste like strawberries — are always promised for weeks before they appear and without fail, I go overboard when they arrive, bringing home pounds, plural, when a single box would get us through the weekend. When Monday rolls around and the strawberries are on their last legs, if you listen closely to them, they’ll tell you that this cake is how they’d like to go out.
I hope this will be your summer cake. I realize that from the outset it may not look particularly different from a standard fresh berry coffee cake. It aligns most closely with the Raspberry Buttermilk Cake I made from Gourmet two years ago, but what makes it different is the volume of fruit — there’s a pound of hulled and halved strawberries in a cake that can barely handle it. The strawberries take over. Nobody complains. The cake is short on steps but long on baking time, and in that hour that it hangs out in your oven, those strawberries turn into puddles of jam. The batter buckles around and the receding berries, which dimple like a country quilt. The edges of the cake become faintly crisp.
And your apartment will smell like a strawberry patch. Your toddler will have no idea what’s on the counter, only that he must march into the kitchen and blindly grasp at it, retreating to his trike with a satisfied fistful. You’ll also sneak a slice before dinner, ruining your appetite and plotting the next time you’ll be able to make it. We cannot make summer get here sooner, but we can at least lay out the welcome mat.
One year ago: Rustic Rhubarb Tarts
Two years ago: Raspberry Buttermilk Cake and Slaw Tartare
Four years ago: Cellophane Noodle Salad with Roast Pork
Strawberry Summer Cake
Adapted, only slightly, from Martha Stewart
I recently picked up some barley flour and fell in love with it. We tend to associate whole grain flours with heartiness and heaviness, but this is neither — it’s silky and delicate, like the best cake flour you’ve ever bought, and it has a subtle creamy, nuttiness to it that goes fantastically with berries. This cake works like a dream with 100% all-purpose flour but if you’ve got barley flour around, swapping it in for half the volume is beyond delicious, adding a real depth to a deceptively simple cake.
I am ever-so-slightly on the fence about the sweetness of this cake. I like it, but I wouldn’t hate the batter itself with 2 tablespoons less sugar (i.e. 7/8 cup sugar instead of a whole one). If that’s your inclination, go ahead and dial it back as well. Leave the sugar on top. It contributes to the berries turning into jam.
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate
1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour (can swap 3/4 cup or 94 grams all-purpose flour with 3/4 cup or 75 grams of barley flour, see Note)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup (200 grams) plus 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup (118 ml) milk
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 pound (450 grams) strawberries, hulled and halved
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 10-inch pie pan or 9-inch deep-dish pie pan (what I used). I did not test this with a standard 9-inch pie plate but looking at the margin of space leftover in my deep-dish pan after baking the cake, I suspect you’d be safe. Updated 6/13/11: This cake does not work in a standard 9-inch pie pan; it will overflow. Big apologies to anyone who learned the hard way! This cake would work, however, in a 9- or 10-inch springform or cake pan. The 10-inch would make a thinner cake than pictured.
Whisk flour or flours, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth.
Pour into prepared pie plate. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer (though I had to overlap a few to get them all in). Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.
Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. (Gooey strawberries on the tester are a given.) Let cool in pan on a rack. Cut into wedges. Serve with lightly whipped cream.
Do ahead: Cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days, loosely covered, but good luck with that.
http://punchfork.com
But I know it’s coming. I know it’s coming because strawberries appeared at the Greenmarkets last week and if you think I dork out pretty badly when the first asparagus stalks appear, you ain’t seen nothing like my “the strawberries are here!” dance. (And hopefully, you never will, or at least until Jacob gets his tell-all YouTube channel.) Suffice it to say that it is awkward but that’s almost besides the point. Strawberries — the kind that really taste like strawberries — are always promised for weeks before they appear and without fail, I go overboard when they arrive, bringing home pounds, plural, when a single box would get us through the weekend. When Monday rolls around and the strawberries are on their last legs, if you listen closely to them, they’ll tell you that this cake is how they’d like to go out.
I hope this will be your summer cake. I realize that from the outset it may not look particularly different from a standard fresh berry coffee cake. It aligns most closely with the Raspberry Buttermilk Cake I made from Gourmet two years ago, but what makes it different is the volume of fruit — there’s a pound of hulled and halved strawberries in a cake that can barely handle it. The strawberries take over. Nobody complains. The cake is short on steps but long on baking time, and in that hour that it hangs out in your oven, those strawberries turn into puddles of jam. The batter buckles around and the receding berries, which dimple like a country quilt. The edges of the cake become faintly crisp.
And your apartment will smell like a strawberry patch. Your toddler will have no idea what’s on the counter, only that he must march into the kitchen and blindly grasp at it, retreating to his trike with a satisfied fistful. You’ll also sneak a slice before dinner, ruining your appetite and plotting the next time you’ll be able to make it. We cannot make summer get here sooner, but we can at least lay out the welcome mat.
One year ago: Rustic Rhubarb Tarts
Two years ago: Raspberry Buttermilk Cake and Slaw Tartare
Four years ago: Cellophane Noodle Salad with Roast Pork
Strawberry Summer Cake
Adapted, only slightly, from Martha Stewart
I recently picked up some barley flour and fell in love with it. We tend to associate whole grain flours with heartiness and heaviness, but this is neither — it’s silky and delicate, like the best cake flour you’ve ever bought, and it has a subtle creamy, nuttiness to it that goes fantastically with berries. This cake works like a dream with 100% all-purpose flour but if you’ve got barley flour around, swapping it in for half the volume is beyond delicious, adding a real depth to a deceptively simple cake.
I am ever-so-slightly on the fence about the sweetness of this cake. I like it, but I wouldn’t hate the batter itself with 2 tablespoons less sugar (i.e. 7/8 cup sugar instead of a whole one). If that’s your inclination, go ahead and dial it back as well. Leave the sugar on top. It contributes to the berries turning into jam.
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate
1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour (can swap 3/4 cup or 94 grams all-purpose flour with 3/4 cup or 75 grams of barley flour, see Note)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup (200 grams) plus 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup (118 ml) milk
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 pound (450 grams) strawberries, hulled and halved
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 10-inch pie pan or 9-inch deep-dish pie pan (what I used). I did not test this with a standard 9-inch pie plate but looking at the margin of space leftover in my deep-dish pan after baking the cake, I suspect you’d be safe. Updated 6/13/11: This cake does not work in a standard 9-inch pie pan; it will overflow. Big apologies to anyone who learned the hard way! This cake would work, however, in a 9- or 10-inch springform or cake pan. The 10-inch would make a thinner cake than pictured.
Whisk flour or flours, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth.
Pour into prepared pie plate. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer (though I had to overlap a few to get them all in). Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.
Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. (Gooey strawberries on the tester are a given.) Let cool in pan on a rack. Cut into wedges. Serve with lightly whipped cream.
Do ahead: Cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days, loosely covered, but good luck with that.
Comment
This cake not only looks delicious but it’s so beautiful! It’s a perfect way to use sweet Spring strawberries….yum!
Hi! I think this is the prettiest cake I’ve seen on your website! Thanks for feeding my eyes :)
Well, after seeing this I know exactly what I’ll be making after I pick local strawberries this weekend. They’re just now ripening here in central Illinois and I can’t wait to stock my freezer full of them!
I love this cake, I have made it three times in the last month for a variety of functions where I want something stunning that doesn’t take too much time. I have been meaning to post about it; you beat me to it! ;)
My toddler would definitely see this and go for it immediately! I cannot wait to try making this cake. And the powdered sugar and whip cream are perfect to top it off.
This looks delicious! Going to make it with some of the strawberries I scored at the farmer’s market on Saturday. Thanks!
Barley flour? I never knew such thing existed and I’m pretty sure we can’t get it here. Love the simplicity of this recipe.
I’m thinking about picking some local strawberries this weekend too! And while I love strawberries, I’m imagining this cake all summer with different kinds of fruits…what do you think about blackberries, peaches, or cherries?
I have never baked with barley flour but I love experimenting with new ingredients, I’ll have to pick some up and try this cake :)
I was just looking at the Strawberry Shortcake recipe, planning to make it, but now I can’t decide!!
The strawberries have not made an appearance at the markets upstate just yet. When they do, this will be on the list of must-haves, along with strawberry gallette, strawberry scones and strawberry salad with balsamic vinegar. I can barely wait.
Still waiting for local strawberries, but maybe I got to the market too late. That has been known to happen. This cake looks delicious. Strawberries make me really happy!
Omg the picture that you have painted with both photography and words, I can only imagine how delicious this is!
And thanks for the heads up on the barley flour. Silky and delicate, subtle and creamy. I recently have forayed BACK into the realm of gluten yet try to avoid straight up wheat or pastry flour when I can, preferring other grains to wheat based flour, and so thank you for the barley flour tutorial!
Looks delicious! I’m very jealous, being in New Zealand and thus about to launch headlong into winter. Going to go sulk while I eat my apple (sick of peeling/ stewing apples already, too!).
I just came home from the grocery with 1 1/2 lbs of strawberries…I think I know what has to be done.
What a beauty! I think I need to make this soon. Yes. Merci!
That third photo is gorgeous. I’m making this for Memorial Day weekend. Thanks for posting this!
This cake and I will definitely be hanging out this summer. I wish I could pick that last photo right off my screen…yummo!
This looks glorious – I can’t think of a better way to showcase those gorgeous-looking strawberries! Hang in, the sunshine will come soon!
I have never tried cooking with barley flour, I am excited to try!
There is a man in his 70’s we call “The fruit guy” who walks around town with big baskets of fruit. He walks right into the restaurants and asks around at all the tables if anyone wants to buy what he is selling. This time of year it is strawberries he is selling. He gets shooed away quite often, but he always makes the fruit look so lovely…
I can’t wait to make this!!!
This looks amazing – it reminds me of a clafoutis!
Thank you for taking pictures of ripe strawberries. If I see one more photo of a white and fleshy strawberry I am going to scream. This looks amazing Deb.
I am beyond excited about this cake, and about the fact that we have the same cake pan! I’m definitely doing to pick up some barley flour. You make it sound delicious!
I can’t wait to make this cake – and if you have more strawberries than you can use (what a terrible problem to have, right?) have you thought of flash freezing them and then storing in freezer bags? I have found it’s the best way not to waste all those glorious berries, though I’m sure no one would complain if I served them in a cake. I’ll definitely try your method next time instead :)
Ugh this looks so good. Any recommendations for turning this into gluten free? I am gluten sensitive and my birthday is the 28th and I don’t know what to do about my cake. Anyone with an answer can hit me up at applefaerie (at) gmail (dot) com.
No, no, no. My last-leg strawberries have already been promised to shortcake this week and I’ll be shot if I renig, which means I have to wait until *next* week’s last leg strawberries, which is just cruel. Patience is not a virtue when photos like this are involved
Mmmm so tasty sounding. Strawberry season is my fav.
Absolutely love it, always good to be dreaming of summer :)
MMMM 99 cents a pound for strawberries at the market means I will definitely be making this. Do you think you could substitute buttermilk for the milk?
Oh wow, this looks amazing! Now I have a strong craving for strawberries though…
Those are quite possibly the juiciest looking berries I have ever seen! What better way to celebrate the rainy start of summer than with a delicious cake!
this cake looks divine, deb! i’m a HUGE fan of the gourmet buttermilk cake, and i’ve made it with a number of different types of berries this cake seems to be as adaptable as my trusty standby. can’t wait to make it!
swoooon. This looks so good, and my grocery store just might have barley flour in the bulk section! I know I’ve at least seen quinoa flour there…
Hmm. Sounds lovely. Maybe I will add some rhubarb in too… since that is waiting for some attention in the fridge.
this looks wonderful! Thanks for the inspiration!
Hm, I think I have a similar dance when I first see ramps and fiddleheads. (This is why my boyfriend doesn’t accompany me to the greenmarket anymore!)
I have yet to bake with barley flour, but now I have the perfect reason to do so! What a great way to use all the strawberries this time of year. Just beautiful!
What a perfect dessert with homegrown strawberries! Thanks for sharing :)
Just love this sentence: “Monday rolls around and the strawberries are on their last legs, if you listen closely to them, they’ll tell you that this cake is how they’d like to go out.”
I too am guilty of bringing home more strawberries than my little tummy can possibly hold, and I am always looking for ways to use those that are past their peak but definitely not destined for the trash. This recipe looks simple and satisfying and infinitely adaptable.
Oh, and love your pie dish.
Can’t have strawberries at this time of the year here. But we have lovely fresh mangoes. I think they will be a perfect fit!!! Must try today itself!! Can’t wait to see the result.. so excited!!!
Looks lovely! Do you think i could do it with jam? I made strawberry jam last summer and still have some in the freezer. Ive been looking for a way to use it in baking! Any advice?!? Thanks!
This is a very similar recipe as to German plum cake, which is absolutely divine. Lovely use for old strawberries!
I don’t quite have a “the strawberries are here” dance (it’s more of an internal thing for me), but I do like the sound of my apartment smelling like a strawberry patch. :) A beautiful post and an excellent recipe; thank you!
Great recipe! Love it! Mouthwatering. I’d like a piece or two. :-)
This looks scrumptious. I want my strawberries turning into puddles of jam. I want my batter buckling around and the receding berries. Yes yes. Soon.
You made MY family cake!! This cake, and your chocolate-chip sour cream one, are our family cakes. I’ve made this cake literally dozens of times. Yes, it works beautifully in a pie tin instead of a cake pan – that’s what I usually make it in. Do NOT give in to temptation and add cocoa to the batter to make it a chocolate cake, it ruins it. I use less sugar in the batter and plenty on top to make it crisp a bit more, and I usually use vanilla sugar for the extra goodness. This cake is wonderful! I’ve probably made it more than any other cake.
I recently made a cake like this (with raspberries instead), but I was trying to do multiple things at one time, so I forgot the egg.. Disaster.. It was like a very sad collapsed soufflé.. Funny enough, it tasted a bit like a cookie, and in the end we did eat all of it. You reminded me I wanted to make it again, but this time with (!) the egg.. And Strawberries I guess!
I’ve made a cake very similar to this one but with peaches instead of strawberries (we always have extra peaches at my house). This looks delicious!
I saw this post pop up on my Facebook feed just a bit ago and asked my roommate to make it for me – it’s amazing and three of us are wolfing it down as we speak. Thanks Deb!
I’ve searched in vain for a strawberry cake recipe and have never been able to find one. All I ever find are strawberry shortcake recipes and strawberries as fillings in between layers of cream etc. I still think raspberries have the edge in cakes and desserts as they’re more tart but this looks delicious. All a long-winded way of saying “must try!”
Wow, what a stunning cake. I was thinking of ways to bake with strawberries and had come up with the Swedish summer cake but yours looks even more tempting. I’m going to bake it for my students next week.
ohh it’s beautiful! I don’t normally like cooked strawberries, but I do have a plethora of freshly picked ones, and the cake looks just so delicious…
This. This is what I’m making tonight. We’re a little past strawberry season, but this just looks too good.
Any ideas on what other fruits might sub well in this recipe though?
Looks gorgeous! The essence of summer.
Deb: I think I will combine this recipe with the buttermilk from your Raspberry Buttermilk Cake. We are still having winter weather in Oregon as well. I feel your pain. (PS: Jacob’s curls are precious.)
This is my coffee cake recipe! Except I piled the fruit (1 1/2 cups) on top of the batter and covered it with a crumb topping. The batter poofs up around the berries, swallowing some and nestling around the rest. It’s the best base recipe I’ve found for a moist coffee cake that actually gets better as it sits when using only the crumb topping. I used strawberries the last time I made it, but they were still at the pre-season, woody stage and were a little crunchy and not as flavorful as they are now. I’ll give it another go and mix the berries in but without the topping. I like the idea of the fruit getting all jammy.
I can sympathize on two levels of this post: 1) Summer has yet to arrive in Vancouver. It has been rainy and cold and grey and depressing and has not surpassed 65 degrees. Serious bummer. I long for warm weather and sun. 2) The strawberry dance. I’m from Essex County which is home to some of the most fertile soil in all of Canada. Every year since I was about 12, me and my mom went strawberry picking. It is by far one of my favourite past-times. Living across the country from each other makes the yearly picking a bit of a tough one. But you better believe that I called her immediately last week when I stumbled upon the first local strawberries of the year at the Granville Market. I strolled to the park, sat in the grass and ate every last one them. Now to find a place to pick on the west coast.
There is NOTHING like that first, sweet taste of strawberry-summer is one delicious bite! What a delicious recipe!
My parents live in Suffolk Country on LI, they’ve been complaining about the miserable weather too, so my sympathies. I’ll be visiting them for about a month this summer, hope it stops by then! There must be something in the air with all strawberry cakes popping up on blogs the last few days; makes me really want to get baking, especially with the gorgeous Belgian berries available here in Maastricht, but I don’t know how to work out European convection oven/microwave/grill (yes, it’s all three in one!) So I will have to wait til I get back to NY in June/July. Think something like raspberries or blackberries will work?
I tried adding strawberries to the raspberry cake you made last year (alas, no fresh strawberries here) and they sank to the bottom. I’m looking forward to trying this. However, I have frozen strawberries (our season’s Dec-Feb). Do you think they’ll sink with the weight? Should I let it thaw?
Oh I’ve done the same with strawberries myself and then struggled for things to do with the slightly-past-their-best versions a few days later. I will definitely have to remember this recipe.
And I hope your summer comes soon!
I had my heating on yesterday in London so I feel your pain…I love the way the strawberries get all cooked and mushy in this cake. It looks very summery but yet sturdy enough to be a proper cake and not a pathetic summer dessert. Thanks for the recipe!
Looks so yummy!
I have a similar love affair with Scottish raspberries, so I know where you’re coming from. This pile of berries with a smidge of cake attached will be made today and taken to my cancer nutrition workshop for their delectation. You (not Martha) will get the credit. Will use raspberries, as I already have them, but I will definitely make it with strawberries when they are at a point to deserve such attention. As always, thanks for sharing. Your prose-y intro made me laugh, too.
summer is already here to my place and i’m looking forward to preparing your wonderful strawberry summer cake this afternoon!
pls kindly help me by..demystifing :) whether 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour=188 grams as stated above or do you mean 12 ounces=340grs?
since in greece we barely use cups, i ‘m so grateful to you that you have added grs on your fantastic recipes!
thx for your prompt answer! sunny greetings!
Hi Deb,
Looks great! Just wondering–would it be possible to use a springform cake pan for this recipe?
Fantastic! Perhaps you’d consider using albino strawberries (aka pineberries) instead (http://wp.me/p18zw1-14h ). They are a cross between pineapple and strawberries. A great taste of summer!
Looks beautiful! I’m always happy to get a recipe I can make in advance so I’m not frazzled when guests arrive. Thanks
looks soooo yummy!!and seems so easy to make, will try one day
Deb or anyone else out there — any ideas on what adjustments to make to this for baking it at 7,500 feet?
loving those pictures, looks so yummy.
Do you have an assistant to help you read through all your comments? If not, I apologize for adding to your workload. But I’ll just take a second of your time to say I love your writing style. Imaginative, original, grammatically correct, and always very funny. How do you do it, day after day?!! Oh and yes, the recipes always look extremely tempting as well. Bravo!
If it weren’t for summer produce I’d have no idea that summer was coming! This NYC weather is totally bizarre. Anyway, I love this cake!
Yay! Something more to do with the (gulp) 18.5 lbs of strawberries my 3 year old and I picked yesterday! Looks wonderful! Thank you!
…yummmmm!!!!!!!
I love the mosquito overlords…great writing!
Oh I am so going to have to make this. I can’t wait until our CSA strawberries are delivered.
This looks amazing. Strawberries are my absolute favorite, and we’re actually in the middle-end of strawberry season here in Italy. So sad. But I’ve made so many other desserts with these little gems, which has been so good. And I’m excited to try this version! That said, the market berries (that I, embarrassingly, moan over while eating at the counter upon returning from the market) are SO ripe that they actually last barely one day. Do you think the sugar sprinkled over them and the cooking of the berries will extend their lives to the two days you mention above? While my body doesn’t mind me eating a container of fresh strawberries in one sitting, it might rebel if I eat an entire cake…
I had fun making little individual strawberry tarts when my overabundant purchase was tiring. Your strawberry cake looks moist and delicious. Next, I’m going to try using plums in a cake like yours (because I bought to many and I love the deep purple!)
