French Strawberry Cake
Author: 
Serves: 1 9-inch round or 8-inch square cake
 
Ingredients
  • 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter or vegan butter, softened + more for greasing the pan
  • ⅔ cup organic unbleached cane sugar or maple sugar + 1 Tablespoon cane sugar for the top
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature or 1 flax egg
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups organic all-purpose flour, white spelt flour or white einkorn flour (OR 1 ½ c GF flour blend + ¾ t xanthan gum)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ cup milk or unsweetened non-dairy milk like oat milk
  • ¾ pound fresh strawberries*, washed and dried, hulled and cut in half
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Grease a 9-inch round pan (like a pie plate or springform pan) or an 8 x 8 pan with butter.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and ⅔ cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes on medium-high. (4 minutes is my go-to time for beating butter and sugar.) It's always a good idea to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on medium speed until well combined.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt. Over low speed, gradually add half the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Add the milk and combine. Stir in remaining dry mix and stir until just combined.
  5. Transfer batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Arrange the strawberry halves on top of the batter, cut side down, as close together as possible, but do not push down into the batter otherwise they will get swallowed up by the cake as it bakes. I like to start from the perimeter and work my way to the center. Sprinkle remaining 1 Tablespoon sugar over berries.
  6. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower oven temp to 325 degrees. Bake until the cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 60-70 minutes. Let cool in baking dish set on a wire rack. The cake can be stored at room temperature for 2 days, covered loosely. Cake can be frozen once cooled completely and wrapped very well with aluminum foil.
Notes
*Fresh raspberries work well, too.
Recipe by Pamela Salzman at https://pamelasalzman.com/french-strawberry-cake-recipe/