I made that!

I don’t know about you, but I just learned what a buckle was like 12 hours ago. Once told, I needed to make one immediately. That would be now. It’s Monday, time for me to deliver some baked goodness to Etiquette Lounge. What better cake to go with coffee than one literally “buckling” under the weight of fresh fruit and streusel. I mean, what’s not to love?

First I needed to get my strawberries ready. I chopped them up and placed them in the freezer. Freezing them will help me later on, so that when I mix them into the batter, they won’t fall apart and turn everything pink.

Once my strawberries were tucked away in the freezer, I made my streusel topping. This one was really simple, I just mixed flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt with melted butter and stirred until it clumped together.

I set that aside while I made the batter. I creamed together butter, sugar and lemon zest. Then mixed in flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and the seeds from a vanilla bean.

I stirred in the strawberries and poured the batter into my pan.

I topped it off with my streusel and popped the cake into the oven.

Oh yes.

Luckily I now have a cafe to drop off my experiments, so John and I won’t be forced to devour this cake piece by piece throughout the day. Then again we should have a taste.

RECIPE (adapted from Carole Walter):

STREUSEL:

6 tablespoons butter

¾ cup all-purpose flour

⅓ cup sugar

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

⅛ teaspoon salt

BATTER:

1 ¾ cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

½ teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

¾ cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

¼ cup milk

2 cups berries, washed and well-dried

– Heat the oven to 350º F.  Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Line the bottom with a parchment circle.

– Prepare the streusel:  Melt the butter in a medium saucepan.  Remove from the heat and cool to tepid.  In a small bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, and cinnamon, and salt and add it to the melted butter.  Stir the mixture with a fork and set aside.

– Make the Batter:  In a large bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, baking powder, vanilla bean seeds and salt.  Set aside.

– Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and place it in the large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the lemon zest, and mix on medium speed until smooth and lightened in color, 1 ½ to 2 minutes.

– Add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, taking 5 to 6 minutes to blend it in well. Scrape the side of the bowl occasionally. Add the eggs, one at a time, 1 minute apart. Beat for 1 minute longer, scraping the side of bowl as necessary.

– Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, dividing the dry ingredients into 3 parts and the liquid into 2 parts, starting and ending with the flour. Beat just until incorporated after each addition. Scrape the side of the bowl and mix for 10 seconds longer.

– Carefully fold the berries into the batter using a rubber spatula, then empty the mixture into the pan. (Note: This is a very thick batter.) Spread the batter evenly, leveling the surface as best you can.   

– Take a handful of the crumb mixture and make a fist to form a large clump.  Then break the clump into coarse crumbs and sprinkle them evenly over the filling.  Repeat until all of the crumbs have been used and the batter is completely covered.  Pat the streusel gently into the batter.

– Bake for 50-55 minutes.  The cake is done when the streusel topping is golden brown and the cake begins to pull away from the side of the pan.  A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

– Remove the cake from the oven and let stand on a cooling rack for 20 minutes. Remove the side of the pan and let cool for 30 minutes longer.