Thanks for the metric! Off to buy my strawberries now :)
I love that I can count on smittenkitchen for a new “everyday cake” recipe when I need it most (despite the fact that I don’t think we’ll be seeing strawberries here for another month…). Thanks for the heads-up about taking the sugar down a notch. Definitely appreciate a not-too-sweet cake.
I really have a thing at the moment for strawberries that have been cooked. They go gooey, sticky and delicious. The flavour is also concentrated so much more. I have some strawberries that I picked the other day, which will soon be on last legs. May need to use this recipe to finish them up with.
you cam read my mind Deb :) was thinking about strawberry cake :))))
oh. my. god. need a pound (or so) berries *now*!
We went strawberry picking a few weeks ago (North Carolina…) and I have bagfuls of frozen strawberries in my freezer. Do you think I can just use those? Should I let them thaw first?
Thank you SO MUCH for translating cups into grams and ml!!!
I’m French / addicted to cooking blogs / without cups (I completely forgot to buy some during my last trip to the us) and conversions are an additionnal pain!
Thanks for doing that for me :)
Your recipes are amazing – this one’s next on my to-do list!
@ Vrushali: Do let us know how it went with the mangoes. No strawberry where I am but the mangoe season is starting and I would loove to try it with that.
I always buy more berries than we can actually go through, because I know the season is short and I want my fill of them. It makes me so sad to have them start to turn before we can eat them up, so this cake will absolutely become my delicious way to use them!
Oh my – I made this recently and it was so absolutely wonderful!
This looks perfect! I’ve been trying to find new ways to use strawberries.
I always heard, growing up in Oregon, that Oregon strawberries are the best in the world. And compared with the California monstrosities in the supermarkets, they’re clear winners.
So when I moved to South Carolina, I was hoping that the abundance of farmer’s stands would mean excellent strawberries. Boy was I wrong.
Maybe it’s all that cool weather that makes them so good? (Obviously, I’m not a horticulturist. This is probably quite knowable.)
All I’m saying is, there’s a bright side to your delayed summer. A bright red side. :)
Mosquito overlords! Now that was a terrific line. The cake sounds amazing, too–I’m adding it to my list. My long, long list…
Well, hello Memorial Day dessert. It’s good to meet you!
Your strawberries are here dance sounds vaguely reminiscent of our nectarines are here number. And this cake looks like it would brighten even these rainy NYC skies…
This looks and sounds absolutely devine!!! Question – Instead of milk, do you think I could use almond milk instead? I’ve never bake with this and not sure if it would work. What do you think?
Lovely, I want it right now. Have a chocolate mayonnaise cake cooling as I write – wish I had seen this recipe an hour ago! Will conjure up some spring in New England and bake this for the weekend. It’s supposed to really warm up here today but we are still fighting the daily showers and gray skies – I think strawberries are called for!!!
I am making this cake over the weekend. There is absolutely no doubt about it.
Astrid — Thank you. No, I do not have an assistant, to read comments or even run out for milk for me when I forget. Reading comments takes a long time throughout the day but it is an honor to have people visit who are enthusiastic enough to share bits and pieces about themselves.
Sara — Sadly, I’ve never baked at 7,500 feet! If you have Joy of Cooking, there’s a whole section in there with great tips about adapting recipes high up.
gina —
I’m not sure I followed what you were asking.1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour weighs 188 grams. Updated: Oh wait, I do follow (duh) — We Americans have to make things extra-extra confusing in that a cup of liquid is 8 ounces, which is a volume measurement, thus 1 1/2 cups of liquid would be 12 liquid ounces. However, dry ingredients are typically measured in weights. Whenever I say “grams”, you can use a scale.This looks absolutely delicious! Can’t wait to make it this weekend. Do you think I could use oat flour?
What a luscious looking summery cake. thanks for sharing!
This looks fab!
I’m the exact same way when strawberries come around. Just recently our produce box contained apriums. They were hail damaged, so they were added for free, and they gave us an option to purchase an entire case at a discounted price. Since the hail damage was barely noticeable, and I was so excited to experience the first taste of stone fruit of the year, I went for it, and believe me- we’ve had ALL-things aprium… margaritas, tarts, smoothies, yogurt…
I cannot wait to make this cake. I have a similar pie plate, and it looks gorgeous! I was just curious if you’d recommend using almond flour in place of the barely flour. I have almond meal that I used to make macrons and I’m trying to use it!
I just bought the same pie plate! This cake was meant to be.
This looks marvelous! Btw, if you love the barley flour and strawberry jam combination, try the barley flour and strawberry jam scones in Good to the Grain. They are soooooooo good.
yum!! i have some barley flour in my cupboard that i have been meaning to use up ~ maybe i’ll be brave and try my hand at this one ;)
Grr! All the best food blogs are awash in strawberries right now, and I can’t even touch them! Now I know how the gluten-free folks feel when they see marvelous pictures of mouthwatering baked goods they know just won’t be the same with substitutions. *sigh* But (this is me looking on the bright side) maybe it’ll work with big, fat blackberries cut in half. And I really like the idea of the barley flour. To the health food store!
How many servings would you make from this? Is it pretty rich such that you would want to cut 12 servings rather than the 6 or 8 you would usually get from a pie pan? I have a gathering next month that typically has 10 people. I’m wondering if I should just make one, with whipped cream to top and maybe cut up some fruit just in case, or go ahead and make 2 cakes. Thanks for any thoughts you have on this.
I have been making this recipe for years from Martha’s magazine and can vouch for its simplicity and deliciousness. Homemade plain whipped cream on top is perfection!
Celeste — I’d serve it to 8 to 10 people. If there are multiple desserts, you can cut it smaller.
@Jennie (#96) – I wouldn’t try almond milk for baking, because it doesn’t have nearly as much protein as dairy milk, and the texture of the finished product might be dramatically different, but unsweetened soy milk might work (maybe add a drop of almond extract?).
So glad for yet another recipe to use my strawberries for! It looks delicious and yes, quite simple to make.
Oh man, I am SO totally making this! It looks marvelous, and we’re BIG strawberry fans here! I just made your Big Crumb Coffee Cake the other day when we started getting local rhubarb (which is my husband’s very favorite, uh, fruit) and it turned out great, as does everything of yours that I make! :)
just wanted to say that your written description was beautiful even without the photos, but the photography just put it over the top…. i absolutely am baking this tonight!
I love strawberries, and I just know I am going to love this cake – especially when I pick up my first batch of Greenmarket berries this weekend! One question re: the barley flour – could you also use the same amount of oat flour?
I LOVE strawberry cake…can’t wait to give this a try.
I haven’t tried this with any flours besides barley and all-purpose but I suspect that it would be amenable to a 50% swap with just about any flour you like. The cake seems flexible to me. The strawberries are the star.
Re: almond milk — My hunch is that it would be just fine. It’s such a small amount of milk here, and again, I think this is a flexible cake.
Re: buttermilk — I have some excellent buttermilk in my fridge right now, thanks to tips on Twitter last week and was tempted to use it. However, I didn’t want the acidity to mess with any chemical reactions and admit I was too lazy to dig into Bakewise to see if it would throw the leavener off. If you try it, let us know.
gorgeous! definitely looks like summer to me, weather be damned.
sigh, this cake makes me excited to make it and sad because strawberries are weeks and weeks away here in Vancouver. We do have some “strawberries” in some mega-grocery store but they are white on the inside and dry. I’m book marking this for around late june when I can make this with beautifully fresh, juicy, bright red strawberris.
I just made the cake today, seeing as I had a pound of strawberries in the fridge. Deb, I was wondering whether you think the cake would also work with other types of fruit, such as Apricots?
Since I don’t have a pie plate, has anyone tried it in a cupcake version or a loaf pan?
Deb, after my smashing success with your Dreamy Cream Scones used as a base for strawberry shortcake last week, I am ready to move on to this luscious-looking cake with my next haul of strawberries. That scone recipe has changed my self-image, by the way — I now consider myself A Baker! Grating in the butter (I love the frozen grated butter tip), stirring in the cream, giving the dough a quick knead and shaping the scones — and having them come out tender, light, and oh-so-delicious — I’m just beside myself with joy every time!
So thank you for that and for so many, many great recipes and laughs as I read your fabulous blog — not to mention moments of envy of your gorgeous baby boy, since mine is now 25!
I just read through your comment guidelines so I’m not sure if this will make it up on the site but if not, its neither here nor there mostly just want to give you a compliment. I just wanted to tell you that I absolutely LOVEEEEEE your blog. I have been following for awhile and while I don’t consider myself a lover of cooking your blog makes me want to get down and dirty with all things smitten kitchen that you post. Every picture, every story, every recipie is perfection. I have tried a couple of your recipes and posted them on my blog always linking back to yours so all my followers can hopefully have the same outcome and sensory overload that I have when I taste my finished product. I just saw this recipe and actually purchased some Driscoll’s strawberries, cause lets face it they are the best, last night and can’t wait to try this. Anyway I’m done gloating about your site. Keep up the good work.
Jennifer :)
This looks like a perfect marriage of a cake and a clafoutis…heaven in my book. This WILL be served over the weekend. – S
Strawberries!!! I am just as obsessed! I made a strawberry clafouti this weekend that was delicious.
Bless you for posting this! I took my 15 month old to the strawberry patch Saturday and we cam home with 4qts. I was looking for something beyond the standard shortcake. Will make this tonight.
Yum! Looks amazing! I love strawberries! The first ones in my garden just ripened, so delicious!
Ah! The weather is nice and I’m loathing the lack of reasons to get out and enjoy it. (The town we live in isn’t very well suited for walking, boohoo.) Thank you for reminding me that the Farmer’s Market has indeed opened! My boy and I will definitely be taking a weekly trip to pick up strawberries and other sundry vegetables and fruits. This also gets me very excited for the trip to the berry patch we are planning with Grandma and some friends, to take place in June, where we will pick fresh strawberries to our hearts’ content and no one will know for sure if more ended up in our baskets or our bellies.
I love the photos and love the casual way in which you write your recipes. It makes me feel like I’m talking to one of my girlfriends while exchanging recipes. I’m a newbie to SK, my daughter told me about it and I’m so happy she did. Gorgeous photos, great recipes. The visual makes my mouth water in anticipation and the ease of the recipes makes me want to make everything! Thank you!
This looks delicious! I recently started a food blog right around the time strawberries came into season here, and I keep finding new strawberry recipes I want to try. I especially love desserts that take a long time to bake… then they can cook during dinner and be perfect just in time for dessert!
I love your blog, your humor, and your recipes (and the inspiration those have given me to start my own!) Thank you!
I love the anthropomorphism you give to the weather and ingredients.
…”The strawberries take over. Nobody complains. The cake is short on steps but long on baking time, and in that hour that it hangs out in your oven, those strawberries turn into puddles of jam. The batter buckles around and the receding berries, which dimple like a country quilt. The edges of the cake become faintly crisp.” – *swoons*sigh*thud!* ;o)
…Seriously. That paragraph alone sold me on this cake! I have strawberries coming out the ying-yang from the garden and I will be making this cake today. T-o-d-a-y I’m tellin’ ya! *giggle* :o)
…And your photos of the cake totally pushed me over the edge – love!
…Thank you for sharing this and blessings to you… :o)
Down here in Texas, we get acceptable (sometimes outstanding) strawberries all year round from CA, Mexico, and South America. Strangely enough, they’ve been very mediocre the last couple of weeks while everyone else is enjoying the best ones. My happy dance was last week when the first-of-the-season Texas peaches showed their sunny faces. I’m making this cake today with the bland strawberries. Hope they can redeem themselves. Thanks for the inspired writing. Some of your best lines, yet.
Ahh that looks delicious!! As soon as I have a kitchen again…
I can imagine it with vanilla custard…mmm
Sera
oh my this looks good!!! i too almost had a fit 2 weekends ago at the market when i walked by and smelled – but could not SEE – strawberries…i hunted them down to a stand where people were swarming and scooped a $9 pint of them. really is amazing how fresh fruit (vs the whitish sour out of season kind) is a totally different animal isnt it? $9 is insane, i know….i was powerless! they were so good, and on sunday i made them into a strawberry-rhubarb compote for pound cake. i love the look of this cake though – i did feel bad melting my insanely expensive berries down into a compote and think this would showcase them properly!
:)
Oh em gee. I’m dying for some REAL strawberries, but alas, they have not yet arrived in chilly Michigan. When they do, though…stand back. This cake is coming.
I looks so tasty!
Yummy!!
In Poland we already have strawberries. I love it!
:)
Strawberries are here (Sacto, CA) and I am making this cake! Guess I’ll add another mile to my run, but I’m guessing it will be SO darn worth it! Thanks for another (I am sure) cram-my-mouth-full show-stopper! (ps ~ that kid of yours is a freakin’ DOLL!)
Pausing in my futile attempt to get Pearl Jam tickets to say: Gah! This looks great. I have frozen strawberries from last summer still in the freezer. They may soon find a new home. YUM.
Wowza – that cakes looks amazing (you had me at the very first picture)! There is nothing better than fresh, local berries to put me in the mood for summer.
Hey Deb – I have been an ardent fan of your blog and follow it quite avidly. I live in nearby South Jersey and totally agree with your description of summer and the fact that I have only come here 6 months ago from hot hot India …
I too am crazy about strawberries. So I just loved this post and pics.
I have only just started blogging and am not great at photographing yet ..but your blog is an inspiration :)
Thanks …
Barley Flour???!!! Now I am intrigued. I love to try different types of flour. Strawberries are weeks away here in Ottawa, but now I have some time to seek out the barley flour.Thanks for posting this!
The Raspberry Buttermilk cake from a couple of years ago is one of my favs of yours, so I am very excited to make this. I have 2 lbs of strawberries in my fridge right now, just calling this recipe’s name.
This looks wonderful, thank you so much! I’ve been reading your blog for years, but never commented, but this looked too amazing to not comment. I just made your strawberry rhubarb pie recipe (with the tapioca), but I ended up with too many strawberries (if there is such a thing), and I hadn’t decided what to do with them yet, so this is just perfect timing. I also did a goofy dance in the store when I saw the first bunch of tiny, organic, local strawberries, btw. :)
I taught myself how to cook largely based off of your recipes. I knew I’d completely absorbed your cooking brain when I decided to make your italian bread after not looking at the post in over a year, and planned to make it with homemade pasta and strawberry rhubarb pie. Turns out that was exactly what you made with the bread when you posted the recipe. Anyway, thank you so much for this blog, and I’m really excited for your book!!
Got this in my email and had to make it immediately this morning. It was as good as promised… even though I only had strawberries that I’d frozen last summer!
Deb, you are evil. Here I am trying to stop baking so often so that I can lose weight, and then you post a recipe like this. Oh well, I guess I’m just going to have to postpone my weight loss plans a little longer…
This looks so good! Definitely will be making this as soon as I get myself some strawberries :)
I have some remaining strawberries lingering on my counter…(looking not so good!)…so I’ll have to try a gluten-free version of this to save them!
This is absolutley screaming to me. Making it this weekend!
this looks amazing!! If it’s half as good as the pina colada cake then i’m set!! Gonna make it tonight!
Oh, gollee. You just gave strawberries the post they truly deserve. My favorite is that this cake is just what to do with the ones on their last leg, because I, too, go way overboard in buying the first berries of the season.
Strawberries that “taste like strawberries”… What has this GMO food done to us, to our dishes, to our food… sigh!!
You know the strawberries you eat from chain stores (mid January of course) look like strawberries, and don’t taste like one… but I bet you didn’t know they have Atlantic Salmon genes put in them as to not freeze in sub zero harvest…
I wanna cook like it’s the 1970s…
How about baking this in a 9″ square cake pan?
This looks so delicious and easy! Love the idea of barley flour, I’ll have to try that one out!
Lovely as usual :)
Do you think grinding pearled barley will be a decent barley flour substitute?
WELCOME SUMMER!
Oh My! Strawberries?! We’re pretty far off from that in Vermont… I have a version of this cake every year for my birthday. (Is it bad that I make my own birthday cake sometimes?) It’s amazing served with yogurt! Last year we made it dairy free (coconut oil and coconut milk) and wheat free (spelt flour). Soooooooo good!
I immediately ran out to the store to find some lovely organic strawberries and barley flour. No luck on the barley flour… even Whole Foods didn’t carry it. The cake is in the oven baking as I post. I think next I’ll try it with a mixture of berries… raspberries, blackberries and strawberries.
This looks unfussy and delightful! The perfect summer dessert – especially with whipped cream or, as someone mentioned, a dollop of custard. Mmmm! I like the idea of trying barley flour – I believe I can find some at a local Amish grocery…it’s going on the list!
This looks divine and those berries look so succulent.
I don’t have strawberries, but I do have blueberries. Hmm . . .
Local strawberry season started here two weeks ago in Germany – you buy in 1/2 kilo punnets. I managed to practise my german with some of the local ladies. This is what they do – try putting them in something like a large wide necked glass jar or glass pyrex dish. Line the base with a piece of kitchen roll, put in the strawberries, put on the lid and then keep in the fridge. The key is to not put in any softening strawbs. Dont know why or how it works, but it does – bought 1 kilo on Friday – remaining still good for breakfast Tuesday. Only had to take out 4 strawberries – in the past it would have been throw out all but 4 strawberries!!!
Dear Deb – your website is inspirational, thank you for the witty writeups and edible photography – wish scratch and sniff monitors had been invented!
SO. EXCITED. FOR. THIS. So far, when my strawberries have been on their last leg (I’ve been known to buy four boxes at a time) I usually hull and half them and put them in the freezer for smoothies. I’m pretty sure this will be much more appreciated.
This looks fantastic! I don’t know if it’ll replace the raspberry/mixed berry/whatever I have on hand buttermilk cake as it has become my oh-crap-I’m-really-hungover-and-need-to-show-up-to-a-lunch-with-something-why-the-hell-is-the-oven-beeping-at-me cake, and it comes out perfectly every time. This’ll be in my oven as soon as I can find berries that look like yours. :-)
To those asking at frozen berries sinking(and I didn’t look through to see if it’s already been answered b/c I’m on my phone): I don’t thaw them, but I coat them with flour before mixing them in.
I could eat the batter and berries with a spoon, is that wrong?
Hi! I made this today and it was great. :)
I’ve made your Raspberry Everyday Cake using strawberries and can testify that the acid of the buttermilk combined with the acid of the strawberries doesn’t affect the cake. This recipe has a greater amount of batter, the better to hold all those luscious strawberries! I’ll definitely try it.
Thanks for making an awesome Strawberry cake without Rhubarb! People always tend to add Rhubarb to strawberry cakes and pies and it ruins them for me for some reason. Can’t wait to try it!
Reading this – the sheer, decadent poetry of the strawberry description – is like falling in love. I feel all tingly and fluttery, and my mouth is watering. Is that over the top? Nah, for the first strawberries of the season, there is little that could be deemed over the top. I’m still making my way through a veritable field of rhubarb, but as soon as the strawberries come, I will be adding my voice to this beautiful chorus you’ve started. :-)
I can;t wait to go strawberry picking – and this cake will be a perfect way to use up those berries! I go crazy for berries too… but you can always freeze them!
Mmmm, I would like to put a big ole dollop of whipped cream on there. Real whipped cream, not Cool Whip.
I work with a lady whose family owns a blueberry farm. They are harvesting this week and I ordered 6 pounds. It’s just myself and the husband and an infant that hasn’t even gotten teeth yet. I don’t know what I’ll do with all of them, but I can’t wait til they get here!!!
YUM i am drooling this is my type of cake. . .i wish summer was here too :) Can’t wait.
ooooo YUM!! :)
perhaps i can try this recipe over the weekend, thank you for the culinary inspiration!
so yummy!! i need to figure out a gf version for this.
i’ve already done 2 batches of strawberry jam and i don’t think it’s going to get me through winter. m u s t m a k e m o r e
This looks such a nice cake and does not look at all soggy despite the strawberried releasing a fair amount of juice. Unfortunately, it is winter here in New Zealand and, therefore, no strawberried are available. I will try it with some other fruit though. Could I perhaps use canned fruit that has been well drained? Could someone please let me know the weight of 6 tablespoons of butter or do you measure it out tablespoon by tablespoons?
