Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C) for glass bakeware or 350°F (175°C) for metal pans.
Gather your ingredients and bowls, one for dry ingredients and one for ceaming the butter and sugar.
Grease an 8x8-inch baking dish or oven-safe Snapware containers.
- Wash and dry the strawberries very well. Hull and halve them lengthwise. If very large, quarter them.
- Toss the berries lightly with the teaspoon of flour or cornstarch if they are juicy. This helps control excess juice
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Beat in the vanilla and optional almond extract.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until smooth and slightly airy.
Mix in the sour cream.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Fold the dry ingredients into the batter, alternating with the milk. Mix only until combined.
Spread the batter into the pan in a relatively thin layer.
It should look closer to brownie batter depth than layer-cake depth.
I spread it with a spoon dipped in water to help make it level
i wrapped tape around a skewer at 1/2 inch to help measure.
Arrange the strawberries cut-side up across the surface. Press them in gently, but leave the tops clearly visible above the batter.
On the left , I am going to put 2 layers of berries, the first ones will get buried as the cake rises.
Halfway through the baking I will put another layer of berries.
If you are not doing 2 layers the fruit should cover most of the surface.
Dense fruit placement helps keep the cake flat and fruit-forward.
On the right the small snapware containers that I am doing individual ones, one layer is fine.
Bake for 20 minutes , open the oven and the first layer of berries should be almost covered with cake.
Put the remaining berries on top.
Check the small snapware ones, they should be pretty close to done, they will be brown
and a toothpic comes out clean.
Bake the large pan for another 15 to 20 minutes.
until lightly golden and a toothpick in the cake portion comes out clean.
The finished kuchens.
the large one has 2 layers of strawberries,
so its not just cake and berries on top, but well dispersed.
This you can just top with a little powdered sugar
or a little whipped cream, and some more berries that were left that I sugared to make a little juice. |
