Strawberry Buttermilk Cake
The Spring strawberries are starting to appear and they are just beautiful! Both in this Strawberry Buttermilk Cake and on it (in the form of a strawberry/lemon glaze) the strawberries are the true star of this cake. It’s very much in texture like a pound cake, but it’s stuffed with strawberries and hints of lemon and a teeny tiny titch of nutmeg.
I was at the market recently, craving fruit, when I spied a pound of the most beautiful strawberries I’d seen in a long time. Since I’d also been thinking of doing a lemon pound cake, I decided to combine the two.
This cake is the result and it was pretty darned good. Instead of smashing up the strawberries, I just hulled them and cut them in half. After the batter was made and spread in the pan, I poked the strawberries down into the center of the cake and baked it.
The glaze is a combination of some reserved strawberries that I juiced in my mini-food processor, some lemon zest and juice, and some confectioner’s sugar. It soaks into the cake, adding to the moisture, but also makes a colorful glazed surface on the top and drizzling down the sides.
Strawberries are happy fruits…and this is one happy cake. Try it.
P~
- FOR THE CAKE:
- 1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled and cut in half (about 6 reserved to juice)
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, brought to room temperature
- 4 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg, grated
- 1 lemon, zest and juice (the juice is for the glaze)
- 4 tablespoons buttermilk
- FOR THE GLAZE:
- Juice of 6 strawberries (reserved from the pound for the cake)
- Juice of 1 lemon (reserved from the zested lemon for the cake)
- Zest from ½ lemon (reserved from the zest for the cake)
- 2-3 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease and flour a bundt or tube pan.
- In the bowl of a mixer, with a paddle attachment, combine butter and sugar and beat on high-speed to cream.
- Scrape the bowl down after a few minutes, and continue to beat until fluffy.
- Reduce the mixer speed to medium and add eggs and yolk one at a time, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next.
- Once all of the egg is incorporated, scrape down the bowl, then beat the mixture on high for 10 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and half of the lemon zest, stir combine.
- After the eggs have beaten, turn the speed down low and alternate adding flour and buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour.
- Once combined completely, do not over-mix.
- Pour batter into bundt pan and spread out evenly.
- Push the strawberry halves into the batter throughout the cake.
- Place the bundt pan into the preheated oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake is golden.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
- Turn the cake out of the pan onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely.
- Place the cake on a plate or platter and spoon on the glaze.
- FOR THE GLAZE:
- Combine the juices and the remaining lemon zest in a medium-sized bowl.
- Gradually whisk in the sifted confectioner's sugar until the glaze is the consistency you desire.