This looks great. I can’t wait to try them. I’ve been using barley flour more and more often, it subs for regular flour so easily
Sara: There aren’t a lot of hard fast rules for cooking above 7500 ft but I find increasing oven temp by 10 to 15 degrees (keep an eye on the last 10 or 15 min of baking) helps a lot. Also for traditional cakes I usually add 1 or 2 tablespoons of flour.
@ Steph- I just made this cake in a muffin pan. I filled each cup up about 1/3 of the way then pushed the strawberries in (I had to cut mine down to eighths as opposed to halves) . I then baked at 350 for 5-8 minutes, turned it down to 325 for another 30-35 minutes. They turned out great!
OOOOHHHH, I have made this cake before from Martha’s website and have loved every bite of it! I am so happy to be reminded of the recipe right now when the strawberries are just starting to make it to the shelves here in Oregon. I look forward to trying it with barley flour. Thanks!
Wow, this is a first: a recipe that I recognize and have made before (though I’m going to have to try the barley flour). I love this cake. I make it all summer long and people are consistently Very Impressed, as if I’d been slaving all day. Also: that toddler reaction? It is just the same when the kid is 11.
I just made a strawberry tart. I figured I needed something tasty to give to the sun gods so we could finally feel some warmth here in Salt Lake. It’s still raining everyday, so I guess I’ll make this strawberry cake and see what happens.
oh I cannot wait to make this beauty! Hellloooo summertime. This will scare the rain and cold away!
If in a jam, is using skim milk acceptable?
Milk — I noticed that the Martha recipe did not specify a fat content of the milk (usually recipes for baking insist upon whole milk), so I didn’t either. It may have been oversight but I have a hunch that in such a small quantity, you can use whatever you’ve got and not adversely affect the cake.
Just baked this… waiting for it to cool enough to eat! Can’t wait!
Man, that cake batter was *delicious*!
One question: what type of milk is best? Skim, 1%, whole? (Feel free to groan in annoyance at this clueless baker’s question.)
This is just the type of spring/summer dessert I’ve been looking for, and I’m planning to make this tomorrow to bring to a friend’s house. I don’t want to screw it up! Thanks so much!
just made this cake… it’s sitting on my kitchen counter and smells AMAZING! it’s for a bake sale at work… i don’t know if i can wait!
This is just so pretty! I make a similar one with raspberries and my granma’s rhubarb but the strawberries are so plentiful now I will give this a go!
This weather is seriously ridiculous. But strawberries definitely have the power to make it a lot better. This would have my apartment smelling amazing!!
I just finished my second slice of this cake. It is fantastic. The cake tastes amazing and the strawberries melted into lovely jammy goodness. Not too sweet, no icing to deal with, very light–this is the PERFECT summer cake. (BTW, I swapped out about half the butter for applesauce–the cake was still buttery and delicious.)
I liked an earlier poster’s idea about adding rhubarb to this, but I’ve never cooked with it before. Will rhubarb cook off in the oven in the same time as the strawberries? Or does it need a little head start?
i made this cake this afternoon with the last of the strawberries we picked this saturday. they were on the verge and this recipe was perfectly timed for my using them. the cake is so easy and so delicious. i made it in a 9-inch spring form pan with 2% milk and my butter wasn’t room temperature and i let the wet ingredients sit in the bowl, partially mixed, for an hour while the chicken roasted in the oven and i forgot to sprinkle the sugar on top until the cake was almost done and, despite my imprecise direction following, the cake still turned out PERFECTLY. in fact, i just snuck one last slice after the dinner guests left and putting the kids to bed. an absolutely delicious cake that i imagine could accomodate any ripe summer fruit. thank you.
definitely must try barley flour – sounds absolutely fantastic
AMAZING! I JUST made this and it is piping hot out of the oven and delicious!!
Deb – you are killing me. I’ve been making rhubarb crumb cake for a couple of weeks and avoiding it fairly well, leaving it for my hubs and others to eat but this…no way. I’ll have to make it and eat it and my hips will react accordingly. Sigh. But it looks worth it…really it does. And Jacob is still the cutest!
I’m pretty sure this is the best cake description ever.
No. Wait. Absolutely sure.
Made this tonight! Oddly enough I had some strawberries on their last legs in the fridge this morning. It has been a hit here. I topped it with vanilla sugar before baking and we didn’t use any whipping cream or other topping.
I did have to cook this for an hour and twenty five minutes. I might have creamed the butter and sugar too much but the flavor is great.
I have a lot of sour cherries I want to try this with next.
Thanks for the recipe!
Must run to the market and make this immediately afterwards. Thanks for posting, I love the combination of fruit and cake!
you’re an angel!thx for your useful tips on metric systems! i’m so glad i can try your fantastic recipe today! warm sunny greetings! :):)
@ Deneb (Comment 88) : yes it turned out excellent. I guess the baking time may vary but excellent results!!! I’ll put up the picture on FB page of smitten kitchen very soon!
Oh by the way, I used Alphonso mangoes!
Deb, your suspicions about the 9″ pie plate were true, in my case. I baked the cake in a regular 9″ pie plate, and it *barely* worked out. The batter came up over the rim of the dish as it baked (kind of like a gigantic muffin… mmmmmm), but did not spill out. Hooray! For your reference, in the 9″ pan I did 10 minutes at 350F and 51 minutes at 325F.
A word about the instructions: Readers should note that you are only meant to use 1 cup of the sugar in the batter itself, and withhold the remaining 2 Tbsp to top the cake before it goes into the oven. I didn’t read ahead very well (oops) and put 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp of sugar into the batter, then had to use an additional 2 Tbsp to top the cake. Long story short, I used more sugar than the recipe required. It was still delicious!
Another wonderful recipe. Thank you!
Delicious! I just made this with raspberries instead of strawberries. I topped it with vanilla ice cream. Can you say “perfection?” My boyfriend said he’d eat this every night. Quite the compliment from the picky eater himself.
Thanks for the recipe, Deb!
I saw this when I got home from work today and I just could not resist. This was very easy to make and it tastes really good! My wife has been out of town for 3 days and I know she is just going to love this little surprise when she gets in tomorrow!
Thanks for this keeper recipe!
Hi Deb, if you are too lazy to buy a pie pan just yet because you move apts too much and keep losing kitchen supplies in every move, can you use a spring form for this recipe, or a casserole pan? Thanks!
Deb, your description of the little pockets of jam made this cake irresistible, so I baked it as soon as I came home from work yesterday :)
I used a 9? pie dish, and it didn’t spill. The cake came up all the way to the rim but stopped right there. Also, I second your suggestion of using less sugar in the batter. I used 1 cup but think that it might be more perfect with a little less sugar (1 or even 2 tbsp, depending on the sweetness of the strawberries).
Thank you for the inspiration, as always!
Hi Deb,
Would it be possible to substitute barley flour for ALL the flour in this recipe, or would that make the cake too heavy? I have recently been told to avoid both white and whole wheat flour…
Thanks!
Janki
Oh well, i think here it’s sumer in spain! It’s hot and it’s actually 32ºC!!
This cake is fantastic, i’m keeping the recipe!
Another milk question: Soy milk instead of regular milk ok, you think?
What’s this I see? A recipe in which barley flour is PREFERRED and not just a necessary but sub-standard gluten-free substitute? Awesome. We have some barley flour in our freezer and I have NO IDEA what to do with it. I do now, though. It’s not strawberry season upstate quite yet, but last year we picked 20 pounds at the pick-your-own place (in just the first visit–we always make multiple visits in a season), so I think I could probably spare a few for cake.
I made this last night and it is already half gone. Super simple, and my 5 year old little chef loved arranging the berries into the cake. I can see this made with so many other berries… such a simple base to fool around with! Yummy!
Can’t WAIT to try this!!!
Cake pan — No reason this wouldn’t work in a 9- or 10-inch springform or cake pan. I’ll update the recipe to note this.
Mariah — Yikes, good point! I’ll clarify that too. Thank you.
Swapping other fruits — Any would work. This cake bakes for a very long time. In that hour, any fruit would be done cooking.
OH MY GOSH that raspberry buttermilk cake is my favorite recipe ever because it is SO easy and SO good and everybody always loves it. Since this seems similar and I too freak out about strawberries and can pick my own right down the street, I will be making this shortly. Thanks for the post!!!
Made this cake to bring into work today and switched out the milk with buttermilk and didn’t notice any problems in terms of the cake not rising properly. That said, its delicious and I think the little extra tang doesn’t do anything but help.
Martha has a recipe for a very similar buttermilk cake with rhubarb. It has been a spring staple in my house and is delicious. You can find it on her site if you search: Marijane’s Rhubarb Cake.
Reminds me of a slump….
savour has a good one using blackberries
Main differences are white wine for milk
And an extra egg Plus a crumb topping
Mmmm that looks amazing! Beautifully summery. I have yet to find any truly good (as in, not simultaneously rotten/under-ripe) strawberries this season, but I’ve got my eyes peeled.
…delicious cake and wonderful images
This was delicious! Fortunately it is like summer here in the south of Spain and strawberries have been available from smallholdings (and big, nasty supermarkets) for a couple of months. They are perfect now, abundant, sweet and succulent. This recipe was a great way to use them, after my other half had scoffed a handful before I could stop her!
What about almond flour? If you don’t think it would work in this cake, is there something (preferably a cake) that you think it would work in? Thanks.
This cake is so pretty and looks delicious! I’ll have to try it
AMAZING blog!
I’m going to make this cake on Sunday despite the very HOT weather here in Italy…. which doesn’t make me want to use the oven ;)
I was wondering: is sugar necessary? I prefer not to add sugar with fresh fruit as it contains sugar already!
Got up early to make this for a late lunch here in Jordan. It smelled divine, and I could barely resist slicing off a piece before presenting it to my lunch host. But after presenting it, the cake was taken away and I wasn’t even offered a slice! I’ll have to make it again STAT just for myself.
Eating this right now. It is delicious. Unfortunately I only had a 9″ pie-plate, and it bubbled over and spilled everywhere. So, don’t make this in a regular 9″ plate! Will make it again though in a bigger dish! Its outstanding!
I made this last night and because I didn’t have enough strawberries, I added some blueberries in the empty spaces. I also added Saigon Cinnamon on top along with the sugar. It was delicious!!!! I am definitely going to try this with lots of fruit combos (strawberry and mango; golden raspberries and blueberries; fresh peaches…). Thanks so much!!
Hi deb – I have never posted but am a faithful follower. You have become my go- to for everything!!!
I made this cake last night and it is amazing!! Perfect summer cake that I will be making again and again! Thank you again for your amazing recipes!!
I made this last night and it was delicious. I used a 9″ springform cake pan and it worked perfectly.
YUM! I will absolutely be trying this soon! -^_^-
I read this post on Tuesday and promptly made it the same night. The cake turned out perfectly and I used the 9 inch standard pie plate. I can’t wait to get home from work and have another slice, assuming my husband doesn’t eat it all before I get there!
Besides the awesome recipe, this was one of your best written blog posts!! Thanks!
I made this just a few hours ago. It was so easy – I had everything I needed right in the kitchen (I bought a ton of strawberries at the farmer’s market over the weekend and was trying to figure out what to do with the last of them!). The batter tasted and looked delicious and it smelled great baking in the oven. It took me a little more time than an hour to bake it – more like an hour and 10 minutes. I used a round 9 inch cake pan because I didn’t have a pie pan handy. It looks very pretty but not as juicy and colorful as yours. If I make it again I think I will try to gently fold in some extra strawberries into the batter. All in all, a simple tasty little cake. I intend to have another piece with some whipped cream in a few hours. Or maybe like ten minutes.
It’s still cold here and actually snowed every day last week!
I have faith that spring will come and when it does, I am so going to make this cake!
Just made this for tonight and it came out beautifully! I used a regular 9-inch pie pan and frozen strawberries. Just a note that if you use frozen berries, it’ll take a bit longer in the oven. Thanks for another awesome recipe!
My family and I love strawberries. We can’t get enough of them and have them at almost every meal when they are in season. I can’t wait to share this with my kids they will absolutely flip for this.
Had some srawberries that were “on their last leg” and this recipie seems perfect. The cake is in the oven now, filling my house with a sweet aroma. Cant wait!
I know what I’m doing with my next CSA strawberries! If I can refrain from eating the whole carton in one sitting, which is what I did last week :)
Looks fabulous! One question regarding this cake as well as the pina colada cake of a few months ago–Why do you not use the “standard” alternate milk with flour when adding to the batter? When I made the pina colada cake a couple days ago, it seemed to turn out with a slightly muffiny texture and I am wondering if it is due to the mixing procedure. Do you think this makes a difference to the end result texture, or is that the intentional texture of the pina colada cake?
Made it last night and it was awesome!!! Thanks for sharing!
I was so excited to stumble upon both your blog and this recipe! My 4 year old and I LOVE strawberries and have been eating them as fast as I can buy them since last week. My husband and 9 year old don’t like them. I can’t wait to try this recipe tomorrow while my little one and I are home together!!
I made this last night and it wasn’t until I was already putting the ingredients together that I remembered that my mixer was still in storage move than 400 miles away. I made the cake anyway, mixing by hand, and the result was scrumptiously good ~ Thank you for sharing such a yummy and comforting cake. Oh, I threw in some wild blueberries that I picked last fall ~ visually beautiful for sure.
My very lovely friend made this for me as my birthday present. My little sliver of cake turned very quickly into 1/4 of the cake. So delicious. This is going to be in heavy rotation for the summer. I’ll try it with peaches too.
I made one with buttermilk and one with skim milk. Both were tasty, but, the one with buttermilk had an off after taste and did not rise as well as the one with milk. NO worries, both will be eaten, but my observation. Also, I made a mistake and kept the oven at 350 the entire time and it was okay. I want to try this with blueberries and maybe add a crumble top.
thanks for answering my question Deb!
i’ve been craving strawberry shortcake for the longest time, I wonder if this is a good alternative?
Yum! I have quite a few strawberries that need to be eaten…and why not bake a cake! :-) Looks devine.
Made this last night. Three adults and a toddler scoffed it down this morning. The toddler ate more than I did. It was delicious, although probably not as good as yours. My cake was a little tough, I don’t know why. Also, I used too little sugar on the top, and the berries didn’t fully turn into jam. Next time I’ll use more. And there will be a next time. I’m already plotting more with cherries, peaches, and mangos.
Just made it! Soooo good and sooo easy! Love :)
Interesting idea though hard to beat shortcake for strawberries though this looks great. Just made berry cobbler that has pretty similar ingredients. Nice to have spring/summer here!
Made this today with anemic strawberries from the grocery store (given all the rain in Seattle, I’m not sure we’ll ever get strawberries this year). 3 boys completely silent, except for the occasional “thanks Mom, this is really good.” Yummy AND you made me look good. Thanks!
I just made it from strawberries that arrived in my CSA box. Very tasty (though I might take your suggestion on the less sugar next time)….
Made this tonight. Wasn’t crazy about it. The cake was a little tough and really was just like a giant muffin. The strawberries did not turn jam-like, although they did get soft. I’m not a fan of Martha Stewart’s baking recipes, so I’m not surprised that this was just OK.
This looks fabulous and I will try it this weekend.
Deb, I have been making your cakes and other recipes. Those wonderful successes have given me the courage to try other recipes. Because of you, I am finally being called a good cook- at almost 50 years old!
Thank you! Thank you!
I can’t wait to go to the farmer’s market and pick up some fresh strawberries to make this! It looks amazing!
This is a bit of a random question but can you define what you mean by a ‘coffee cake’? I noticed that you call this a coffee cake and I have come across other American recipes for ‘coffee cake’ that don’t contain coffee. In England coffee cake is always a cake made with coffee.
Dear Deb, made it finally last night on a 10” springform cake! Heavenly delicious! Cake was even this morning fluffy and lovely for breakfast! :) Thx!Thx!
Made this last night, and was more then pleased with the results. I used the less sugar variation, and felt like it was perfect. I am resisting eating another slice for breakfast with my coffee before my family wakes up.
Hooray! I made this last night after stumbling across your brilliant blog and the results? Well, I have brought in the leftovers to work and my boss is ready to tuck in at 11am! We have had such a dry spring that berries and abundant and very cheap here in England – wahoo!
made this yesterday and it didn’t last the evening! so good – thanks deb!
That’s a great photo of the strawberries in the batter before it was baked. I think I would have finished it before it reached the oven…
I made this last night in a 9 inch pie dish with no overflow. I’m definitely picking up more strawberries from the market this weekend!
I made this last night also. My kids helped and in was SO much fun. My son, 13, cut up the berries and my daughter,7, read the recipe and dumped ingredients into the bowl. It was THE BEST cake I have had in a long time. I ate two pieces and it’s rare that I break my one serving rule. Yummy. I baked it in the 9 in. dish and it was fine and I also cut back on the sugar in the cake as suggested. It was perfect. Thanks for sharing.
Made this yesterday with cherries… and it was soooo good. I cut back on sugar as suggested and it was perfect (used it on top : crunchy !!). Thanks a lot for sharing :)
I made this cake yesterday to celebrate strawberry season. I took your advice and used the barley/ap flour combo. It was divine. This recipe is going in my “keeper” file to be made again. I love the creamy interior texture, soft syrupy berries and the crispy sugar top. Thanks for such a great recipe.
Alex — We call coffee cakes almost any single-layer cake, often with fruit or nuts or streusel, sometimes served at breakfast. It’s a wide range. Essentially, cakes that are not layer or birthday cakes. They’re rarely made with coffee in them, just traditionally served with it.
Lisa — I’ve done that a few times to make it a fewer- (or single-) bowled cake. I often try it with the standard alternating of wet and dry, then without it, and if the crumb or texture isn’t superior, do not then burden readers with extra steps. I wish more recipe writers would do this, and not just follow standards.
Melhill — Interesting. I thought a slump had a biscuit or cake batter on top of the fruit. I thought this was closer to a buckle, with a cake batter beneath and fruit on top that ends up buckled into the cake. I don’t mean to quibble over terms — I just love all of these funky fruit dessert names so much, I am trying to learn them.
This cake is devine! I made it last night and blogged about it this morning:
http://effiesfoodblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/simple-strawberry-cake.html
I LOVE this blog – every recipe makes my mouth water. Thanks so much for the inspiration! Effie x
Anyone have any thoughts on baking these in cupcake/muffin tins for individual servings? I have a work party tomorrow afternoon and this would be great as little individual cakes!
i pressed the strawberries too deep down and no strawberries could be seen from the surface :( my cake didnt look as nice as yours *sobsob
Update: made this with the very firm, just OK-tasting, supermarket strawberries. They became soft, but not jammy. and stayed on top of the cake. The cake is delicious, but I suspect local berries improve it dramatically. We will try again with soft peaches because they are available down here.
Any suggestions for using up the barley flour?
looks so good… this will be my first homemade cake :)
Pretty! I’m a sucker for fruit cakes/pies/tarts (and I can see from all of the comments that many people are too).
I haven’t found ripe summer fruit in stores yet, so I’m still in a French pastry phase: macarons, madeleines, and brioche.
I have to say that I’ve followed your blog for several months on the recommendation of a friend. I’ve seen several recipes that piqued my interest, but this strawberry cake had me in a fit. I borrowed a deep dish pie plate, paid a stupid amount of $$ for a pound of strawberries and have never been so pleased with a new recipe!! It was so simple to make and so delicious!! Being so inspired, I tried your blueberry muffin recipe while the cake was baking and now, you have me hooked!!
I just wanted to say thank you Deb for your continued dedication to this blog! This recipe will be the fourth (after Rosanne Cash’s potato salad, your peanut sesame noodles, and chocolate toffee cookies, all of which were absolutely delicious) I attempt to recreate and am thoroughly excited. Seriously when your cookbook comes out I am SO getting it. Are you going to do a tour to promote it? Come to Toronto?
