Recipes

[lulu2]

I held off my review because I did not want to rain on the parade. I made this cake last week for a luncheon I had for a few friends. I'm not bragging but, I am known for my baking skills as opposed to cooking skills. Reading through the recipe, I thought about adding vanilla but decided not to. I think it would have made the cake tastier.

My only experience with baking with strawberries was strawberry/rhubarb pie with fresh summer strawberries. The strawberries I used were good but not exactly bursting with flavor.

The only real flavor came from the lemon glaze and I think there was too much.

The verdict from my gal friends was blueberries would have been more flavorful. Skip the glaze and serve it with homemade whipped cream and fresh berries.

[FunkyHulaGirl]

OK, I made the recipe using my floral pans, and it was a huge hit! I did take pictures...but until I find what the heck I did with the camera cable (or the replacement I just ordered from Amazon arrives) I can't post them yet. (I have to learn to keep the darned thing in ONE PLACE!!! When will I ever learn?)

Here are my comments:

There's not a lot of leavening in the ingredients (1/2 tsp. of soda), so I beat the butter and sugar for about 7 minutes to incorporate a lot of air, and I folded the strawberries in very, very gently so as to not deflate it I also added 1 tsp. of vanilla, since someone said it didn't have much flavor.

I got six cakes from the pan pictured above, plus six mini-bundts from a larger shaped floral pan. I think you'd get about 18 cupcakes, or 10 mini-bundts if you wanted them to be all one size, but I was in "experimental" mode. The smaller, cup-cake sized pans took about 20 minutes; the larger ones, about 30. (This is one of those cakes that you can tell is done by the smell.)

Since the batter was quite thick, and the pans have a lot of detail, I sprayed them liberally with Baker's Joy and used a spatula to gently "push" batter into the nooks and crannies. I filled the cups a little more than 3/4 full, and the slight dome that I got on the bottom was flattened out when I put the pans upside down on a cooling rack after removing the cakes from the oven and let the heavy pans "sit" on the cakes for a while before I lifted them off - I ended up with a nice, relatively flat bottoms. (Well, not me...my cakes! )

I cut the strawberries into very small pieces (a little larger than pea sized), so they'd be distributed throughout the cake and not fall mostly to the bottom as it looks like they did in the photo; of course coating them with the flour (after drying them off so the cake wouldn't be soggy) helped with that.

The cakes slid right out of the pans and were beautifully detailed. Rather than use the glaze in the original recipe I made a very thin glaze of powdered sugar, heavy cream (I had some that had to be used up; you could use milk), and strawberry extract (which gave it a pink tint). I poured it over the cakes while they were still warm so it would coat them, then I sprinkled them with different colors of sanding sugar.

OK, the most important thing: taste. For the person who said that the cake "didn't have much flavor," that's not quite true. The problem is in the NAME of the cake! When you hear "strawberry cake," you think of a cake that tastes like strawberries, but this is more along the lines of a chocolate chip cookie: just as you get a burst of chocolate when you bite into a chip, but the entire cookie isn't chocolate, you get a burst of strawberry flavor when you bite into a berry; the cake itself has a very nice, subtle lemon flavor. In fact, when I gave the cakes out today I told the recipients that they're "Strawberry Lemonade Cakes."

So all-in-all, this is a winner, although I think next time I'll use 1 tsp. of LorAnn lemon emulsion (you can also use lemon extract) in place of the vanilla extract to give it a slightly more lemony flavor. I'm thinking this would also be very, very good with diced peaches, and an almond-flavored glaze!

I'll post pictures as soon as I can; thanks for the recipe, Lola!

[LoLa]

**My apologies to anyone who tried this recipe and had 'less than pleasant' results. Whenever I post a recipe that I've tried and enjoyed my sole intent in posting it here is to share what I've found and hopefully you'll enjoy it too. Understandably, that isn't always the case. Nonetheless, I appreciate your feedback.

LoLa

Hi FHG,

Thanks so much for taking the time to write your review. I really love the idea of using those lovely molds. I can't wait to see how beautiful they came out. You obviously, are a very talented cook/baker. I enjoyed reading and learning about the methods that you used. I definitely agree with your analogy regarding the "taste" of this cake. It has a subtle hint of strawberry as opposed to a cake that would taste exactly like a strawberry. I really love the idea of using the strawberry extract in the glaze. That would be a great addition to this delicious cake.

Again, thank you so much for your feedback,

LoLa

[Irish Rosebud]

I made this cake two days ago. Because of the comments about the mild flavor, I changed the recipe instructions on the strawberries.

I used 1 quart of fresh strawberries. I diced them then pureed lightly in the food processor and added 1/4 C sugar, then let them sit in a fine mesh strainer over a mixing bowl for ~45 minutes, pushing them against the mesh toward the end of the time. I heated the resulting liquid, ~1-1/3 C, to reduce to ~1/2 C. Rather than mixing them throughout the batter, I made a trench in the batter in the pan, added the puree, then covered with ~1/3 of the remaining batter.

I used a glaze of confectioners sugar, milk, and vanilla on the warm cake.

I used Meyer lemon zest and juice.

Baking time was 55 minutes, and it just filled my 9-cup Bundt pan perfectly. I used Wilton Cake Release.

I was very pleased with the result, and DH liked it a lot, too. At the first bite, he said it tasted like lemon. I told him to taste some with the strawberry "tunnel," and he liked it very much. The cake was moist and dense. I will definitely make it again.

[RespectLife]

Oh Lola, You are so sweet but did NOT need to apologize!!!!! HUGS!!

Irish Rosebud...that pan looks beautiful!! I didn't know Wilton made a Cake Release! I am going to have to look for that! Thanks for sharing

[LoLa]

Hi Irish...

That is such a great idea to make a little ""well"" of sweet strawberries. I bet it kicked this recipe over the top! Your bundt pan is beautiful as well. Thank you for taking time to write a review. I love learning tips and techniques from all of you.

LoLa

[LoLa]

Hi Respect...

You're so sweet. ((Hugs))

I felt bad that some people didn't get the results that I did. But, life shall go on!

[Irish Rosebud]

RespectLife, that Bundt pan has so many nooks and crannies (it's the Nordic Ware "stained glass" pan) that it really requires a good pan coating for a clean release. I've never been disappointed with Wilton's product. I use it for all my Bundt cakes, with the exception of chocolate cakes. For that I use melted butter + cocoa, applied with a pastry brush.

[Irish Rosebud]

Yes, it was very good, LoLa, and really not much different from the original recipe you posted. As I say, I will be making this one again! I think next time I will add lemon juice to the glaze as in the original. I actually almost added almond to the glaze, as Funky suggested, but decided the lemon and strawberry in the cake were enough flavoring.

[lulu2]

On 4/24/2014 LoLa said:

Hi Respect...

You're so sweet. ((Hugs))

I felt bad that some people didn't get the results that I did. But, life shall go on!

Lola, I agree you need not apologize. Our taste buds do not all react the same way. I thank you for sharing the recipe.

Irish Rosebud, (love your name) your variations on the recipe sound interesting. I will try the recipe when sweet, local, strawberries ripen.

When I use my bundt pan, I grease it the old-fashion way as oppose to using a cooking spray. The cake releases easily.