It's Strawberry Cake Season

It’s summer. That means it is berry time.

Summer Fruits and Vanilla Bean Paste from the Vanilla Bean Project are a match made in heaven.

The blue skies, the warm temperatures, and the beautiful berries suddenly appear on the scene. I have always wondered why we don’t bake with more strawberries. Why is it always blueberries?

Of course. When I first buy strawberries, they are the best just as they are. Sliced up and eaten right away.

Sliced into oatmeal.

On top of Greek yogurt.

Then I start to want more. I found this Strawberry Summer Sheet Cake recipe from smittenkitchen.com and knew it was a winner. And a good way to use strawberries that you may have overbought that are now staring at you in your fridge. Forgotten little soldiers that are going to go bad in about 30 seconds.

I also liked the way she amended it to make it into 9X13 pan. As a Minnesotan, it is my favorite size cake pan.

It reminded me of the cakes in Germany I had as an exchange student. The Germans make beautiful cakes with sliced plums in a yellow cake base. The plums turn all delicious and form jammy pockets. They also have a lovely one they make with apricots.

Okay back to the Strawberry Cake. I made a few changes. Including using vanilla bean paste instead of extract. I highly recommend this. It was delicious and a wonderful way to showcase the lovely vanilla specks in the paste. I first sliced up the strawberries and poured a tablespoon of vanilla bean paste on top instead of the sugar she lists in the recipe.

This cake is simple and easy to make and is a rich, flavorful cake with strawberries that look like jewels on the top. It is a great dessert or a nice breakfast.

Think about using vanilla bean paste in all your recipes with berries but it is especially delicious with peaches and nectarines.

Strawberry Summer Sheet Cake

Source: Smitten Kitchen

9 tablespoons butter

1 ½ cups sugar

¾ salt

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla bean paste (my addition, Deb uses extract)

¾ cup milk of any kind

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

2 lb. strawberries.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Hull and halve strawberries. Pour vanilla bean paste over halved strawberries to sit while you make the cake.

Grease 9X13 pan.

Beat sugar and butter with the vanilla bean paste, then add eggs and milk. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together and add to the other ingredients. Mix until well blended. Spread batter into prepared pan. Arrange strawberries cut side down on top of the cake. Close together.

Bake for 45 minutes and then check to see if done. Might need five more minutes.

Beautiful casual dessert.