I love the comment about summer looking at NYC and saying “pbbbblt!”…so true! This cake looks delish and super summery. The strawberries I’ve been buying have been MASSIVE and would look lovely a top this cake!
oo, that does look veryvery good! it reminds me of a clafoutis, but with more butter…mmmm….your strawberries look wonderful too!
We just pulled it out of the oven. The house smells AMAZING…and I’m trying to wait until my daughter comes home from school so we can share…and I really don’t think I’m going to make it. Thank you so much for sharing!
I made this cake last night and it was delicious! I used a regular 9″ pie dish (not deep dish) and it puffed a bit mid-bake and spilt a tad onto the oven floor but then baked down and ended up being perfect. Everyone ate it last night and it was gone in about 15 minutes with people saying how good it was. I topped it with vanilla bean whipped cream. Thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to try it with other fruits!
Our son is come from college and our trek to the pick your own farm is usually a part of our welcome home. Today, we picked 20 lbs of Jersey strawberries and your yummy cake just came out of our oven!! Thank you for the inspiration!
Have a wonderful summer friends of SK!
I love the idea of more fruit than cake batter. Definitely going to try this:)
Deb, you are an absolute genius. I made this last night, and my husband and I simply swooned over it. I think I’ll bake another to bring to our friends’ house this holiday weekend. Thanks for consistently sharing such a delightful variety of excellent, innovative, and seasonal recipes.
I made this cake, and one that swapped the strawberries for peaches and the vanilla for about a tablespoon of amaretto. Both were fantastic, thanks for sharing!
What a wonderful post, Deb! I love your writing and the cake looks AMAZING. I’ve been wanting to make it since the day you posted it. I finally went to WF today and – of course – they had every imaginable flour except for barley flour. So I bought pot barley flakes and hope I can just grind them in a food processor – like rolled oats and oat flour.
One thing though – and this really isn’t that important, but I noticed it and thought I’d point it out. If I’m using both flours and am using the cups measurements I’d have 3/4 cup (94g) of all-purpose flour and 3/4 cup of barley flour. But if I’m working with the grams you’ve listed, I’d be taking away 75g from 188g, which would leave me with 113g of all-purpose flour. Not a huge difference, but 20g more than if I’d measure with cups. Or should I up the barley flour by 20g? I’m completely aware that this won’t make or break the cake – but I also know that you love accuracy so I thought I’d mention it.
I’m glad it’s not just me! I look like I’m bringing home strawberries to feed a huge family, but really it’s just my husband, 18 month old daughter, and me. I can’t help myself :) I’m making this tonight! Thanks for the recipe.
Yeahhhhh! Our strawberries are just now blooming, but this cake has already spoken for them.
I tried this cake last night! It was amazing! The only problem is that it doesn’t work so well with a 9 inch pie pan, I think the deepdish pan would work the best. Im going to try it again tonight and put it in a sqaure pan, I can’t wait to see how it comes out!
MMMMM! Looks yummy!
I will have to try and make this.. wish me luck! :)
Abegail
I just made this using fresh strawberries that I froze weeks ago (I live in Florida, so our strawberry season has been on for months) but thawed before using. I got started on the recipe and realized I was out of white sugar, so I just replaced it 1:1 with packed brown sugar. It was so fabulous that I don’t think I’ll even be trying it with white sugar. Also, I used a regular 9″ pie pan, and it fit perfectly. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Who is excited strawberries are in season??? I am!
This recipe will forever replace my shortcake recipe. Its amazing.
gorgeous, the strawberries are already gone here in Charleston, blueberries are next!!
Hi Deb,
I made this and it was good… but texture came out very soggy. Anything I could have done wrong?
I made this cake few days ago….wonderful, however did not read the directions correctly (duh!) and cooked it at 350 for almost the whole time it was baking…still spectacular!
Made this cake tonight….so delicious!!!
Good cake. I made it cutting down the sugar to 150 gr + 2 tbsp on top.
+ 240 g plain flour, of which half was fine cornmeal flour (in Italy it is called Fioretto, the finest corn flour basically). I coated the cake tin (23 cm) with butter and coarse polenta flour. I did not have any thyme, otherwise that would have gone into the cake too.
I have also added the zest of 1 lemon. I make something similar also using rasberries.
I am now playing with the idea of using half light olive oil+half veg oil.
excellent blog. u r doing a really good work
ciao from Milano
stefano
ps: the American cup sistem very confusing,I found charts with different conversions (cups to grams). I now resort to scoop and level and then weight all my ingredients, when using American recipe. I have found that 1 cup plain flour is between 150/160 gr
This looks so yummy and perfect for me to make for Memorial Day Weekend picnics! How do you think it would taste if I put some blueberries in there too… just to be a little more festive for this holiday weekend!
I made this cake and it is truly like eating creamy biscuits with fresh jam. It is simple and beautiful too!
Deb, what an incredible cake! Strawberries are my all-time favorite and now I know what I’ll be doing with the beautiful strawberries I bought yesterday. I was wondering I don’t have unsalted butter in the house. Can I use the salted version? If so, do I just eliminate the added salt?
I made this lovely, delicious cake last night. I had a taste right out of the oven. I had a piece after dinner. I had it for breakfast this morning. Good thing I bought 2 pounds of strawberries because I will be making this cake again over the 3-day weekend. It was THAT good. Thanks for another great recipe, Deb!
Gale — Use salted, skip the salt.
Stefano — The American cup system is very confusing! I would use 125 to 130 grams for a cup of all-purpose flour.
Jenna — I realized even as I was typing it that it would be a little confusing. However, the recipe states that you can “swap 3/4 cup with 3/4 cup or 75 grams of barley flour” — the 75 grams applies to the weight of 3/4 cup of barley flour. Of course, the clearest way I could have written it would be that you can “swap 3/4 cup or 94 grams all-purpose flour with 3/4 cup or 75 grams of barley flour”. Thus, I will update it with that now!
I saw this cake on Wednesday night at 8pm, after a long day of work. Despite a full sheet of cookies on the table, I stood up and made this cake anyway. We waited up till 10pm to get a taste of it (apparently I’m a slow strawberry-halver). It was totally worth it. The only thing I changed was to use brown sugar instead of granulated, because I love brown sugar and strawberries together. Thank you, Deb, for rescuing the languishing strawberries in our fridge and helping us turn them into something delicious!
I made this today using frozen strawberries (will have to wait till later in the summer to use fresh) and it was lovely. I’m now dreaming of all the other fruits I can try with the same batter in the meantime!
Made this last night to share with friends. Making it again tonight to not share with anyone. Delicious! Thanks Deb.
I love this cake–it’s as beautiful as it is delicious. In fact I made it two times in one day (for two different groups). The second time I added sliced rhubarb along with the strawberries. It was a great, tart edition to a sweet cake.
Made this last night. Really good and very easy! My pie “plate” is the blue Emile Henry which will make this a perfect red/white/blue dessert for the 4th of July!
I love this blog! I also love your strawberry cake. I made it last night and it was delish. Also, i made it in a 9″ regular pie plate and it worked perfect, but took a little extra time to get the middle done. Thank you for your delicious recipes!
Made this cake last night. It’s really yummy. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
It tastes even better the second day, when the strawberry flavor has completely permeated the cake! I wish I had known that before we had eliminated all but 2 slices… Can’t wait for the cookbook, Deb!
Hmmm. . .maybe I put in too many strawberries? I used a 9″ deep dish pie plate and it was quite close to overflowing. Not to worry, it wouldn’t be the 1st or last spill in my oven! What a fabulous cake. Gone in 24 hours. Everyone loved it. Guess I’ll be making it again this weekend. You may have to stop putting yummy baked goods on your blog. This is really no good for my diet! I’m looking forward to using this recipe throughout the year with different fruits.
Thanks for the recipe. I baked it for our neighbor’s 90th birthday and everyone commented. He loves strawberries and anything homemade.
Smitten,
“The batter buckles around the receding berries, which dimple like a country quilt.” I’m with TJ–your writing here is rising to a level that straddles between prose and poetry! Must be forced development born of producing your cookbook–whose time in the ‘oven’ I’m hoping is about complete. Can’t wait! Brava!
Question?? I’d like to make my cake in that lovely red and white 9″ dish? So festive for the summer holidays. Where did you find it?
this looks so summery! i want summer now, too bad it feels like november here in vancouver :(
I’m making this (hopefully) awesome cake right now, but it has swallowed all my strawberries! They have totally vanished! Though I guess it will still be yummy. :)
I made this cake today, it was wonderful! (Yes, was, as in not much left after everyone had at least two servings). Living in Germany, I´m always struggling with your cups and ounces and inches, but it worked out just fine in my 26 cm springform… Thanks!
Just made it and it was amazing! I subbed butter for olive oil, mainly because i didn’t have any butter but it still tasted good..
This is so what I’m going to do with my glut of strawberries. I’m going to make a mini one though, just for me and the boy. Or maybe I’ll just be done with it and be all greedy?
I made this cake in a regular 9″ pie pan and it made it (just barely) without flowing over. Cut up into cubes and brought half to work. Success! The strawberries I got from the store weren’t the best but it turned out fantastic anyways. Thanks for your no-fail recipes!!! I’ll be making this again soon.
This cake is in the oven now, baking away, and it smells HEAVENLY. I wish I hadn’t promised it to an old friend, but I’ll just make another…maybe for the party I’ve been invited to Sunday. Ordinarily I am a sadly forlorn baker (though a pretty good cook), but this looks and smells fantastic. Had good luck, too, with a lime yogurt cake yesterday. Is that your recipe? No matter. This one I tasted, and the flavor and texture were just amazing. I may be “growing up” where baking is concerned. Nothing would make me happier.
I made this and it was PERFECT served with plain yogurt.
I love that the only picture of the entire cake, finished, already has a slice missing! Too bad I should have jumped on this recipe last week because now I have no interest is leaving my oven on for that long!
Just sent wifey off to shops to get ingredients can’t wait to try this…so much interest in such a simple cake…it looks awesome.
Cake came out great though, unfortunately, my strawberries didn’t sink as much as yours. Made it tonight and it’s almost gone. Both my sister and mother asked me to make it again right away. Thanks for the great recipe.
No berries at Union Sq today. Harumph. Went just to have some for this cake! Going to use a mix of Shoprite berries and rhubarb. We’ll see how she goes!
Best.Cake.Ever. I made this cake yesterday and it was worth it just for how it made the house smell. Luckily it tasted even better. I made it with skim milk and used 3/4 C AP flour and 3/4 C whole wheat pastry flour. Since I’m definitely going to have to make it again I’ll be interested to see if using a milk with higher fat content makes it even better (not sure how that is possible). Also need to track down barley flour. Thank you for the perfect timing of the this post.
I made this cake to take to work and it was a smash hit. Thank you so much for a wonderful recipe!!!
I made this tonight and am as pleased with it as you promised I’d be. I did used all A/P flour and reduced the sugar to 3/4cup. Fearing it might not stand up to the strawberries that were (deceivingly) not entirely as ripe as they looked, I tossed the berries with a tablespoon of vanilla sugar before cramming (not all of) them on the top of the batter. I still sprinkled the sugar over the top, but only about 1 1/2Tbsp. I love how the berries got so nice and soft yet didn’t bleed all through the cake. The bonus was the sugary, crunchy/chewy cake top; I loved that! This will be a handy little visiting cake this summer. Thanks, Deb.
Looks healthy and yummy! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
We had a plethora of strawberries, and chose this cake to celebrate a huge milestone last night. Wow! There were compliments aplenty! I hope to make it tonight with the bounty of blueberries in my fridge.
But one quibble: It lasts up to 2 days, loosely covered? Ha! Not in this household. I’m not sure there is a crumb of evidence left :) (not that I’m culpable in its disappearance, lol)
Thanks for sharing this recipe and your delightful story.
I made this on Thursday for something Friday evening. The batter was so easy and delicious! I should have kept it more loosely covered in the fridge, because it got quite moist on top, but it was a huge hit! There were 15 people, I cut in into 16 slices and there were only two left! Thank you for ANOTHER foolproof recipe :D
Thanks for clarifying that! :)
I made the cake yesterday using slightly less sugar in the batter and it was absolutely delicious!
This cake is perfect. Simple, easy to make, and it looks delicious. I’ll try adding other summer fruits (like blueberries) the next time I make it. As Deb suggested, I added a bit less sugar to the batter and it tasted great. (The sugar sprinkled over the berries gives it a nice crunchy top.) Thank you for sharing!
I made this last night for the very first dinner party in our new house & it received RAVE reviews – thank you!! It was so good, in fact, I just made a second one for a BBQ we’re going to this afternoon. Looks like this may be my go-to summertime dessert :-)
Hi Deb,
I am a first time commenter, but a long time reader of your blog and maker of your recipes! I made this last night for a dessert for our company, and everyone LOVED it! I am curretnly keeping a list of 1,000 things I am thankful for, and wanted you to know that Strawberry Summer Cake was #418! Thanks for your work, creativity, and blog! I am thankful!!
Just took this cake out of the oven and have already burned my mouth about 17 times trying to eat it before its cool.
I made this and the aleppo cornbread for my boyfriend and I to take away this weekend.
We already ate a chunk of the cornbread too!
I’m making this later, so I was just popping by to see who had made this and what they thought and I caught this comment:
“No, I do not have an assistant, to read comments or even run out for milk for me when I forget. Reading comments takes a long time throughout the day but it is an honor to have people visit who are enthusiastic enough to share bits and pieces about themselves.”
Aaaand this is what makes you the most awesome long-time blogger. Ever. The great food is a bonus on top of the simple fact that you are a truly kind person. Thank you for what you put into this, Deb. :)
I’ve made this cake twice now in two days. Even with only supermarket berries, it came out great. The first I made with only oat flour, and it was a little crumblier than I’d like, but still tasty. The second I made for a potluck with all-purpose flour, and it was lovely. Thanks again for another winner!
the cake is GORGEOUS, and so yum. Just an FYI, it *really* didn’t work too well in the regular 9″ pie form for me – bubbled over into the oven. But for me? Totally worth it for this cake.
I’ve been drooling over this blogpost all week, and I finally made this cake today. It smells great! (But alas, I’m saving it for our guests tonight. This is hard.) I used a 9.5 in pie plate, and it is just big enough (barely). I took your suggestion to use a bit less sugar, and I’m sure it’ll taste wonderful. Either way, it LOOKS gorgeous.
I made my cake yesterday, intending to bring it to my father’s birthday bbq tomorrow. It took well over an hour after I reduced the heat of the oven I’m thinking the temperature must have been off. It looked lovely yesterday (though not as stunning as the one pictured, my berries were not as ripe) but today it looked a little soggy and my berries not so appetizing. So I just cut myself a slice and decide to make another tomorrow! It was delicious despite its appearance. Maybe I should note that I made this with the barley flour, lower sugar amount, substituted almond for dairy milk and earth balance for butter because I am allergic to dairy. Can’t wait to see how it turns out second time around. Thanks for sharing this!
Ohh also wanted to add that the sort of outer crust it forms from the carmelized juices and sugars is AMAZING!
I made this cake tonight with the last of the week’s strawberries. It was perfect. Not only was it perfect, but it tasted like summer, used up some dying berries, and took me all of 10 minutes to throw together. IDEAL SUMMER CAKE. *eats another slice*
Mine turned out very pretty (I used a 10-inch vintage dish, so it’s flatter than yours on the picture). I am saving it for tomorrow’s picnic. Thanks for sharing.
I made this tonight for family and friends and it was a huge hit – all gone. I used buttermilk and added some blueberries into the batter and it turned into a kind of awesome cobbler. Yum.
This is fabulous and just screams ‘Summer’ … I love it! So pretty n’ fresh. Can’t wait to make this. Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
The strawberries I bought for the cake didn’t survive till baking time so subbing in raspberries instead… looking promising thus far. So excited! Can’t believe how easy this was.
Yes! I know now that I’m going by the nice grocery store (for superior produce) tomorrow! Yum!
My roommates and I just finished a whole cake! I added blueberries instead and sprinkle 1Tsp of sugar. It was soooooooo good. I think this is going to be my weekend breakfast for a long time.
Made this for our cookout tonight and it’s gone, gone, gone. AMAZING. Can’t wait to try with all sorts of different fruits over the course of the summer.
Went to the market for the last of the strawberries, but they were gone and all they had were the first of the blueberries. I made this with blueberries and it was scrumptious! Thanks for the recipe.
Follow-up to my comment above (336): The cake turned out great, but didn’t look like yours did inside. My batter was much thicker (probably because my butter wasn’t quite warmed to room temp), and as a result, the strawberries didn’t sink inside the cake. Instead, I ended up with a beautiful, moist white cake, with the strawberries sitting perfectly on top. Although it turned out great, I’ll definitely be more careful with the butter next time (and there will be a next time)! I’d love to taste those gooey strawberries that you described!
Thanks for another fantastic recipe. I made this today and everyone loved it. It was so easy to do, but tasted like it came from a gourmet bakery. I trying to come up with another reason to make it again.
I stopped by the farmers market in Palo Alto this morning and bought the fresh strawberries, and the finished cake just came out of the oven about 20 minutes ago. Result: MAJOR win. My wife’s response: “This is *orgasmically* good.”
As others noted, I used a 9.5″ dish which just barely contained it — glad I didn’t have a 9 incher. And I used the barley flour, which was a great call.
Works v well with apricots
Gorgeous!!!
We’ve had summer weather here in GA since March..( my orchids that normally bloom in August have already bloomed) so the organic strawberries are plentiful. I’d never used barley flour either; I’m a fan now. Thanks so much for inspiring us to try different ingredients and for blogging about it in such a fun way~ you’re the best.
I brought this to a cookout this weekend and someone else had brought the same cake! Bringing the same dish is even more embarrassing than wearing the same dress but both cakes were very delicious!
Looked pretty and recipe fine, but tasted a bit like a big muffin.
ok, the strawberry cake lead me to citrus and then to the adorable key lime mini cheesecakes from 2 years ago….is it possible to actually freeze the cheesecakes? Do they still taste and keep their shape after thawing?
And I tried the strawberry cake, it is wonderful. Works also with whole wheat flower.
thanks for the recipes :-)
Hi,
Although I am an opera singer and have nothing to do with food (or do I? LOL), everytime I look at your pics I tell myself they are just amazing. Can you tell me what camera you use?
Thanx!!
Marie
I made this last night but the strawberries did not turn out all jammy and gooey dripping down into the cake…what did I do wrong? Perhaps the berries weren’t ripe enough? Other than that, it was fantastic! Thanks!
Made it today using rhubarbs and apples instead (some blueberries found their way into the cake too…) and sprikled chopped walnuts on top. It turned out delicious! Next time I’ll try the strawberry version.
I baked this yesterday and brought it to a pot-luck still warm from the oven. It was gone in the blink of an eye, totally upstaging a fancy-looking (but from a box) black forest cake. Whoops.
I’ve taken to substituting spelt flour for 1/3 of the volume of the total flour for all simple cakes. It gives such a lovely, moist crumb! Other than that, followed the recipe to a T.
This will be in the last-minute dessert rotation along with your Blueberry Boy Bait.
Any idea whether frozen berries would be ok? I used the last of our local strawberries, but have a few quarts in the freezer.
I made this yesterday with fresh from the garden strawberries. Topped with fresh made strawberry ice cream it was pretty decadent. This was the best use of the berries this year. This recipe is a keeper. Will use the cake with other fruit as the summer progresses. thx!
Beautiful cake! Perfect for spring, forget about summer ;) I love how light and airy this cake looks.
Excellent and super-quick recipe. Thank you for the tip re: barley flour. The texture IS incredibly smooth, so I am looking forward to experimenting with it in other cakes. I made this yesterday (in a 9.5 inch cake pan) with local strawberries, and we’re lucky to have half still sitting on the counter. I did lessen the sugar in the batter a tad, and used raw sugar for sprinking on top. This my favorite new summer dessert recipe!
This reminds me of the Finnish “pie” I discovered while trying to find something to do with a glut of redcurrants. That has oil and yoghurt in and no egg, which is something I like as if I cave and buy eggs (I’m a student cooking just for myself) I inevitably have large breakfasts for a few days after.
