Try as I might, I just can’t seem to motivate myself to bake anything that doesn’t involve strawberries this Spring. Strawberries are definitely the belle of the ball at the grocery store right now, and we are devouring as many cartons as we possibly can – with Greek yogurt for breakfast, plain for snackin’, all up in our banana bread. I think I’m officially obsessed.
This insanely simple yet so incredibly perfect strawberry sour cream streusel cake was one of those recipes I saw and had to make immediately. It combines three of my favorite things – in-season strawberries, lots of streusel topping, and a charmingly British name (the original recipe was called “Very Smart Strawberry Streusel Cake”, but I’m well aware I’m nowhere near charming enough to pull that off). The lovely Nigella Lawson never steers me wrong, and this gorgeous, rustic, lightly sweetened cake was no exception. It’s also absolutely genius – rather than making a cake batter and streusel topping separately, you just scoop out some batter for the topping before adding your wet ingredients. AMAZING.
This cake is my absolute favorite kind of dessert – one that takes great ingredients and highlights them in a non-fussy way. It’s more of an “afternoon snack” kind of cake, which means it doesn’t make you feel like absolute crap afterwards, and it’s almost muffin-y in texture (read: SO. MOIST.) It basically makes me want to put sour cream in every cake I ever make ever again. This is the perfect breakfast, snack, or light dessert for this time of year, and I can’t imagine a more noble way to use those glorious ruby red strawberries. Make this cake this year before it’s too late!!
- 8 ounces fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
- 3 tbsp. strawberry jam
- 2 tsp. cornstarch
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp. whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- 12 tbsp. cold salted butter, cubed (you can use unsalted butter, just add ½ tsp. kosher salt)
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 2 tsp. Demerara sugar
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. Spray a 9” springform pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a blender, blend the strawberries and the jam together until combined. In a small bowl, make a slurry of the cornstarch and vanilla, then add to the blender. Blend to combine again and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, both flours, baking powder, and baking soda until combined. Using your fingers and working quickly, work the chunks of butter into the dry ingredients until only small pea-size chunks remain. Don’t overwork this step – the butter should still be cold! At this point, take ½ cup of the batter and set aside in a small bowl. To the large bowl, add the sour cream, egg, and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
- Take a little over half of the batter and press into the bottom of the prepared pan, spreading a little bit up the sides (slightly wet hands helps with this!). Pour the strawberry mixture over the bottom layer of dough, keeping a 1-inch barrier of dough around the edges of the pan. Dollop the remaining dough over the strawberry mixture roughly evenly.
- In the small bowl with the reserved streusel topping, stir in the Demerara sugar until combined. Sprinkle evenly over the cake. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the top of the cake is lightly browned. Allow to cool completely before slicing and serving!
Adapted from Nigella Lawson via Food52.
It’s easy, fruity summer dessert time! More inspiration here:
Almond Streusel-Topped Blueberry Galette
Fresh Peach Cake with Bourbon Vanilla Whipped Cream
