That’s the Way the Strawberry Cake Crumb-les
Right about now my weekly trip to the farmer’s market starts in the line, 30 minutes before it opens, at the P&K Strawberry stand. Yep, the strawberries from this family farm in Moss Landing are that good. As much as I like them out of hand, I can’t resist trying recipes that take advantage of these ruby-colored gems.
This Strawberry Crumb Cake from Cambrea Bakes landed on my “Definitely making this” list the first time I saw it. Three delectable layers, starting with a fine crumbed cake reminiscent of buttery pound cake that’s topped with a layer of berries, bound by a squeeze of lemon juice, a bit of flour, and a touch of sugar. The cake is then finished with a generous, crispy, crumb topping. It’s gorgeous and yummy.
Keys to Success
The crumb topping is classic flour, butter, and sugar. After mixing the ingredients together, so it looks like a mish-mash of clumps, spread it on a small plate and put it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes or however long it takes to assemble the rest of the ingredients. Chilling the crumb topping ensures it won’t melt during baking such that you end up with a nice crunchy, buttery top. If you are nuts about nuts you could throw a handful of chopped pecans or walnuts into the crumb.
Dice the berries and add the sugar and flour. Use fresh berries, not frozen, which have too much liquid. I added blueberries to the mix just for a little color pop and because I had some. My tweak would be to add a little more fruit (I love berries), I would scale up to 2 cups of fruit, I’ll let you know how it goes, it may throw off baking time and cake. *Instead of adding more fresh strawberries add 1-2 tablespoons of strawberry jam to bump up the berry flavor.
Sift together the dry ingredients for the cake and set aside. Sifting allows for an even distribution of the baking powder and salt in the flour. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. This adds air that contributes to the rise and tenderness of the cake.
Bring eggs to room temperature before using. This helps prevent the batter from breaking (where your batter looks curdled and lumpy) when you add eggs or a liquid to the creamed mixture. A trick to help prevent this is to add the eggs slowly (roughly an egg at a time) and mix until each egg is absorbed into the batter before adding more.
No Curdle Zone
When it starts to look like it is going to curdle (usually when adding the last egg), add a couple of tablespoons of your flour mixture with the remaining egg mixture. The flour is the mediator preventing the break. Just that little bit helps keep your batter smooth without making the cake tough.
Add remaining flour in two parts alternating with the room temp buttermilk. The batter will be thick, not pourable. Use an offset spatula to spread it evenly in a prepared pan. Layer the berries and then crumb topping. I like putting the topping in the freezer and then chipping it into pieces to scatter on the fruit.
Crumb Fans Rejoice 😋
Finally, bake the cake. The first time I made this cake, it was a wee bit overbaked. I didn’t trust my thermometer. How goofy is that? My advice, invest in a good thermometer. Cakes should be about 205+/- 5 degrees with an instant thermometer. If you don’t have a thermometer, use a bamboo skewer or toothpick over a metal cake tester. (Nothing sticks to a metal pick unless it is super underbaked). With fruit and crumb impeding the tester, it’s just hard to get an accurate read.
That rosy pink layer of fruit on top of the buttery yellow cake, this cake is a beauty. Bake it, bake it now.
Strawberry Crumb Cake
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
Strawberry Field Forever
- 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh strawberries or a mix of blueberries and strawberries
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/2 lemon juiced
Da Cake
- 1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large whole eggs at room temperature whisked together
- 1 tsp vanilla extract overflowing, you can never have enough vanilla!
- 1/4 cup buttermilk room temperature
Instructions
- Butter or lightly spray with cooking spray a square 8x8 baking pan. L ine it with parchment paper on all sides. Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.
The Crumb
- In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, flour, sugar, and brown sugar until crumbly. Spread on a plate and place in freezer for 10-15 minutes or for as long as it takes to make the strawberries and cake.
Da Strawberries
- In a medium bowl, combine the chopped strawberries, sugar, flour, and lemon juice until combined. Set aside.
Da Cake
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
- Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes on medium to medium-high speed.
- Scrape down the bowl. Slowly add in the whisked eggs and vanilla, mixing very well after each addition. Do not do this too quickly or the mixture will curdle.
- Add half of the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until almost combined. Add buttermilk and mix until combined, add remainder of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. The batter will be quite thick.
- Using an offset spatula, spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking pan, then spread the strawberries evenly over the top. Break up the crumbs and sprinkle for an even layer over the strawberries.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The berry layer may make it difficult to test leaving residual moisture on tester, try not to overbake.
- Cool cake for 20 minutes on a wire cooling rack, then remove from the pan and cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.