Strawberry Tea Cake | Buttermilk Sponge Cake with Fresh Strawberries

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” ~Leonardo da Vinci

So is the simple Strawberry Tea Cake with Buttermilk Sponge and fresh strawberries. This is a very basic cake yet it is a pleasure to the taste buds. This Strawberry Sponge Cake has decadent Vanilla Sponge Cake flavor with buttermilk and fresh strawberries. It is ideal for those laid back days when we need to embrace soul foods; something comforting yet delicious with nothing fancy at all. It is just what I need on my weekend breakfast. Or how about Valentine’s Day treat?

I love lazy weekend when it brings relaxing days without any agenda. And cherry on top is the weekend breakfast on bed for me (of course not cooked by me). Enjoying this spongy Strawberry Cake over my favourite cup of tea with fresh strawberries definitely is my new weekend goal! As a matter of fact thanks to my impulsive strawberry haul last week I have 3 large boxes of fresh strawberries now. I made an amazing hot-n-sweet beverage, Hot Strawberry Lemonade with Chili Ginger last week and then I made another two rounds on weekend. Still 3 unopened boxes of strawberries are left which might end up in trash if I don’t work things out. I can’t consume raw strawberries for medical reasons so I have to incorporate them in other food.

Hence the Strawberry Tea Cake landed in the scene. I had used my basic sponge cake recipe with buttermilk and powdered sugar. That is the reason this tea cake has burst of flavours with subtle sweetness. This Strawberry Sponge Cake is fluffy yet not buttery or greasy because I always use my bread spread with 0% trans-fat 0% cholesterol instead of butter. I don’t even remember when I used butter in my baking last! The flavour and texture make this Strawberry Buttermilk Cake the perfect companion of milk tea or coffee.

We all know strawberries are one of the most photogenic fruits which look stunning in all white backdrops. I had tried the trick years back with my old camera. You can see it in Vegan Strawberry Mousse post or Strawberry Milkshake Cake. I wanted to create a dreamy photo shoot with beautiful golden cake, fresh strawberries, red roses and all; I wanted to play with my current camera. Alas! The cake had a different game plan! It puffed up like a king and all strawberries from top were gone inside leaving the golden-brown coloured top slightly cracked, though it had its own charm.

It was a shoot for Valentine’s day so I had asked Bhatty to bring few red roses for the photo shoot (no we don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day)! It’s not a secret that I’m more kind of raw and rustic girl than flowery fancy doll. I love red-black over pink-white; scotch is my thing not milkshake. I would pick up the orchids or wild flowers over roses any time; in fact I don’t like rose if it’s not black or purple. Being aware of all these facts Bhatty never brings me roses; he rather gives me wild flowers and orchids. And he did bring some lavender and white flowers along with the roses (now I love him more) for me.

I ditched the rose and embraced my wild flowers for the shoot. It was all new style of photographs for me this time; I had never done anything like this before. I tried to concentrate more on over all still life styling rather than just food which is completely opposite of what I do. Generally I keep the focus on food and create a table spread around it. But this time I created an ambience first and then kept adding elements to the frame. I have ‘0’ knowledge and understanding on still life photography so I just hope I did justice to the style. Check out the photos and let me know how you like it.

Now for sake of (cake) Love here is recipe of Strawberry Tea Cake with Buttermilk and fresh Strawberries.

Read the entire recipe and Notes carefully before you start cooking. Do make sure all ingredients are at room temperature (unless mentioned) and weighed or measured correctly in appropriate weighing machine or measuring instruments such as cups or spoons. Remember these are not regular cups or spoons which is used in daily life.

Serving & Storage:

Cut Strawberry Tea Cake into equal slices and serve with cream or yogurt and fresh strawberries. This tea cake tastes best slightly warm or at room temperature. It can be a great snack with afternoon tea or coffee.

Strawberry Sponge Cake will be good for 2-4 days at room temperature if wrapped in foil and stored in airtight container. For longer shelf life wrap each slice in cling film and then wrap all the slices in foil. Store in airtight container and refrigerate.

Strawberry Tea Cake

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

60 mins

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

Author: Rimli

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Serves: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

All-purpose flour: 250g or 2 cups + 1 tbsp
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Baking soda: ½ tsp
Sugar, powdered: 125g or 1 cup + 1 tbsp
Butter or margarine: 100g + 1 tsp
Egg: 2
Strawberry or Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
Milk: 250 ml or 1 cup
Lime juice: 15 ml or 1 tbsp
Strawberry: 8-10 pieces

Instructions

Preheat the oven at 180C and prepare a loaf pan (8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 Inch) by greasing with butter and dusting with flour.
Add lime juice in milk and stir well. Set aside for 10-15 mins.
Cut strawberries into half and toss them in 1 tbsp sugar. Cover and set aside for 5-10 mins.
Sieve and sift flour, baking powder and baking soda together twice and set aside.
Whisk sugar, butter and strawberry/vanilla extract together. Add one egg at a time and whisk until mixture is pale and fluffy, about 2-3 mins. Do not over mix.
Stir the milk mixture once again and add flour and milk alternately in 3:2 ratio into the egg mixture and mix with spatula until everything has incorporated. Batter should be smooth and lump free.
Pour the cake batter into previously prepared loaf pan, smooth the surface with spatula.
Now take the sugar coated halved strawberries and arrange them on top of cake batter. You can add few chopped strawberries in the batter too if you wish. Discard the sugary water.
Pop the pan at the middle rack of preheated oven and bake at 180C for 60-70 mins or until the top has risen and coloured into brown. Take a skewer and insert in the middle, if it comes out with dry crumble cake is done; otherwise bake for another 5-10 mins.
Remove the pan from oven and keep on wire rack to cool down slightly. Then unmold and bring to room temperature.