Berry Summer Cake

I've recently become a big fan of Smitten Kitchen. First she won me over with the crackly banana bread, a great use for old bananas and also a healthier recipe than most because she uses coconut oil. That recipe can be tweaked quite a bit, I've been adding chia seeds and various nuts to my loaves. Next I made her blueberry crumb cake, not quite as healthy but super delicious. The most recent was a summer cake. She only used strawberries, but I made it my own by adding blueberries, as well as a little less sugar in the batter.

6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate
1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
3/4 cup (a little less than 200 grams…200 grams is 1 cup) plus 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup (118 ml) milk
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 cup strawberries, hulled and halved

1/2 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan (what I used).  Whisk flour or flours, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 3/4 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes, or by hand until it looks right. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth.

Pour into prepared pie plate. Arrange strawberries (cut side down) and blueberries (whole) on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.

Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. (Gooey strawberries on the tester are a given.) Let cool in pan on a rack. Just before serving, sprinkle with confectionary sugar. Cut into wedges. Serve. Smitten kitchen recommended serving with lightly whipped cream, I didn’t add this, but it would have tasted great I’m sure.