I get so excited about strawberry season, it is the harbinger of all the good spring and summer produce to come. I spend an inordinate amount of time making jam and developing recipes to use those berries that I don’t devour right out of hand. And generally, I am trying to think of something new and different – a “twist.” But with this recipe, I am taking it back to basics. A perfectly simple Bundt cake, bright and fresh with strawberries and tender with buttermilk. Nothing complicated or new, just a really good cake that makes the most out of spring’s finest fruit. And sometimes, that is really all you need.
Reducing the fresh strawberry puree concentrates the flavor which is so important to a lovely dense cake like this one. A cake made with fresh strawberries (as opposed to the old-fashioned Jell-O and frozen berries in syrup kind) does not bake up a vivid pink, and can be a little dull or gray, so I do add a little food coloring to make the batter a pretty, bright pink, which will also mellow when baking so get the batter a little pinker than you want the final product. I use a hot pink gel food coloring, but red will work as well. The glaze made with fresh berry puree will be a lovely bright pink color.
Ingredients
- For the Cake
16 ounces fresh strawberries
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
5 large eggs, at room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup whole buttermilk
Red food coloring, optional
- For the Glaze
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 Tablespoons reserved strawberry puree
1 Tablespoon buttermilk
Directions
- For the Cake
- Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 12-cup bundt pan completely with baking spray such as Bakers’ Joy.
- Hull the strawberries and place in food processor or blender and puree. Reserve ¼ cup of the puree and pour the rest into a small saucepan. Bring to a low boil over medium high heat, then reduce the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced to ½ cup. It will thicken nicely. Cool to room temperature (you can do this in the fridge to speed it up).
- Beat the butter on high speed for one minute to break it up, scrape the sides of the bowl, then add the sugar, beating on high for 4 -5 minutes, scraping the bowl, until creamy and fluffy (it might be a little crumbly, that’s fine). Add the vanilla and beat to combine, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add 1 cup of flour, the salt and baking powder and beat on low to combined, the add half the buttermilk. Add the remaining 2 cups of flour and beat, scraping the bowl, then the remaining buttermilk and strawberry reduction. Add a few drops of food color if you like and beat on medium low until smooth and combined, scraping the bowl as needed. Crank the mixer to high and beat for 15 seconds. Spread the batter into the prepared bundt pan, then drop the pan on the counter to knock out any air bubbles. Bake for 70 – 80 minutes until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Set a wire rack over some parchment or wax paper to catch drips form the glaze, cool in the pan on a wire rack for ten minutes, then invert onto the rack and cool completely.
- For the Glaze
- When the cake is completely cool, sift the confectioners’ into a small bowl. Add the strawberry puree and whisk to combine. Add the buttermilk and whisk until smooth and the glaze had reached a pourable consistency. If it needs a little more sugar, sift it in, if needs a little more liquid add some buttermilk. Let the whisked glaze rest for a few minutes, then spoon it over the cake. Leave the for the glaze to set for a few hours, then serve. You can drizzle a little strawberry puree on each slice if you like.
Leave a Reply