Strawberry Cake

I LOVE strawberries. This cake is a great application of their full flavor.

Strawberry filling

3 lbs. strawberries, halved (8 cups)

½ cup sugar

2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 ½ tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in 2 ½ tbsp. of water

1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped.

Preheat oven to 350F. Toss strawberries with sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and vanilla seeds and macerate for 30 minutes. Pour into a 9x13 glass baking dish.

Cake

2 ¼ cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract

¾ cup buttermilk

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt. In the large bowl of a mixer, mix butter and sugar until fluffy at medium-high speed, abuot 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Add vanilla. . Add flour in 3 additions and buttermilk in 2 additions alternately, mixing just until combined.

Spoon batter over strawberry filling, spreading it to the edge. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes until top is golden and toothpick comes out clean. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream at room temperature.

You can make the cake with blueberries or any kind of berries or red fruit.