If you love the flavor profile of pancakes, strawberry shortcake, buttermilk and crunchy sugar you will be so into this cake! The strawberries at the Ecology Center this week looked way too good to pass up so I decided to use it as my inspiration for this weeks recipe. I love a classic strawberry shortcake but I wanted to make something a little different with these gorgeous berries. Don’t forget to serve with vanilla whipped cream or ice cream!

Dry Ingredients

1 3/4 cups Organic All Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Sea Salt

Wet Ingredients

1/2 cup room temperature soft butter (unsalted) - 1 stick of butter
1/3 cup Organic Cane Sugar
1/3 cup Organic Brown Sugar (lightly packed)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 large Organic Eggs (take out of fridge 30 minutes before making batter so they aren’t ice cold out of the fridge)
3/4 cup Organic Buttermilk (take out of fridge 30 minutes before making batter so it isn’t ice cold out of the fridge or warm it in the microwave for 20 seconds)
385 grams of Strawberries - about 1 1/2 pints
- Hulled, sliced into thirds
- Rinse your strawberries and let dry on tea towel thoroughly before adding to the batter. You want to make sure that they are as dry as can be so they do not add excess water to the cake.
4 tablespoons of Demerara Sugar + more for sprinkling pan

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
Line a 9 inch round cake tin with parchment paper, brush with canola oil and sprinkle all around with Demerara sugar.
Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.
Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, cream butter, sugars and vanilla extract together for 2-3 minutes on medium speed.
Scrape down the sides and add in eggs one at time until incorporated
Reduce mixer speed to low and add in buttermilk slowly. (The mixture will look a little lumpy and a little congealed - that is OK)
Add in dry ingredients on low speed until combined and finish mixing batter with a spatula. I would add in the flour and mix for no longer than 30-45 seconds or else you risk building the gluten.
Fold the majority of your strawberries into the batter and leave a handful out so you can decorate the top.
Pour your batter into your prepared pan. The batter is thick so you will need to use the back of a wooden spoon to level it out.
Scatter the remaining strawberries on the top of the batter in a pleasing way and sprinkle with the 4 tablespoons of Demerara sugar.
Bake until the cake is deeply golden brown and slightly pulling away from the sides. This will take about 50 to 55 minutes. The cake should be golden colored and springy in the center.
Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before attempting to pull it out of the pan. If you attempt to pull it out before it is cooled it will fall apart! I put mine in the fridge for an hour to make sure it was firmed up.
Serve cooled with homemade vanilla bean whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!
Enjoy!