End of Strawberry Season
Snatch up those strawberries before they are gone and make this recipe. Seriously, hold off your hankering for pumpkin everything and have one final bite of summer. If you are already in full blown fall mode or the strawberries at your store aren't looking too great, make sure you book mark this and make it the first weekend of summer next year... like I did this year. Yep, I can't lie to you. I made this recipe waaaayyy back in May. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier but hey, here I am letting you in on the best dessert of the summer so you can have a jump start on next year. You're welcome.
For my annual Memorial Day cake or pie bake (check out 2010's pie) I decided to do Smitten Kitchen's Strawberry Summer Cake. I followed her recipe to the letter and as always with Smitten Kitchen recipes the end results were perfect.
This dough is simple to make and after the long baking time turns into something reminiscent of angel food cake - light and airy.
But the real star of the show are the strawberries. Lots and lots of strawberries. Strawberries that turn into gooey jammy yummy-ness after the hour cooking time. Strawberries that make this cake like eating a warm strawberry shortcake, but better.
The best way to enjoy this fabulous cake is with a dollop of fresh vanilla whip cream. The airy whip cream adds just a touch of sweetness to compliment the cake.
Making fresh whip cream is incredibly easy and so much better than cool whip or canned whip cream. Just whip together heavy cream, a little bit of powdered or regular sugar to taste - start small, a teaspoon at a time. You'll be surprised at how little you need. And then whatever flavoring you want - I used about a teaspoon to two teaspoons of vanilla extract. Almond extract would be another good flavor that would work with the strawberries. Or you could always just enjoy this cake with a dusting of powdered sugar. It's good enough that you don't need to dress it up much.
I'm toying with the idea of adding chopped strawberries into the batter to get even more strawberry jam taste. As soon as strawberries are back in season I'll report back with the results. I promise!
Find the recipe --> HERE. And follow it to the T.