It definitely works with redcurrants and raspberries, and I imagine jam (jelly) versions for the fruit-poor could work. Now I’m thinking of Bakewell Tart!
The recipe’s here if you’re interested :)
http://www.ahousecallednut.com/a_house_called_nut/2009/06/red-currantraspberry-pie-recipe.html
& my pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/dichohecho/3786556662/
I made this last night – so good!! When I first saw it posted, I thought my kids might not go for it because they’re all about the icing. But we downed this cake in no time, and they’re asking me to make it again. It forms a great crusty top, which is really really good. Thanks!
Baked this just this morning. Made my house unbearably hot, as summer has decided to show it’s head finally in western New York. It is for dessert tonight but it looks, and smells, divine. Easier than easy. This would be so awesome with wild berries, or maybe some of the super Lake Erie peaches this fall.
Just made this cake (see the photo on my blog: instructionsforlife.tumblr.com) and it was DELICIOUS! I ate it as a breakfast coffee cake and it worked well for that. I would definitely go with reducing the sugar, especially if you have berries that are exceptionally sweet. Also, the cake puffs up quite a bit, so overlapping the berries wasn’t a problem for me!
YUM.. this looks delicious. I am a huge fan of the strawberry and cake combination. I’ll have to give this one a shot!
Oh! I totally did a ’strawberries are here’ dance at the market yesterday morning. AND I bought way more than a single gal could hope to eat… on my way to the store for barley flour, gotta do it right!
My lovely wife made this for me earlier today. Tasted lovely but I ate far too much!!
I live in GA and our farmers just started bringing out the peaches, so I made this with peaches instead…it was amazing!! As always your recipes rock!!
It turned out great!!! I’m really a very beginner chef, but I decided to take up the challenge because I just bought a bunch of fresh strawberries. Very easy to follow, and reducing the cup of sugar was a great adjustment. Thanks!!
THIS WAS FABULOUS!!! I love desserts in general, but this cake has to be one of the best cakes I’ve EVER eaten! Brought it to a BBQ today and it was gone within 5 minutes flat. Everyone raved about it. Think I might have to make it again tomorrow!! Yummmmm…..
I made this today for our Sunday dessert. I had run out of vanilla so I used almond extract instead – oh my. I am having a very hard time resisting a second piece.
merino — I haven’t tried freezing them. If other cheesecakes freeze well, I suspect they will too. But save the mango garnish for when you are ready to serve it.
Elle — Ripe berries definitely help. Recently picked ones, too. A lot of the grocery store berries were grown for shelf stability and long shipping times… they bake just fine, but don’t break down as much.
Julie — 1,000 things! I am impressed. And can’t argue with any list with strawberry cake on it.
Mary Jo — Mine is a knock-off of an Emile Henry deep dish pie plate (all the EH ones are, but not labeled as such, fyi). I got it years ago, cannot find it anymore, when a $50 pie pan felt too rich for my blood. That said, people love the Emile Henry ones, so perhaps one day I’ll save my pennies and find out why!
As I just said to my husband- “This is such a Nicole cake”. This is EXACTLY the kind of cake I like to eat. It was totally perfect.
If you love this, I will do everything but insist (ok, I’ll insist) that come cherry season, you try this: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/fresh-cherry-cobbler/Detail.aspx
It is unforgettable.
I made this today as my family came into town for Memorial Day weekend and it. was. delicious.
It was quick and easy and I did go back for seconds. This is the second recipe I’ve made from your blog and I can’t help but want to dig around for more!
I just have to read through your comments on how to chill or… heat? for if I save it instead of eat it the same day.
Thanks!
Wow, I see I am not the first person to admire this beautiful cake :-) It is just gorgeous, a beautiful use for perfect, in-season strawberries. I moved to Israel recently and we had a long and glorious strawberry season that is just ending now. I’ve frozen some just in case I come across a recipe – like this one – that I simply can’t resist. Thanks!
Update: I found barley flour while on business trip here in Hong Kong! Now I’ve got to try it out in this and see why you give it so many brownie points.
Its really a delicious cake! My version can be seen on
http://nadelundgabel.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/jammy-strawberry-cake/
Sadly the strawberry season in Germany comes to an end, but I will probably try this recipe again with different kinds of fruit during this summer.
Hi, i just wanted to tell you that i had a big success with this cake, as ususal! i m a big fan of your blog, and every recipe i ve tried so far was as good as announced and made a blast each time!
so thx for doing this
you rock!
I found malted barley flour at the Han Ah Rheum. Is this what you used? Whole Foods doesn’t carry it.
Hi cybercita — I think I found it at the WF on Houston. It was not malted. I think it’s from Arrowhead Mills.
Me, I never cook. I appreciate food, love to read food blogs, take photos of food but don’t cook. This cake inspired me. I made it and it was wonderful. My husband “the chef” was impressed. Thank you.
After the wife took me to the local U-Pick farm, we needed inspiration to tackle our 11lb haul! We made this cake and was gone before we knew it! It was delicious!!
I made this cake yesterday and GOODNESS GRACIOUS was it delicious. The whole kitchen smelled like strawberries, and the finished product was as beautiful as it was yummy – and so simple!
I used a 10-inch springform, buttered and floured (just to make sure there’d be no sticking). I also cooked it the full 60 minutes at 325F (70 minutes total). It puffed up quite nicely, and was perfectly golden on the edges.
You’re right, though, Deb – I think it’s just a tiny smidgeon too sweet. I’m going to try this again next weekend with 2 tablespoons less sugar. (I honestly think the sugar on top would make up for those two tablespoons perfectly.)
This is the fifth recipe of yours I’ve made and every one of them has turned out wonderfully. Thank you!
I made this over the weekend using cherries instead of strawberries since I was completely unable to resist buying from two different vendors at the farmer’s market. It turned out wonderfully and may have to make it again to use up the rest of the cherries. Or maybe that slab pie recipe… :-)
that child will be my undoing some day . . . those chubby, baby-dimpled arms, those eyes and that hair . . . swoon . . .
oh – and i just happen to have at least a pound of fresh strawberries that i picked this morning from our garden . . . i think The Professor might be as happy as Jacob . . . except that The Professor is 6′4″ and can actually see what’s on the counter . . . although he still puts his hand out . . .
Just made this and it looks & smells AMAZING! My kiddos keep asking when we can eat it. It was going to be dessert after dinner but I don’t think any of us will hold out that long! Perhaps a nice midday snack with ice cream on this very hot Memorial Day…..
Made this for a potluck picnic brunch today and it was absolutely perfect. I just wish I’d known about it sooner – our strawberries are just about gone here in NC.
I made this for a barbecue last night, and it came out great. I used a 9.5 inch pie plate, and the batter was barely contained but it worked. I also used oat flour instead of barley flour, and it brought a nutty sweetness that was really delicious with the berries. Thanks for finding this one Deb.
I made this over the weekend and it was DELICIOUS! Not too sweet and really brings out the flavor of the strawberries. I might try it with blackberries next time or a mixture of both! Thanks for the simple, but YUMMY recipe!!!
Thank u for your beautiful receipes!! this cake look so gorgeous! I’ll try it as soon as possible!
Delish! Loved the barley flour, only had fat-free milk on hand, it worked great. All gone.
Oh, MY!!! I routinely stalk your site, as I have a brand new baby at home, and this is my happy place to come here while he’s nursing and not falling asleep. :) At any rate, my super Hubby has made a number of your recipes for me. I actually made this the other day (when my LO was actually sleeping, as opposed to his normal pretending to sleep). So easy, so quick, so delectable!
SO VERY, VERY GOOD. You’re right…it did not keep for two days, because, well my DH and I are piggies. :)
Thank you! (and how in the world did you do this with a little one?)
Thank you for sharing this recipe. LOVE it! I made it for a bbq on Saturday and once the last piece disappeared, I immediately wanted more. Couldn’t help making it again for another bbq today.
This looks absolutely delicious, but it’s so hot out where I live that I can’t make it! I tried looking around for no-bake desserts, but many of them call for ridiculous recipes and seem like they are more hassle than it’s worth. Do you have any simple no-bake dessert recipes? Just something simple I could make on one of these 90 degree days that we’re having. Thanks!!
Came out beautifully, but I must say, forget the “good luck with that” on your do ahead part because we loved it far more on Day 2. It was good on Day 1, but absolutely awesome on Day 2. I think it was just that everything firmed up so nicely overnight.
Definitely making this again, at any time of the year, with whatever berries are in season. Great cake. Thanks, Deb!
Okay–my first Deb recipe disaster. Made this in a ten inch glass pie plate and as we speak, the batter with strawberries is bubbling over the side. My DH just turned on the exhaust fan ’cause of the smell of goo burning on the oven floor.
I made this last night and it was INCREDIBLE. I baked it in a regular 9.5″ pie pan without any issues, though I didn’t end up using the entire pound of strawberries just because there wasn’t enough room to smash them all in. I think I’m going to try mixing in chopped up pieces of the leftover strawberries next time around — this cake was so good that I don’t see how extra berries could hurt it! It’s similar to a really great strawberry shortcake.
Despite the 90+ degree heat in Philly (definitely summer!), I turned on my oven to make this cake TWICE this weekend. It was destroyed within minutes at both parties. I used rhubarb for some of the strawberries the second time around, and that bit of tartness might have made the whole thing even better, if that’s possible. First time in a 9″ regular cake pan, which was perfect for the recipe as written. Second time in a 10″ cake pan, and I scaled up the ingredients by 1/2. There was more cake to fruit in the 10″ version, but that didn’t hurt at all. I have declared this the summer of the Magical Strawberry Cake – thank you so much for sharing!!!
This was an amazing cake. I made this the other night for my husband’s pre-birthday cake (I get roped into a three day birthday because his is always on Memorial Day weekend.) Instead of whip cream, I used lavender ice cream and topped it off with rhubarb compote. We swiftly ate it and I made it again the next day. It was incredibly hard making a better dessert for his actual birthday.
As soon as I saw this recipe I knew I wanted to make it. I convinced my mom to buy some extra strawberries when we were shopping for dinner and decided to take the plunge tonight. SO worth it! We served it with some fresh whipped cream… and I will definitely be eating a piece for breakfast.
Doesn’t hurt that it feels kind of healthy too… with all the fruit. Yes, I’m playing some Jedi mind tricks with that one, but I’m hoping I’m not the only one that feels that way! Thanks for sharing. =D
I’ve been waiting for strawberries to come to my local farm stand just so I could make this – lucky me, yesterday was the day! The cake was super easy to make and absolutely delicious! I will get some whipped cream to enjoy with the cake that is left. By the way, I live on Long Island and found Bob’s Red Mill whole grain barley flour at my neighborhood IGA.
Nice!!! Made it and loved it. I was worried at first with how thick the cake batter was but it turned out perfect, following the recipe to the note. Moist tasty cake with kind of a crisp cobbler-like top and a great way to use (and present) fresh strawberries. Good enough to make it again 2 days later (which totally happened). Also, the pictures shown are spot on. Thanks!
I am definitely not alone in the sentiment, but it must be said anyway: I really loved this cake! Just wanted to add a note about a few substitutions I made which worked for me. I used 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 white, honey instead of sugar (maybe a bit more than a 1/2 cup? I’m guessing because I hate to measure honey due to the mess it makes), and about 4-5 tbs yogurt instead of the milk (only because I had no milk). The cake was sticky and rich, and probably denser than yours (judging from your pictures), and my family and I thought it was really good. Thanks again for another great recipe!
Made this cake this weekend, 9″ pan, and it was absolutely delicious. I had some leftover strawberries as many others did, next time will just drop them on top or something. Not that munching on the rest of them was any hardship. Can’t wait to make this for my mom!
I’ve tried it last Tuesday when my sister in law came to visit from France. We all thought it was delicious and finished it within two days. I had full grain wheat flour in my pantry, so I swopped this for the barley flour. Also, I only had medium sized eggs, so I took two instead of one large one. Unluckily, most of the strawberries sank to the ground. May this be due to the two eggs?
Made this for a Memorial Day BBQ and everyone loved it.
SO GOOD! I made this cake yesterday and it was WONDERFUL. To me, it tasted like a sweet biscuit with strawberry jam built in! YUM.
I made this cake for my Memorial Day BBQ. It was really good and the entire family loved it. I did not have barley flour, but will definitely try it next time. I think the cake had the perfect amount of sweetness, but I also think it would depend on the sweetness of your berries. I really loved how quickly and easily it came together. I probably baked it a minute or two too long because the center did not seem to firm up (probably due to the amount of strawberries in the middle of the cake).
Love this. Looks so simple and delicious.
and yes..not all strawberries are created equal. Thos evil ones floating in the produce aisle in the middle of february are just a decoy. Sneaky little buggers, with their oh so alluring red color. Completely flat on the taste buds. Tricky.
Cake is delcious though. If I were a strawberry, I’d like to be baked in this cake.
I made this over the weekend and served it (warm!) to friends. One of them took a bite, sighed, and said, “This is a repertoire cake.”
I made this yesterday and it was a hit! Light and delicious. Loved it and will make it again as soon as I can get more organic strawberries!
This was a hit at a Memorial day party. My whipped cream didn’t whip (still a mystery as to why) so I served it with a lime glaze which was a fantastic counterpoint to the sweet berries.
Deb, this cake is amazing. Your description is spot-on; it does taste like little deposits of strawberry jam. I made it with just the regular flour and it was wonderful. I am so not a fan of strawberry pie, so this is such a great way to use fragrant berries in the market. Thanks so much for posting…
I made this Sunday and it as a smashing success! I’m another one who worked with a regular 9.25″ pie pan and didn’t have a problem. I’ll probably make another one sometimes this week to take into work.
Thank you!
I made this twice over the weekend. One on Saturday (to test it) and one for a party on Sunday. I used 1/2 almond meal and 1/2 all purpose flour, and low-fat milk (what we had), and it tasted absolutely delicious. The only issue was that the strawberries sunk below and were entirely invisible on the top. I didn’t layer them the first time, so on the second time, I layered many of them (to make them higher). They still sunk below. We used a 9 in deep dish pie plate- very similar to yours. So, I’m not sure if it was the flour or the milk- or both… but I’d like to keep trying so that the strawberries stay on the top!
I made this on Monday and it tasted great right out of the oven. It looked more like Laurie Colwen’s Cranberry Nantucket Pie to me. I used frozen strawberries that were thawed and 1 cup white whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour. I added the seeds of half of a vanilla bean too for a bit of extra flavor. And used the less sugar option Deb mentioned.
It fit just perfectly into my 9 inch Fiesta pie plate.
But when we ate it again the next day, I found it a bit lacking. It was okay but didn’t know my socks off. So while this was good at the first eating, I am not sure I would make it again.
Thanks for making me SuperMom of the day again, Deb! Made this for my son’s birthday breakfast and was hailed in story and song. I can see, as per another devotee’s comment, that this batter IS the perfect springboard for any fruit and also possible streusel topping, but any way you slice it- and by the way, for our family of four yesterday morning, that only came out to about 6 servings-it’s the best coffee cake/any beverage/any time of day cake!
I made this last week for a get together. I ran out of granulated sugar so had to replace 2 T. in the cake recipe with brown sugar and then sprinkled the top with brown sugar too. It was delicious that way! I also only had an 8 inch cake pan to use. It made a nice thick cake that I was able to invert and put on a plate for serving. It was a hit!
This was a giant hit at my dear friend’s BBQ yesterday! Thanks :)
I’ve made this cake 4 TIMES since last week! I finally got smart and doubled the recipe and baked it in a 9×13 pan. Still warm from the oven with vanilla ice cream….pure heaven! Thanks for the great recipe!
I made this and didn’t like it much… but now that I’m looking at the recipe again, I see that I screwed up and put the berries on the bottom and the batter on top. The top looked golden and smelled delicious, but there was a yucky mushy layer between the cake top and the berry bottom. And the berries didn’t melt into jam. Oh, well — I’m not sure if I can bring myself to try it again.
I made this yesterday in a springform cake pan and substituted unsweetened vanilla almond milk for the whole milk. It wasn’t so fun being cooped up in my muggy Brooklyn kitchen but this recipe sounded like a perfectly light dessert to round out a meat-heavy backyard bbq. Everyone enjoyed it. I’m a total barley flour convert, Deb. It made all the difference! Maybe next time I’ll slice up some peaches…
I made this cake yesterday and all the strawberries sunk to the bottom during baking. I used all-purpose flour only. Believe me, it was still delicious . . . just not what the recipe intended. Any thoughts?
joyful success. this was the perfect ending to a fabulous memorial day brunch. who couldn’t love a simple summer cake like this with its intoxicating smell of the strawberries leading up to its unassumingly elegant presentation and that particularly tantalizing cakey texture that resides just below the slightly caramelized strawberries…and it was so simple that I whipped it up while the 8 other people who were going to eat it merrily tromped through my kitchen. We just so happen to have a weekend full of peach canning ahead of us and I can now tell you with total certainty that some of those peaches are destined for this cake.
@Sara (asking about baking this at high altitude) – I’m at about 5200′ and this came out great as is. It’s dense enough that it might be fine at 7500′ too.
Also, I concur with Deb that taking a touch of the sugar out might be good as this was a bit sweet (though still very good). And it worked great in a 9″ springform pan.
Torrie — I don’t think that the strawberries are really meant to stay on top. This cake is more of a buckle.
Sudhana — That blog is so awesome!
This is the first thing that has pried me away from your oatmeal cookies (the chewy AND the salted white chocolate versions)! I am now making it for the second time in a week. It is beyond stellar! I think about it 24/7 now; it’s that good. I am wondering how it would be with peaches since the strawberry season is so short. I think I’ll probably try it. : ) <(happy strawberry face)
I made this for a Memorial Day BBQ yesterday. It was so easy to make and turned out perfect! I put toasted coconut on top with some fresh whipped cream on the side. Everyone loved it! Thanks for the delicious and easy recipe!!!!
Very delicious and impressive – to look at, and to eat. Came out great in a springform pan. Used 1/2 oat flour and 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour and though I feared it might be a bit grainy, it had a delicious texture/chew…esp from the liquid of the strawberries baking and seeping into it. Also served it with whipped cream. Just a great cake that lasted a total of 1 day…great warm/room temp/cold (out of the fridge). I’m already looking for an excuse to make it again. Thanks for posting this recipe!
Thanks for the great recipes, Deb. You never disappoint.
Has anyone tried making a sugar-free version of this cake using a sugar substitute?
I made it too! I picked up some perfect strawberries from the farmer’s market on saturday and it turned out fantastic. Thanks for another fail-safe recipe. When is your cookbook coming out????
I made this and loved it! I’ve been looking for years for the perfect way to use spring strawberries (besides strawberry shortcake). I think I’ve found it. Thanks Deb, for another knockout!
If your blueberry cake is boybate, this is surely manbate. I made it last night and I’m pretty sure it convinced the love of my life to move across the country for me.
Ok, I must admit it. I am making this cake for the third time since you posted it. And my husband, 3-year-old, and I have eaten it by ourselves each time. I think I’m in love.
This cake is incredible and I’m so grateful to you for posting it! I’ll add my two cents about the sugar – I reduced it, as you had suggested, but I think next time I’ll bring it down even further – our local strawberries are sweet and delicious, and so I’ll take it down by another two tablespoons at least.
I made this cake with strawberries but it didn’t turn out as I expected, maybe they weren’t as ripe as they should be. Today I made it with frozen raspberries, that juice inside the cake OMG I think I’m in heaven :D
Made this using almond milk in a 9.5 inch pie plate using about 3/4c sugar, including the 2 T to top the cake, because I ran out (whoops) and it came out fantastic. This one’s a keeper, thank you!
Yum! Love the recipe. So great for summertime and thanks for sharing.
I made this last night and added rhubarb to the strawberries. What a tastey breakfast this morning! Thank you for a simple summer inspiration.
I just made this cake and it was really easy to do. It tastes good but 45 minutes in 325 led to a little dry cake, so next time I will test it before that. In addition I think that adding perhaps some lemon zest to the batter will “enhance” the cake flavor.
I will definitively try this recipe again.
Such a perfect summer cake!!
I made it with white peaches, turned out just perfect!
Looks like im gonna make it all along the summer with whatever fruit comes in hand.
Thank you so much!
Made this today and ADORED it. Brought it into the office and it was gone before 9:30 am. Used all regular flour (no barley flour on hand) and kept all the sugar. Only real change was that I used almond milk instead of milk, it was still great.
Definitely keeping this as my standard cake recipe- just rotate the strawberries out for whatever’s in season. I can picture it with blueberries, blackberries, maybe even mango…
Do you think this would work doubled on a 9×13 glass casserole dish?
I tried making one awhile ago but I couldn’t get it to look as good as yours. But aside from the looks, my kids and my husband loved your recipe. Thank you for this share and I would be looking forward to more of your tutorials.
Just wanted to know if there is any way to print recipies from your site with pictures. I love seing what things are supose to look like, and most of my recipies these days are printed from websites, so seing it in print helps. Any way you can tweek this site to do that, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for all your work and I really enjoy your blog.
You were right, Deb. The barley flour was a very nice surprise indeed! Very light and airy. I would have never thought to use this. Thanks for the great suggestion!
Svetlana — Yes, there is. There’s a print link at the bottom of each post, before the comments begin.
Melissa — Almost definitely. I’ll find out myself this weekend, but I think someone has already commented that they did so successfully.
Carolyn — Aw, congrats!
Cybil — Nooo!
Made it. Loved it. Great summer treat, with a little bite of cake and that perfect crunch on top with the sugar. Agreed that it would have been perfect to me with a few spoonfulls less of the sugar. Oh and I used my normal 9″ pie pan and had no accidents.
Yours looks soooooo much better than Martha’s!
I made this lovely cake with one-third regular unbleached flour, one-third barley flour and one-third almond-meal flour. It was wonderful and made me feel a tiny bit virtuous for cutting back on the gluten. I went somewhat generous with the butter and somewhat frugal on the sugar. I suspect this is a cake that would be difficult to ruin, almost no matter what you do. Superb summer recipe! Thank you.
Forgot to say that I made the cake with the intention of giving half to our neighbor. My husband, however, would not let me leave the house, once he’d tasted it!
LOVE it! This is my third time making it. I even made it once with “fake” butter and coconut milk (since my 3 month old can’t tolerate when I eat dairy), and it still turned out fantastic!
Question – Can this be changed to a chocolate cake by adding cocoa powder? Or something else? If so, how much? I’m not much of a baker, but I do love chocolate and strawberries. Thanks!!
I just made this, and I am enjoying a piece now. It is one of the best cakes I have EVER had, and so easy.
I have seriously made this cake 3 times since you posted it! Once for my family (we literally GOBBLED it up in less than 24 hours) and twice to give to 2 different friends (who recently admitted to GOBBLING it up in less than 12 hours!).
KILLER cake…’nuff said!
Well, here we go, another comment. I think its my 5th in 2 weeks which suggests i’m cooking, baking + eating ALOT. You my kitten friend, are making me fat! :)
So, I’m the gal that tried this with the only sad tin pie plate in the house and it was a disaster. Horrific, really. It bubbed all over everything and overflowed. Despite its sad looking state (use the larger pan) it is a bombshell of a cake and is DEEELISH…I’m gonna have to dig out my maternity clothes I think!
made this the other night and my family is begging me to make it again. this is one of the easiest and best cake recipe EVER. Thank you!
Made this for memorial day bbq. Everyone loved it. Used white floor as it’s all i had. Subbed the 1/2 cup milk for yogurt as i didn’t have time to run to the store. Kept the sugar as it. It was AMAZING. staying in the oven all 55 minutes. Served with handwhipped cream. Made it and out the door in a little over an hour.
Have now made this twice (I can’t stop buying strawberries!) The first time (last weekend), I only used 175 grams of sugar – lovely, but still a tad too sweet for me although that didn’t stop us from gobbling it all up. Made it again last night with only 170 grams of sugar. Perfection! Both times, I subbed in whole wheat pastry flour for the barley (I’ve got WAY too many flours already, I truly don’t need to add another!) This cake is fabulous at room temp for breakfast. Seriously, I cannot stop eating this cake! I used a 9″ deep dish pie glass pie plate and it took a full 60 minutes each time.
I just made this with some super-sweet strawberries. It looks so delicious. We’re having comapny over tonight, I can’t wait to dig into it! Thanks!
i’m on round two of this sucker right now….
Delicious! This cake was just perfect! Thanks for the recipe!
Hey Deb, this looks delicious, im totally making it for my birthday lunch today! I just wanna say im currently obsessed with this site..every recipe i make comes out perfect, besides i loooove reading your comments about em. I dont know if im your first international fan (live in Mexico).. im sure im not.. congrats! And if youre craving mexican food just tell me and ill send you the recipe ;).
Thank you for this amazing recipe! Love, love, love the cake!
I may be the lone dissenter, but… I actually much prefer the raspberry buttermilk cake to this one. My strawberries completely sank until they were resting directly on the cake pan beneath the cake, which made for a soggy bottom (heh). I also find the “cake” part of the raspberry cake superior to this one; it’s more tender and melt-in-your-mouth. Really, even though this recipe isn’t my preference (and that’s all it is, just preference), thank you SO much for reminding me of the raspberry one! :)
I made this yesterday for a moving party lunch today, and it turned out fantastic. I took your wonderings about sugar to heart and used only 2/3 cup in the batter and 1 tablespoon sprinkled on top. It was perfect; I couldn’t imagine it any sweeter. Especially since strawberries are at their peak, the less sugar helped the strawberry flavor to shine. Thanks for the recipe, and thanks for the less sugar suggestion!
This cake is not entirely cool yet, and it is already about 40% gone, between my husband and me (mostly me). We made it in a 9-in springform pan and it came out great after 10 min at 350 and 50 min at 325F. One of the easiest cakes I’ve ever made!
I have this in the ovn right now for breakfast tomorrow. I am actually making it gluten free and vegan. I used earth balance, egg replacer, almond milk, and my favorite all-purpose gluten free flour mix (from the book Free for All Cooking). Fingers crossed!
I made this for the first time as a dessert to take to a luncheon so I broke my rule of testing a recipe at least once before serving it to guests. I live in France and even with the difference in butter, flour and leavening, it was perfection. One of the guests runs a french patisserie and she begged for the recipe. First time I made it with local strawberries and today I made it with just-in apricots. It is divine.
I made this last night and it came out perfect. The smaller the strawberries, the sweeter they are so I made sure to use them. I can’t wait to have some for breakfast this morning. Yum!! Thank you!
Delicious! I’m going to try with peaches and blueberries as well :-)
This cake was a real crowd pleaser – I also added a little lemon zest to the batter and it made it taste a little lighter/fresher/more summer-y. thanks for the great recipe!
I made it this weekend and everyone loved it! I’m not usually a fruit-in-cake kind of person but I was won over when you described the strawberries turning into “puddles of jam.” It was delicious. And everyone to whom it was served asked me how I had gone about making a lattice – apparently the way the strawberries sank into the cake made it look like I had latticed dough on top. Nice unintended touch!! Thanks for the recipe!
I keep trying to make this cake. Everytime I make it, it just turns to liquid. What am I doing wrong?? What type of milk do you recommend??
-Joannah
I made this on Friday for some friends, and it is beyond awesome. Easy, yummy, and someone mentioned that it gets better with age. I polished off the last piece just now (Sunday) and that’s completely true. The problem is trying to get the cake to stay in the pan (and out of my mouth) for a couple of days to age!
Brilliant!
I made this in a deep dish pie pan for a colleague’s birthday and it was delicious and beautiful, even made with ordinary supermarket strawberries. Definitely a keeper!
I will just preface this comment by saying that I am not a chef, by any means. Made this last night for the toughest critics around, my Italian family….it was a hit-thanks! :)
I had to comment for the first time because this cake is SO FREAKING GOOD. I made it in a 9″ cake pan and had no problems. I also reduced the sugar as suggested to excellent results. I made it this evening, and pretty much polished off half of it. I have no regrets.
I made this for my roommate’s birthday and it was a success! I should also add that I’m a horrible baker, but was very inspired by the cake so I decided to give it a try, and I’m very glad that I did. Thank you!
I made 2 of these cakes on Saturday for the 2 BBQs we were attending. Both disappeared as soon as someone took the first slice. I was lucky to get some! I loved the cake – and so did everyone else.
I used 9″ pie tins and they just barely worked. I put a cookie sheet on a rack below in case there were any drips. There weren’t, but I think that was mostly just luck.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe! :)
Swapping normal baking flour with barley flour… that sounds really interesting. Have got to try that on my other recipes :)
I was successful! My problem seems to be that I used those huge strawberries from the grocer and they overflowed the pan. Thanks!
I don’t have a whole lot of strawberries around (we’re toward the end of Strawberry season down here), but I do have a bunch of NC peaches that need to be used up ASAP. I think I’ll try baking this up tonight if my puppy will allow me the extra time in the kitchen! I’m gonna throw in some cinnamon and swap in some brown sugar – I really love that flavor combination.
Very nice – it reminds me a bit of a cross between a clafouti and a sponge. I’m sure it won’t last long in our house!
Joannah — I’m not sure what you mean by liquid — the batter? The cake doesn’t bake? You can use any kind of milk. If you have whole milk, use that first, but it’s such a small amount that the above commenters have been successful with everything from soy to almond to skim milk.
OMG…so delicious! Used a 10″ pie plate and fresh picked strawberries. One of my favorites. This was the first thing I baked in my new convection oven and it came out so perfect.
I forgot to add that I used rice milk because I didn’t want the cake to be dairy, and it came out just fine.
Great cake. I made it today and blogged about it here. http://calcuttachow.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/strawberry-cake/
Just perfect, even at 9,000-ft altitude. Thanks for a great recipe Deb!
I made this last night! Since strawberry shortcake is my favorite, I was worried about the cake being a too-sweet version of it, so I dialed back the sugar by an 1/8 of a cup, used almond milk (all I had) and a splash of pineapple rum. Just in case anyone else is a die-hard shortcake fan, this satisfied the craving and then some. I have to admit with the whipped cream it was better than regular shortcake. *sigh* thankyou!
I made this cake with AP flour, skim milk, and substituted ground flaxseeds and water for the egg (we are not very good at grocery shopping around here). The flax gave it a little bit of nuttiness and I think it was even better with the substitution.
It definitely overflowed my 9″ round cake pan, though, enough that one of the berries fell out. I’d use the springform pan next time.
All I can say is this was delicious!
Very nice recipe. Thanks for enhancing my skill.
Soooooooooo delicious and just what was needed to give me a whiff of summer at the start of winter (am in Australia). Can’t wait for summer and sun warmed strawberries . . .
Until then, I used up the last of my frozen strawberry stock. Beautiful.
I used buttermilk aswell as I had some in the fridge and sprinked brown sugar on the top instead of white for extra caramelisation.
Another winner from Smitten Kitchen. Thanks
I made this last night for my dad’s birthday, which is today. I can’t wait to dig in! I made it in a 9″ springform with some gorgeous dark red NC strawberries. All of the strawberries stayed on top and they cover nearly the entire top of the cake. It is currently sitting on my counter – would it be better to refridgerate it? I can’t decide whether to serve chilled or at room temp.
I made this over the weekend. It was delicious. It was even better the next day, served with whipped cream. I used the full amount of sugar, and I didn’t find it to be overly sweet, at all.
Just to report in – I made it with no substitutions (except the lower amount of sugar) in a 10 inch cake springform, and it worked great and was delicious. It did sag a bit in the middle and the edges were a little tough, though. Has anyone tried mixing chunks of strawberry in the batter? I loved the cake, but wanted a slightly higher proportion of berry then I could get from just the top.
And Deb, I love your blog. Both the food and the pictures of Jabob, who is only a few months older then my little darling.
my mouth is watering……!!!
This was incredible! Made it with strawberries, blackberries and cherries, and everyone ate it all up. I had only 1/3 tsp of vanilla, so added 1 tsp of almond extract, which was awesome. I might make it with less sugar next time, not because it was too sweet, but because 1 cup seems like a lot of sugar to eat up so quickly!
This is a delicious summer cake with a lovely crumb. I swapped a third of the flour for spelt flour, thanks to a reviewer above, and also used cream instead of milk, since it was all that I had. The result was a cake with just a bit of a crust – really fantastic.
We had this last night for dad’s birthday. It was a hit, even with my husband, who, incredibly, doesn’t like strawberries. I had reduced the sugar by 3 or 4 tbsp and it was perfect – very shortcake-like and more biscuity than sweet. It was just the slightest bit dry, but that also added to the shortcake-like taste, and was most likely due to being in the oven a few minutes too long (I left it in for 60 minutes). None of my strawberries sank at all – they all stayed perched right on top. I’d eat this every day! Will definitely be making again.
I made this last night and even my son who hates strawberries (I’m wondering if he was switched at birth because that is just not normal) ate it up and asked for seconds. Thanks for a great recipe. My husband says it is definitely a keeper!
What keeps all the strawberries from settling to the bottom? I’m trying to put raspberries in a white cake and they always end up in the bottom after baking. Can anybody give me any sugestions?
Berry sinking has to do with the heaviness of the berries versus the thickness of the batter. Thicker batters and lighter berries sink less; thinner batters and heavier berries sink more.
Is there anything I can add to the berries or the batter?
I went strawberry picking on Sunday with my girlfriends and ended up with 5 lbs of strawberries, so this recipe was timely! I made the cake as written but added some lemon zest – it’s beyond delicious. I’ve been eating WAY too much of it these past few days (I’m keeping it at room temp under a cake dome, it seems to be okay after a few days), but it’s fruit, right? Fruit’s good for you! ;) Thanks for the great recipe – it’s such a fun, simple, delicious summer treat.
Just made this exactly as the recipe suggests EXCEPT I used mangoes, of which I have way way too many. And it turned out fabulous indeed. I cut the mangoes into pieces the size of a half strawberry. Some sunk and some didn’t, and I think that combination was excellent.
I made this cake in a pie pan and when I took it out of the oven it sank big time and the middle is all cracked up. Did I do something wrong?
Just made this cake. I used sour cream instead of milk because I decided that I wanted the tangy flavor of the sour cream to come through. It was super-amazing. Thanks.
My friend made this cake yesterday and we all requested the recipe. It was amazing! Thank you for including the barley flour idea as well. We no longer have food allergy issues in our family, but when we did I used a lot of “alternative” flours and still appreciate the variety in our diets. I can’t wait to make it myself! I have a feeling this will become a staple summer recipe for me. :P
Deb, is it just me or does milk and egg added to creamed butter and sugar = 1 curdled mess??? I so wanted this to work. Checking out the Joy of Cooking I understand that adding the flour to the egg and sugar to make a kind of crumb followed by the milk and egg mix would work better. I am going to try again this weekend, the picture looks so amazing, nothing like the inedible ’strawberry bread’ that I achieved on my first try.
I wanted to try this recipe, but only had frozen mixed berries in the fridge (blueberry, blackberry, raspberry). I also had some whole wheat pastry flour I needed to use up, so I mixed half all-purpose with half of the pastry flour and the result was delicious. Also, this combo doesn’t really need much sugar sprinkled on top–I barely used a tablespoon. I really liked how some of the berries sank into the cake (like little buried treasures–pun fully intended) and then created that delicious pie-filling-goo on top. However, I wanted to be true to the original, so I made it again tonight with fresh strawberries. Sorry, it was a disappointment. The frozen berries created the consistency and flavor I wanted. The strawberries were flavorless in comparison. Thanks, though, for the chance to experiment!
I don’t know if this is mentioned somewhere else in the comments, but I tried this cake in a regular (not a deep dish) 9-inch pie pan and would NOT recommend it. The batter and a few berries overflowed and there really isn’t enough surface area to even come close to distributing a pound of strawberries. Despite all that, it’s still very tasty–just ugly as sin :)
Yes. Yes. Yes. This is my new default for any situation where I need to bring a cake. The recipe as written worked absolutely perfectly in a 10-inch cake pan, although it did take slightly longer (about 10-15 minutes more, although I suspect my oven has been on the fritz) to bake. I wound up quartering some of my exceptionally large strawberries, and was quite happy that my nice even pattern of strawberry pieces did not sink into the cake. It did fall apart slightly when I cut it, but I blame this on not having proper tools (I wound up using the flattest large spoon I could find). Easy, perfect, and delicious. I can’t wait to make this for the next time I have dinner with my boyfriend and his parents.
I had to respond to this fabulous post! I made this dessert yesterday and it is gone today! My family of 5 loved it! It is so easy and such a perfect summer dessert. I can’t wait to try it with fresh peaches!
Moosey — It looks weird at first, but smooths out as you add the dry ingredients.
Finally made this, and just had to chime in…delicious. The cake is out of this world and I could be absolutely happy eating it plain, but oozy strawberries just make me unable to stop eating it. Not sure this cake will last the night…
Thanks so much for the awesome recipe! I made the cake last weekend and it is just DELICIOUS… with strawberrys freshly picked from the field!! wow. thanks for sharing
Hi Deb, new to your site, but it looks great!! THIS IS MY CAKE! Quite literally, I have been making this cake since it came out in Martha Stewart in 2005. It is probably my most famous dish! Because I live in Europe, where we simply don’t have strawberries most of the year, I tend to make it A LOT when the strawberries arrive — to bring to summer BBQ’s, playgroups, playdates, etc etc!! I modify the recipe slightly as well — I find that it’s too sweet so I dial back the sugar a bit. And I top it with demerera (raw) sugar instead of white. You get little crystallized bits that are nice. This cake is also called “Floor Cake” among a certain group of friends, since the one time I was bringing it outside and the bottom fell out of my springform and the cake crashed to the floor. I was gutted, but the host of the party simply scooped it up and served it anyhow (including a very clear preface by me that it had, indeed, been on the floor) The entire cake was eaten, without the blink of an eye. That is the power of the strawberry cake!!
cheers, stacy
This is perfection. I used a 9.5″ pie pan and it worked perfectly. I think anything smaller could potentially be disastrous. I used turbinado sugar on top and really liked the way it made a nice crust on the cake, but 2 tbsp seemed like a lot. I had a hard time telling when the cake was done as wherever I stuck my tester in came back with goo because of all the berries. My only disappointment was that none of my berries sunk. The batter was very thick so maybe next time I’ll press some of them in firmly. I also added a handful of chopped rhubarb which was a nice addition. I can’t stop eating it. So amazing.
Hooray! I’ve been stumbling around my usual sites looking for something delicious to make w/fresh strawberries. I hadn’t checked your site in a while and now I’m so glad that I did. I can’t wait to make this!
I made this in a springform pan after over-buying strawberries at the farmer’s market. It tasted even more delicious than it looked. Thank you- this is a new classic at my house!
I understand the strawberries get gooey, but is the cake itself also supposed to be a little gooey? Do I need to bake it longer so it’s drier like a typical cake?
Mine came out after 60 min still a little gooey in the center (the toothpick check was fine though). Is this normal?
Hi Deb– I made the pie in an ordinary 9″ pie plate… and it EXPLODED! Well, actually it oozed up and out of the plate… perhaps you should consider ‘un-suggesting’ the 9″ plate.
We are shamelessly in the process of enjoying this cake for breakfast – it’s amazing. So simple to make, the cake is soft and fluffy, and the strawberries are gooey and sweet. I baked it in a 10 inch springform pan and it turned out great! I was worried it’d be really thin, but it wasn’t. I only needed to bake it for 60 min total though (10 at 350 and 50 at 325)
I have made it THREE times last week hahahhaha, it was perfect! :)
For those wondering, this recipe does work in you standard 12 muffin tin and mix all the ingredients together in a messy mixture (i.e. not properly placing the strawberries). You just end up getting very soft cupcakes with extra gooey pockets of strawberry jam. In polite company, I’d likely pop them out of the cupcake liner onto a prettier plate. Otherwise, visuals are lacking but the taste buds and stomach doesn’t know the difference. :) Awesome recipe Deb! The batter was a little in excess of the muffin tin so I poured the remainder into a loaf pan which ended up baking in around the same time: 10 minutes at 350° and 40 minutes at 325°. Now my question is: Will this freeze well?
I’m wondering if I can freeze this cake? We are taking a vacation to the beach and I will need to make it several days ahead of time. What do you think? It looks AMAZING!!!
My brother and I just put this in the oven. We’re excited to see how it will turn out!
I’m loving this cake more and more every minute. Now is in the oven and oh my, it smells incredible! I found out about this blog in a Time’s article. My father was asking me to bake something with strawberries, and at first sight I thought this looks simple so I decided to give it a try. While I was mixing the ingredients …well it didn’t gave me time to think. It’s too, too easy.
Gracias!
PS When I was measuring everything, started to rain..
Thanks for another beautiful recipe, Deb. I read your blog several times a week and your recipes have never steered me wrong! Made this cake tonight and it is incredible. I subbed 1/4 c lemon-flavored greek-style yogurt and 1/4 c buttermilk for the milk and the cake turned out beautifully, lightly tangy underneath the sweetness from all the sugar and the berries.
I made this cake for tea. My guests were my paper’s Editor and his wife. Everyone had 2 slices each – even my non cake eating husband! I didn’t have barley flour but will look it out and try it with that in future too.
Hope you got my pdf of the page? Really excited about showing off your gorgeous blog.
Best wishes
Victoria
Made this yesterday (AP flour only) with just-picked berries. My batter was a bit thicker than yours, and it needed an extra 10 minutes in the oven, but it was divine. Yet another winner, what I’ve come to trust you for!
I made this this morning and used some leftover fresh blueberries I had, probably about 8 – 9 ounces. And I used a nine inch round, 2″ deep non-stick cake pan… it came out just fabulously! This is the second time I have made this (first time w/blueberries), and I think I like the blueberry version better. The barley flour is a *must* – it adds so much depth/silkiness to the cake! I am going to try substituting barley flour in more of my fruit/cake recipes!
I made this cake the other night, stuck it in the oven, forgot it about it, accidentally baked it for an extra FORTY MINUTES–and it was still delicious, if rather dark. Definitely a winner. Next time, I set a timer!
I made this in a 9 inch square baking pan and it worked perfectly. I’ll never make strawberry shortcakes again after tasting this cake. We found the barley flour in the grain bins at Whole Foods and it was just as you said – creamy, nutty, luscious. I can’t wait to use it again.
Oh, you are a goddess! First, found this recipe and made it and it is absolutely DELICIOUS! And then I read dozens of your recipes and today made the chana massala which was incredible. INCREDIBLE. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Thank you! Can’t wait to try the others on my long list. More Indian recipes, please!!!
yessssss! I just bought three pints of gorgeous new strawberries at the market (for 5$!) and my boyfriend doesn’t even like them much. Deb, you always read my mind. I really want to make this now. Nevermind that it’s 1.30 am on a Sunday.
I made this yesterday with the barley flour and it was divine! Interestingly enough, my batter was thicker and the strawberries all stayed on top (it looks from your photo as though some of the berries sank through to the middle of the cake). The cake itself took slightly longer to cook than recommended (extra 10 min or so), but the berries on top got roasted and slightly caramelized in the process (yum!) . We immediately started wondering what other fruits we could experiment with – raspberries, peaches or plums may be next. I love quick summer fruit cakes, my non-cake loving husbance has a second piece, and my 6 year old (who had been to 2 birthday parties the day before), pronounced it the “best cake ever”! (my very picky 4 year old refused to try it – but that just meant more for the rest of us :-) )
I made this yesterday with grocery store strawberries (some a little long in the tooth) and some leftover blueberries sprinkled between. Very good, but was a tiny bit on the dry side even though baked as directed. The batter was thick, and the berries stayed mostly on top. I also only sprinkled 1 Tbsp of sugar on top which was perfect. Next attempt I will cut baking time by 5 minutes.
Made this last night after strawbery picking. The berries this year are incredible, we could have picked for days! This cake was easy and soooo delicious-thanks for all your inspiration.
btw-are you planning on 5th year anniversary get together in september?
Elisa — Good idea! Maybe. It’s hard to find places in the city to plan things, however (I learned this when I tried a few years ago) esp. when you have no idea how many people will show.
Ely — Yikes! Will do.
Oh Deb! I’m obsessed with this cake, now. My boy and I have even less of a sweet tooth than you do, though, where cakes are concerned….so I cut the sugar down to between 3/4 and 4/5 of a cup in the batter itself. Also, I’ve made this twice now, and the second time I didn’t have enough strawberries so I did it with strawberries, sliced peaches and blueberries. Good LORD it was amazing. Thank you for my new favorite summer dessert!
By the way, I used 2% milk both times and it came out perfect, for anyone’s records.
I went to a bbq yesterday and my friend made this cake! It was spectacular. It was my introduction to Smitten Kitchen. I am in heaven!
Made this cake a few nights ago and it was AMAZING! But I did learn a few things and here they are:
1. Moosey – I had the same reaction! When I added milk, egg, etc. to sugar/butter mixture it looked like a curdled mess! I thought all was lost. But when I added the dry ingredients it looked like Deb’s pictures so I went for it anyway and it turned out great!
2. Take heed and just cut the strawberries in half and put into the mixture. I wasn’t able to fit the entire lb. of strawberries in the cake but I think it’s because I cut them up smaller so harder to fit all the pieces in. I wanted more strawberries in my final product so next time will try cutting them in half.
3. I made it in a 9″ pie plate and it fit perfectly. However, I wasn’t able to fit in all the strawberries so on my next attempt I’ll try it in a larger dish to be on the safe side.
I’m making this again for a friendly gathering in a few days. YUM!
my coworker told me about this recipe today. I gasped when i saw the lovely pics! 8 hours and 2 pints of farmers’ market strawberries later, I just popped it in the oven…countdown til the 50-ish minutes pass.
This was a good cake for some strawberries I bought that weren’t quite shining on their own. I swapped in 1/4 c ww pastry flour, buttermilk, vanilla bean paste, and topped with turbinado sugar. The amount of batter was perfect for a 9″ spring form pan (though I might prefer it in an Emile Henry pie pan I’ve got my eye on). The cake was a teensy bit dry, but my oven runs warm so next time I’ll keep a better eye on it. Thanks for a winner Deb!
I’m confused. In the update you say this would not work in a 9 inch cake tin … but it would work in a 9 or 10 inch cake pan … does it or doesn’t it?!
“This cake does not work in a standard 9-inch cake pan; it will overflow. Big apologies to anyone who learned the hard way! This cake would also work in a 9- or 10-inch springform or cake pan.”
Emma — Typo! It will not work in a 9-inch pie pan. It will work in a 9-inch cake pan, which holds more. I’ll fix that now.
So its in the over right now…
It smells absolutely delicious!
I used whole wheat flour instead though and since I am lactose intolerant, I used Soy Milk.
I added a little more than 1/2 cup because the consistency wasn’t…well it seemed too clumpy? Anyway!
I also took your advice on less sugar! I used less than a cup! Seemed sweet enough!
I can’t wait to eat it!!!
HA! pulled this out of the oven 30 min ago! It’s slightly warm, but I couldn’t wait…used the barley flour, as I love sweets with grit. Didn’t wait to whip the cream before I tasted it…it was deeeelishhhhusss. The thing I liked the most was the beautiful rustic-ness of the cake when it came out of the oven..very kuchen-like. I’m sure the barley flour made the crumb drier..that’s ok with me, as I can always make it moister with other substitutions (buttermilk w/addl soda, 100% white flour, etc etc), but I wanted to cook it first as written. What I’m thinking is, as the cake sits, the crumb might change…will probably taste even richer. I ate it warm, which I realize most of the time is a no-no with those cakes that have better taste/texture when they have sat awhile.
Another bennie of this recipe: it was FAST to put together…would be wonderful to serve to others in all its simplicity of taste and appearance. Other berries/fruits will do well with this cake batter, too. I used a deep pie pan that I always use for chicken pot pie, but I think a springform would be nice to use, so that it’s out of the pan to view.
I noticed that you amended the recipe to state that a 9inch pie pan will not work. I made this over the weekend in a 9inch aluminum pie tin and it came out great! No overflow (though I put a baking sheet under it just in case). I did use your recipe for self-rising flour instead of buying it, so maybe that’s the difference. But, I am planning on making it again the same way in two weeks. Anyway great recipe!
Made this today using a 10″ angel food cake pan. A little on the thin side, but sweet enough and rich enough that it didn’t matter. Sprinkled with powdered sugar and filled in the hole with hydrangea leaves and fresh, red, shiny strawberries. Really, really good, though I might double the recipe if using this pan again.
I have made this a couple of times now but have added a Merlot wine reduction. 3 cups wine, 3/4 cup sugar, zest and juice of a blood orange and a splash of port. Reduce to a syrup. Delicious!
Hmmmm…I’m with the commenter who questioned why her cake was a little gooey after 60 minutes (I finally took mine out after 65 minutes and still didn’t feel it was done.) Also: I simply couldn’t get it to brown on top.
Tasted good…but didn’t take it to my office because the first thing we do is “eat with our eyes”; i.e. your pix, Deb. I actually met a cooking instructor on the subway (she was bringing a carrot cake to the office. Is this NY or what?) She said that sometimes cooking with fresh fruit makes the results differ due to the juicyness of the fruit. What do you think, Deb. I soooo wanted it to turn out…who doesn’t like fresh fruit in their cake?
I made this Saturday morning and I have to say my husband was impressed. For something so easy to make it tastes so divine. The tart of the strawberries and the sweetness of the cake just meld so perfectly together! It lasted until the end of the day and went so well with coffee! Thank you so much, Deb you keep my kitchen interesting!
HI! My son (8yrs. old) and I just made this cake last night. SO easy and we had a blast doing it. We have not tried a piece yet (it came out of the oven at 9pm – when he was already in bed) so today we can indulge. (He did lick the batter bowl clean though) I’m gonna take it to work and share some too. I have a feeling I will be making this one again with different summer fruits. Thanks for the inspiration!
I made this for a luncheon last week — it was a HUGE hit! Served it with mascarpone whipped cream, but it is good without anything, too.
My 10 year old son loved it, too, so today I made it in miniature, using muffin pan/cupcake liners. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but it worked great. I doubled the recipe to make 24 cakes, used a 30 mm sized ice cream scoop to measure out the batter, baked for 10 min. @ 350, then lowered to 325 for another 25-30 minutes. There was a little leftover batter, so I poured into a greased small (8 in.) round ceramic baking dish.
Deb, this recipe is a truly a gem. I’ve made it twice (with some variations) in the past week, both times it was eagerly gobbled up with many appreciative murmurs. I swapped out the milk for cream, and some of the sugar for brown sugar, added thick slices of rhubarb and the zest of two oranges, and it was easily one of the best cakes I’ve made in a while. I love recipes like this that are simple and really allow the fruit to shine.
Ever since I saw this beautiful cake, I was on the look out for some local, sweet-little-gem strawberries. I made this and used buttermilk and white whole wheat flour in place of the barley flour. It reminds me of a cake that my husband’s dear family friend made in Germany. I’ve been looking for a recipe like this for a long tine. Thank you. It is fantastic.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I made it for my family at the weekend for post-barbecue dessert and they all loved it. It’s my new favourite cake and will definitely be my go-to summer cake. Thanks again for this and all the other wonderful recipes – it’s my first time to comment but you are my kitchen saviour!
It’s my week to host coffee and cake night for my friends and I’ll definitely be making this :) Thanks for the delicious recipes!
I’ve made this twice with just regular flour, but with almond milk, and it’s been as wonderful tasting as it is beautiful to look at! I’ve shared this recipe with several people who have raved about it as well. I’d like to try it with the barley flour next time, but keep forgetting to get it at the store. Thank you for this amazing recipe.
I made this cake yesterday. It was so moist and delicious. It only took me 20 minutes of my time to make this. Also very cheap desert on a budget! Just marvelous.
A good everyday cake. My US friends just said “it’s good.” but my asian friends, who generally find american desserts way too sweet and rich, said “mmm! It’s delicious!” The only change I made was using 1/2 cup white sugar + 1/4 cup honey instead of 1c white sugar. And I sprinkled ~2 teaspoon sugar on top after it’s done baking. =)
Either I didn’t put in enough strawberries or bake it too high for too short, but unfortunately my apt did not smell like strawberry patch. =( And I wish it taste more strawberry ish. Will try again with ~2tbsp strawberry puree in the cake nxt time.
Dear Smittenkitten,
This cake recipe was so great! Thank you so much. I just tried it last night in a 10 inch pie pan and it worked out beautifully. I took your advice and used less sugar and felt nothing was out of place. It looked a bit like a clafouti recipe, but I like the fact it has less egg and dairy than a typical clafouti recipe. Anyway, thanks again.
Just made this today and it is soooo yummy!! I think that I will make it again for the 4th of July with a mxture of strawberries and blueberries and a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar.
Also I was out of vanilla (gasp!) and subbed with almond extract. It paired seamlessly with the other flavors.
I added dollops of Nutella to the cake. I’m ridiculous…and happy. :-)
I made this cake this afternoon in a 9-inch ceramic, fluted, Emile Henry pie dish, according to all instructions. Dish was cooked in a convection oven at temps given. The berries all around the edge turned black. I’m not sure if they are burned, but they look a bit unappetizing. Any ideas what went wrong? My berries were very large and horsey, so I voted to cut them in quarters rather than halves. Is that the issue? Thank you very much for feedback.
I just tried this recipe a few days ago and loved the result. I had blueberries at home and tried it out with those and loved it. The cake turned out moist and flavorful and I especially loved the sugar sprinkled on top. It adds a great crunch to the cake.
I baked this cake today and it turned out perfectly. So simple, so tasty! I’m wondering how it would taste with almond extract. I think I’ll try that next time. How could it be bad? Thanks for a recipe I’ll be making many more time.
I made this today, and was happy how quickly it came together. I made the cake in a 9in cake pan, used 1% milk, weighed the ingredients and it came out well. When blueberry season rolls around, I may make this with those and lemon zest. Or perhaps it could be nice with the sweet cherries I bought today at the farmers market and almond extract. Thanks as always for sharing.
Mistakenly used a whole stick of butter instead of 6 TBS, and forgot to butter the pie plate. And still…it is PERFECT.
FWIW, I just made this with buckwheat flour subbing in for the barley, to excellent effect.
This is a fantastic cake. I’ve relied on Rose Levy Birnbaum’s Country Buttermilk Cake as my go to “cake to put fruit on” but this will be a new contender, especially when the apricots are ready for picking next month.
Thank you so much. I made this cake for my friends baby shower but used frozen raspberries (as it’s winter down here) and served it with a raspberry marscarpone cream. They loved it and I continue to recommend your amazing blog to everyone I can.
What a fabulous cake! I made it using oat flour instead of the barley flour, and added orange zest. my new favorite cake. thank you!
Oh my goodness! I just made this and it looks amazing. I am having friends over tomorrow night and I cannot wait to serve them this yummy dessert. Thank you so very much for this recipe. I have a wonderful homemade whole wheat banana chocolate chip muffin recipe if you would like it. Happy Baking!
I just wanted to mention that I was just at dinner with a group of girlfriends, and almost everyone at the table had made this cake!
I too am over-buying strawberries- cant help it they smell sooo good at the green market I have to buy them! Your recipe cam at the perfect moment- made this for a father’s day BBQ and it vanished! every one loved it. Thanks again for another AMAZING recipe!
I am probably going to use the cake batter for all the green market fruit I over-buy this summer, cant wait to try it with peaches (think I may try substituting almond extract for the vanilla)
This was hands-down the absolute favorite at my Mom’s house for Father’s Day dinner! I made it in a 9 inch square pan and it came out perfect. I’d love to try this batter with almond extract and pears.
Deb – This cake was amazing! I had a bunch of strawberries that were just starting to go past their peak and I was sad that I might have to dump them in the next few days, but I found this recipe and boy, am I glad I did. Yum, yum, yum! My bake time was considerably longer than what was recommended, though. I ended up having to put it in for at least 90 min and bump up the oven temp to 360. Weird, huh?
This reminds me a little of clafouti, the traditional french dessert that uses pancake mix and lots of fruit. Although this one is a little cakier. I would highly recommend you make a clafouti; they’re pretty damn good.
This was a HIT for Father’s Day – always a good sign when your dad, who doesn’t really love sweet things, keeps asking for more. Next time I’ll absolutely have to try it with our sweet Oregon strawberries. I just can’t keep avoiding them at the farmers market, and they won’t be around forever. So good.
This is my favorite cake right now. I have substituted flour for spelt flour and added peaches as well as strawberries, tastes amazing and is real light to eat which means you can eat more and not feel too bad, haha
This cake is delicious, perfect for showcasing strawberries, and oh-so-beautiful.
I used a 10 inch springform pan, as that was all I had available. It cooked for less – I just kept an eye on it until the edges were golden and a tester came out clean.
I will most definitely be making this again and again!
I posted about it here: http://thisistolove.blogspot.com/2011/06/strawberry-summer-cake.html
Funny thing – I read barley flour as buckwheat flour and it worked great in this recipe and it worked great. . . go figure.
Loved this cake. I made it in 8″ square pyrex and it was fine. Thinking I might try with super ripe peaches as well. A keeper!
Made this cake twice already – once with all purpose flour and once with a double recipe using half barley flour. Both worked well and now I love barley flour. The cake is fabulous on its own, but topped with the Rich Homemade Ricotta it enters a new dimension of flavor! Keep em coming.
I made it in a springform pan. As it cooled, the cake buckled and sank. But worst of all, when I undid the springform part, the cake fell apart. All along the sides, it simply collapsed. I used 1/2 cup almond flour and the rest white flour. Was that it? Was it my pan? Help!
I made this last night in a Pyrex 9-inch pie pan, and although it rose slightly above the rim while baking, it did not overflow for me. It looks beautiful, with the dark red strawberries peering through the cake like gems. I’ll be serving it for a picnic lunch for a belated Father’s Day. Thanks for the recipe!
Delicious! I’m making TWO more today…and I’m not even a baker!
It’s in the oven, teasing me. How do I wait an hour for this deliciousness to bake? Also, it’s so damn cute! Thanks for the great recipe! I love that it’s summery and beautiful but still simple enough for a dummy like me to make.
This is in the oven right now and I can’t wait for it to come out! For everyone who has trouble with the batter – adding cold eggs and milk to room temp butter will make it look as if it is curdled. I always try to take my eggs (and milk if needed) out of the fridge early so that they can warm up a little bit. I didn’t when making this cake today, and my batter still smoothed out and looked okay in the end.
I have been following SK for about a year now & I haven’t tried a recipe yet that I didn’t love (and immediately want to show off to all my friends!) – thank you for all the smart, sassy & small-space friendly recipes…
This cake was delicious & beautiful – I couldn’t NOT try it for a memorial day cookout. Now I’m just sitting here waiting for cake #2 to get out of the oven but this time I added lemon zest to the batter & blueberries on top – can’t wait to taste test!
Made this twice and it’s my favorite baked strawberry cake ever. I think it’d be lovely with plums, raspberries, apricots, peaches – just about any berry or stone fruit. I just adore this recipe!
By the way, I made it with almond milk and it was delicious. I need to round up some barley flour and give that a try, too.
I’m a total novice in the kitchen (last week I put dawn in the dishwasher… A foamy bath ensued…), so I’m intimidated by some of your posts. This one looked manageable, so I gave it a whirl. Voila– my three male roommates looked at me like I’d turned into Betty Crocker herself. Loved it! Thanks.
I made this yesterday in a bake and give paper ring pan (the one from King Arthur Flour) it fit perfectly, and baked all the way to the top w/o spilling over. I did have to add an extra 10 minutes in cooking time because the cake was about 3 1/2″ thick. Very very yummy!
Made this yesterday for dinner with friends and paired it with homemade vanilla bean ice cream and everyone raved. I even got an “It was awesome” from my husband! Thanks for the recipe – I can’t wait to try it with other fruits!
Deb – This has become my go-to this summer! I’ve already made it several times. We are having guests over who keep Kosher, and I’m planning on BBQing. Any idea how/if I can replace the butter with oil? If so, how much?! Any help is very appreciated! It’s too good not to make!
Dana — Usually, oil can replace the same volume of butter, i.e. 6 tablespoons.
I will certainly make this cake for July 4th. I think I may toss some blueberries in for the whole red, white and blue thing. A twist on the traditional flag decorated cake.
I made this cake the other night. I made a double batch and baked it in a 9×13 pan. Next time I’ll use a divided brownie pan; I think the maxium crust is really necessary in each piece. I really think it would make awesome, easy-travelling cupcakes, though.
Thanks for the cake pan/pie plate update–planning to make tonight with the last of our fresh Vermont strawberries! Got my barley flour and everythang.
Could I use buttermilk instead?
Overflowed my 9″ standard (removable bottom non-springform) cake pan while baking, but only by a little. Delicious! I agree on cutting down the sugar just a smidge, lovely as it is with the full cup.
I made this in a 10″ springform pan, because that’s the only round cake pan I have, and scaled up the batter by half. I also used orange blossom essence instead of vanilla, but did everything else by the recipe, and it turned out beautifully. I made it again today with fresh mango in addition to the berries, and added a splash of vanilla to my orange blossom essence and it was even better than yesterday’s cake.
I noticed you tried it in a 9″ pie pan and it didn’t work. I made it in a standard 9″ cake pan (well…my attempts at measuring it looked more like 8 1/2″) and it overflowed ever so slightly. I bake anything that’s super full w/ an old cookie sheet below it so, it didn’t matter to me. But there’s your warning. Also, all of the strawberries have no hope of fitting into that small of a surface area. Pie plates work better for layering the strawberries, for sure. And, finally…it took quite a bit longer to cook. At least 75 minutes in the cake pan! BUT delicious as always!
I just baked this cake in a 9 inch round cake pan, and it worked beautifully, but I do agree that all of my strawberries didn’t fit on top even with squishing them together. It looks gorgeous though!
Can’t wait to share with family tomorrow!
Oh Deb, thank you for posting this recipe. I love, love this kind of cake. I made one last weekend for a crowd, and it was delicious and succulent and everybody was so happy. The recipe is now making the rounds of my small circle of friends who actually bake in their New York City kitchens! (it’s amazing how few people bake, or know anybody who does…). On a technical note, I replaced the milk with yogurt; I baked it in a 9″ cake pan, and it flipped out easily after cooling.
King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour Blend is a blend of wheat and malted barley flours – perfect for making this absolutely delicious cake! Due to my daughter’s dairy allergy, I used Earth Balance and soy milk instead of butter and cow’s milk and it worked very well. For my dairy-eating guests (and myself!), I served it with pistachio ice cream. DIVINE! My daughter had her slice with chocolate sorbet and said it was “super awesome”. Can’t wait to make it again!
Summer has been slow to arrive in Vancouver, but I had been feeling optimistic when the first strawberries arrived at the local farmer’s market. Sadly, they were uninspiring. I decided to give this recipe a go nonetheless, and just macerated the offending berries in a bit of sugar first. I then followed the recipe, using 7/8ths of a cup of sugar in the batter and just one tbsp on the top. It just came out of the oven and I had to they a sample while it was cooling. Wonderful!
I picked a huge basket of strawberries from a local farm on 7/2, so decided to bake this cake for breakfast. I used my cast iron skillet because I did not have a deep dish pie plate. The skillet measures 9″ at the bottom and 10″ at the top. It worked perfectly. I did not use the barley flour and had a few berries left over after layering. Otherwise, no changes. Cake had a nice dark brown crust and golden top and was absolutely delicious served warm from the oven.
i made your raspberry buttermilk cake a couple of weeks ago, and this graced the table today, on the fourth of july. it was just as delicious, and though it’s similar, it’s also completely different. loved it!
We made this for the holiday weekend….. BUT we have a celiac disease sufferer…. so, we used gluten free flour and can I tell you it was still absolutely divine!! Thank you for this recipe! :)
This made a tasty, easy-peasy Fourth of July dessert. My strawberries sank more than yours did from the looks of your picture, but it was no problem; just made it a bit more of a “strawberry surprise” cake. Thanks for helping to minimize my time in a hot kitchen on my favorite holiday!
I made the mistake of storing the cake at room temperature but the next day the strawberries turned into awful purple-y bruised masses. It looks disgusting and it took some time convincing the guests that it tasted better than it looked. Eventually I served up my other baked good, a classic cheesecake that was instantly devoured. I’ll keep in mind to make this cake the day of next time, since i want to preserve the beautiful bright berries color but I think its still best to pop leftovers in the refrigerator if you have the room.
Catherine — That may have happened from using a baking powder with aluminum in it. I kept ours at RT for days and it never discolored.
Absolutely loved this recipe!Made it for the 4th of July weekend and people were licking their fingers! xoxo
I made this cake twice, once with small, freshly picked strawberries and once with large, store-bought berries. The cake is great either way but the smaller, fresher berries do make a huge difference that’s worth going out of your way for. As others have mentioned, the bigger berries float on top so it becomes a vanilla cake with strawberries on top, while the smaller berries sink in and become the puddles of jammy-goodness mentioned in the description.
I’ve made this cake all but one weekend since it was posted and it has been a ridiculous hit (the reason I keep making it). Yesterday I made it with blueberries instead of strawberries and it was equally as delicious and I highly recommend it! Thanks for a lovely summer winner of a dessert. I might try raspberries this weekend.
I’ve made this three times in the past week and it had received rave reviews each time (even the one I left in the oven too long and forgot to top with sugar). Thanks for sharing it with us!
Just made this cake – again! – and have to say how much we all love it. The house smells heavenly while it bakes and it tastes amazing. I don’t have barley flour yet, so I subbed white wheat flour, and couldn’t be happier with this cake. Thanks for another great recipe! And I love the name of it, btw. :)
Oh my goodess, if you bake anything at all this summer it MUST. BE. THIS. CAKE. The cake is buttery, moist, rich, and vanilla-scented and the strawberries are sweet and jammy, just like Deb said. Please come to my house and eat a slice or I will be forced to eat the entire dream myself (and because I made it on a Saturday morning while home alone…anyone wanna take bets as to how much is left when my husband gets home from work?).
I agree with Deb’s comment that the cake could benefit from a tad less sugar, so when I make it again (soon, VERY soon) I will use the 7/8 cup instead of a full cup. I also did not use her lovely suggestion for barley flour (just because I didn’t have any), but I did use half all-purpose flour and half cake flour (only because I had it and she mentioned that that the barley flour was similar to cake flour). Either way, this cake is UH-MAZING. And I can only imagine that it would be delicious with other summer fruits, such as fresh peaches. Hmmmm, I think I might have a few…
My wet ingredients also looked a bit curdled (comment #514 by Moosey), but I knew I could trust Deb, so I went with it. The batter came together beautifully when the dry ingredients were added. This cake is perfection.
Another staple in my home. Simple and delicious. Love this cake.
The strawberry cake was a huge hit at our neighbourhood 4th of July bbq. As a follow up, I am making the same cake, but this time with cherries. Will report back! Thank you!
I’ve made this cake three times since I found the recipe… I even have it in the oven now! What a great everyday cake and my boyfriend loves it! Thanks so much!
I’ve now made this cake 3 times (within like 6 weeks!), twice with strawberries and once with raspberries. Every time it’s been a big hit! So pretty and not overwhelmingly sweet. A great go-to recipe to bring to summer picnics and bbqs! Thank you!!!!
Just made this..it’s delicious! I followed the suggested baking time for cupcakes and they came out great!
Instead of mixing the berries in, I just scooped in the batter and put 2 strawberry halves on top. Then I filled in the spaces with diced strawberries. Came out moist and pretty!
I did it with chocolate chips and it was awesome!
I made this over the weekend and all I can say is WOW!! So moist. I paired it with vanilla ice cream and everyone loved it. Thanks Deb.
Quick note I baked mine about 15 minutes less than time suggested.
I just made this cake, it smells so good :) It was super easy and semi healthy in comparison to other baked goods! I can’t wait to try it!
i added some anise to the recipe to give it more of an italian flavor. very good!!
I made this last week with blueberries and pears. (Oh, the pears were heavenly!) I substituted 4 Tbsp of cinnamon applesauce for the same amount amount of butter and used almond extract instead of vanilla. The recipe fits perfectly in a 10 or 12″ ovenproof skillet. I’m baking another cake with nectarines right now.
My fiancé now thinks I’m the greatest cook in the world. Thanks!
I’ve been looking for a strawberry cake recipe – thanks for sharing ! x
I just wanted to let everyone know that I made this with King Arthur brand Gluten-Free flour and it worked very well. I didn’t change any of the measurements, just did an exact substitution. My sister and brother (both gluten-intolerant) were super happy and grateful to actually have a delicious dessert! They have asked for it numerous times already this summer. And best of all, it was super easy!
I don’t usually enjoy cake. I often hate it. Bbut as I hunting through the site looking for our next meal (I really eat with my eyes on this site), the strawberry cake announced itself to my husband, who turned around suddenly, looked at the screen, and said “oh wow, are you making that tonight?” How could I resist?
We used 3/4cup all-purpose flour and 3/4cup wheat, and decreased the sugar to 3/4 cup (light brown sugar) since Deb’s own admission was that the cake was a little sweet, and I imagine she has more of a sweet tooth than we do. We kept the two tbs sugar on top (dark brown). I baked it in an 8in pan.
It was incredible! I would probably bake it in a larger pan next time so I have room for all the berries (I ended up eating a few) and because the top layer of the cake was delicious, where the berries soaked the batter. Of course, the cake batter itself was absolutely wonderful, so the thick non-strawberry bottom was still awesome. It was a win-win situation.
“Did you make this? This is amazing!!! Can I get the recipe??”
“It’s on smitten kitchen!”
Made this for a bunch of boys and they loved it! Thanks for the recipe.
I tried this recipe this morning as my audition for a position at a bakery and it was a smashing success! The delicious, jammy strawberries and a dense but not-too-sweet cake were perfect!
I love this cake, and so does my family and everyone else who eats it. So far, I’ve made two for home, one for a BBQ and I took one to a friend’s house for tea. I use the lower amount of sugar (3/4-7/8 cup) and use the recommended 3/4 cup barley flour. I regularly forget the sugar on top. I’ve used strawberries, and also added a few blackberries. I’m about to make one with peaches. I serve it with whipped cream. It’s easy and wonderful!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for this recipe! I have made it 3 or 4 times this summer and it’s been a hit each time. Everyone’s always so impressed with the appearance and when I tell them how easy it is they’re all “eyeroll, shut up” and I’m all “no but seriously.” Ive thrown in some blueberries a couple times and they turned out great too! Next I want to try with raspberries!
My new favorite cake! I have made 3 in the last 2 weeks for different functions. Used a 10-inch spring form pan and that works fine, just thinner slices. Thank you!
I love that the strawberries are the star of this dessert–it’s a perfect recipe for the gorgeous summer fruit we have right now. The batter was so thick that it really reminded me of a brownie batter, so I think I’m going to experiment with some add-ins next time. Maybe an apricot and almond variation?
Deeeeelicious! I have now made it with strawberries twice, and tonight I made it with raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries and half white/barley flour. Both times I used 3/4 cup sugar as I like my desserts less sweet. The barley flour definitely adds something extra and somehow makes me feel better about inhaling the cake even though the same amount of fat and sugar exists…the games I play with myself *sigh*. I use a 9-inch square pan and it’s perfect. So aesthetically pleasing, it’s perfect for company.
I just made this but substituted the butter with applesauce! tastes amazing! Thanks for sharing the recipe :)
Very impressed by number of comments. Made this for the 3rd time tonight, this time with wineberries! What a great recipe this is. Thank you.
I have made this cake 3 times and twice it has turned out amazing.
Third time I think I got greedy. All 3 times I used reduced fat margarine instead of butter. Third time I thought I would step it up a notch and use baking Splenda instead of sugar (I’m on a diet). The wet ingredients curdled (which did not happen the first few times) and once I added the dry ingredients it became very thick and doughy. It looked like I was baking bread. I scooped it into the pie plate and it just sat in a lump. The first two times it was runny like cake batter. I forged ahead and smoothed it out and put the strawberries in. I used real sugar to sprinkle on the top. As it baked the top of the cake was covered in liquid from the strawberries. It was flooded like the batter/dough was repelling the water. I drained it off a few times because the batter was not cooking. When It finally cooked it was thick like bread by the edges and like un-cooked pancake batter in the middle. The strawberries didn’t even sink into the cake.
I don’t know what made the batter so dense. I have used Splenda in recipes before and it worked fine. I have racked my brain to make sure i didn’t use too much flour or forgot the milk or something. I think I did everything correct (Like I said, I have made this twice before). Anyway, from now on I will make this with sugar, diet be damned. It really is a great recipe.
I made this for a babyshower that I recently put on. let me say that there wasn’t much left after the party was over. :0) the secont time i made it it was perfect, and i doubled the recipe and put the batter in a 9×13 pan and it baked up perfectly and in a shorter amount of time.
I made this again last night, only this time, I used fresh blueberries. It is divine.
Love the recipe!
I made this three times with strawberries and all purpose flour, and am about to try it with peaches and the barley flour option.
Rita @433 and Matt @655,
I used granulated Whey Low (sugar substitute) for all the sugar in the recipe (cut down to 7/8 cup, per the suggestions above — Whey Low measures like sugar).
I did want the extra crunch of the sugar on top so I used regular course sugar for that. But you could skip that of course.
I strongly recommend Whey Low (sweetener made from whey). Not sure if I should link to it but you can google it. I have no connection with the company, and would never have heard of or tried it if I did not see someone raving about using it for ice cream on Chow.com or somewhere.
I use this product for baking and you really cannot taste the difference. This is the only artificial sweetener I would use. It comes in granulated, powder, brown formulations, and one just for ice creams.
Note: The only thing it doesn’t work for that I’ve tried is sprinking the powdered version on top of things — it just melts in. But I use it for ice cream, cakes, cookies, etc. to great effect.
I have been making this cake all summer. I started with strawberries and my husband said it was just like strawberry shortcake. Then I made it with raspberries and blueberries. Next I used just blueberries and my husband said it was like a blueberry muffin. Last I made it with peaches and it tastes like peaches cobbler. I’m going to try it with apples next.
I tried this cake and it came out delightful!
Made this for the 2nd time yesterday. First time was for a big family BBQ and yesterday was with my little girls “helping”. Delicious both times. My dad thinks the cake part tastes similar to the cake in pineapple upside down cake. All I know is it’s delicious and easy to make. Thanks so much!
I made this cake recently. It was pretty good but I am again reminded that the gods of high altitude rule in Denver and nary a strawberry was in site…they all sunk to the bottom and sort of created a jam base. Very good and all…but yours is pretty. Sob.
One of the reasons why I’ve been buying lots of strawberries at the farmer’s market this summer! I made this cake twice so far and each time, they never lasted a day. I’d turn my back and 2/3 of it would be gone! My friends and fam love it. The first time I added a few blackberries – love the mixed berry jam that forms. The second time I made it I pulled the cake out about 15 min early – resulted in a moister cake :). Thanks so much for sharing this. This is a cake I’ll be baking regularly!
I tried this cake with raspberries on top instead of strawberries. It was a disaster! The raspberries did not become jammy, instead they were dehydrated hairy little things that started to burn on the edges. So disappointing. I think I’ll try your raspberry buttermilk cake everyone else is raving about.
On a completely separate note, I LOVED the Dobos torte- thank you!!!
For those folks (like me!) who don’t have a kitchen scale, 450 g strawberries = 1 lb strawberries and according to the University of Illinois Extension website on strawberries, there’s 1.5 pounds strawberries in 2 pints or 1 quart, so that 1 and 1/3 of those 4″x4″x3″ boxes or 2/3 of those 5.5″ x 5.5″ x 3.25″ boxes respectively. Oh, and I’ve made this recipe three times with great reception. Thanks, Deb!
I’ve seen some suggestions in the comments about the (rather obvious, I guess) idea of making this cake with plums, but none that have reported actually doing so yet, so I here I come to bridge this gap…
I made the plum version last week – it takes about 8-10 plums or so, quartered and sliced (don’t go by weight, since plums are denser than strawberries so you’ll probably need different amounts to get a good coverage – just keep cutting plums and adding them on top until it looks good). Remembering that I was not crazy about the fruit-to-batter ratio when I made the strawberyy cake, I also used a larger pan (a 28cm/11″ springform, lined with baking paper), and was very happy about the result. The cake is a bit lower, but I feel that the fruit-to-batter ratio is much better, with a lot of delivious plums that mostly stayed on the top getting all jamified and wonderful. The slight tang of the plums also made a very good contrast to the sweetness of the dough. I am itching to make this cake again, and we haven’t even finished the last one yet!
I have this cake committed to memory because it is so good I could barely think of any other dessert that has turned my head like this one has this summer. That said, I came across another very similar recipe that uses peaches; it’s this recipe’s alter-ego! It is so good that I thought you should know about it, Deb. It uses 2-3 peaches chunked up instead of strawberries, has 1/2 cup ground blanched almonds (almond flour) instead of the barley flour, 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/4 tsp almond extract. It uses buttermilk instead of plain milk plus the usual 1/4 tsp baking soda added to the flour. Sounds a lot different when I say it here, but proportionally, it’s the same and the technique is too. It’s almost like a subtle frangipane in flavor but as a very moist cake. It becomes almost custardy, rather than jammy, around the peaches. it’s heavenly. From Savour at Food52, Simple Summer Peach Cake. Hope you consider it before peaches disappear for the season!
This is my new, go to summer cake. It tastes great, and is so easy to make. People are constsntly requesting I make this. I make it in a 9″ springform pan and serve it with a side of fresh whipped cream with a hint of Grsnd Marnier. Thanks for this great recipe. P.S. I learned the hard way that the standard 9″ pie pan doesn’t work.
this cake is so pretty! just finished making it for friends and family. i added a sprinkle of blueberries as well.
I have never seen a recipe with so many posts before! Here goes one more -
Our friend asked for “Strawberry Cake” when it was birthday time. As I googled around I was disappointed to see recipes calling for strawberry-flavored gelatin, oh please. Why I didn’t think to look here first…. anyway, thank you so much for what I’m sure will become a family favorite!
I have been making this cake all summer! It’s amazing! I have done it with strawberries, blueberries (with lemon zest in the cake), blackberries, and peaches. All are delicious but our favourites are strawberry and peach. I also subbed the egg with 2 tablespoons of unsweetened applesauce and used soy milk instead of regular milk. The cake turns out just fine, you would never know the difference. I did try it with the egg once and we actually prefer it with the applesauce because it’s a little more moist.
Just made this cake this afternoon and it’s very, very good.
The only problem that I have is that the strawberries sunk to the bottom of the cake and formed a (very tasty) soggy pinkish bottom, instead of the picture above.
Perhaps I overmixed the batter? I used a 9inch (24cm) springform and about 400gr of strawberries.
Did this happen to anyone else?
Just for the record. Made this last night with Italian prune plums from Union Sq. market (used a TON) and used almond flour instead of barley and almond extract instead of vanilla. A. MAZE. ING. I have made this cake a dozen times this summer. So incredibly versatile and WAY better than it has any right to be. I keep looking at the ingredients and going “Huh? why is this soooo addictively delicious??”
I have made this so many times now and every shot comes out PERFETTO! Grazi grazi grazi Deb! It’s so easy to make and comes together before you know it.
I use my 9 in wide 3 in deep pyrex casserole dish with perfect results.
I don’t sub the barley flour and now use it in practically everything.
Allergic to dairy so I substitute dairy free margarine (Nuttalex) and soy milk. When I add the soy the mixture curdles like crazy but bakes up with such a gorgeous crumb. I also reduce the sugar in the cake by half (I’m not a huge sweet tooth, but love baked goods).
I am just about to try with raspberries and am certain I will have the same, amazing results.
My sister & I made this cake this past weekend for our mom’s birthday. Although the selection of strawberries weren’t the ripest, the cake still turned out great!! Thanks :)
Just made this last night because we are about to come into Summer down here in Australia, I subbed in almond flour for the barley, and delicious!! Served it with vanilla ice cream, but next time I think I need to squeeze in more strawberries, thanks for the recipe, I am going to try make them in cupcake form, or maybe just in individual ramekins :)