There are some foods I’m not a huge fan of. I don’t say this about foods I haven’t tried, only ones I’ve tried and legitimately don’t like. It’s not typically for a lack of trying really hard to enjoy all foods, particularly ones that are good for me. Take eggplant. I’ve bought it and prepared it and eaten it, and I just can’t convince myself it’s yummy. The same goes for bell peppers. I know they’re super healthy, full of Vitamin C. I’ve tried them roasted with other vegetables and sautéed with onions. They do nothing for me. So I don’t eat these foods because life’s too short to eat foods you don’t like.
Tomatoes are growing on me. I can eat them as long as they’re in Cucumbers, Tomatoes, and Onions. Drowning them in vinegar certainly helps. But I still hate them cooked. And don’t come near me with tomato sauce of any kind. Seriously . . . I just . . . I can’t.
I’m not a big fan of strawberries either. Sure, in the dead of winter when I can’t stand the thought of another apple or pear, I’ll eat them, but they’re just okay to me. The one exception is the tiny, ruby red local strawberries that make a brief appearance each June. Mom, Dad, and I went to a local orchard about thirty minutes from our house last weekend to get some. They’re the only place where you don’t have to pick them yourself. That’s my favorite part, because I’m not interested in picking my own. It was really nice to drive there and pick up some fresh fruit. A good family outing. We got home and washed them. I went in for a taste of the berries I’d been craving since the previous summer. But they weren’t sweet . . . at all. Not good eats. So I decided to bake with them.
The strawberries may not have been stars on their own, but in this Strawberry Crumb Cake I couldn’t get enough of them. This cake is easy to put together and seriously tasty. The jam-like strawberries are on the bottom, sweet and coated in thick juice. They are covered with moist vanilla cake, which is topped with a perfect cinnamon crumb. The components are great separately and even better together. I couldn’t get enough of it warm, but it’s also great cold with that almost ice cream cake thing going for it. So celebrate summer and strawberry season with this cake. I promise you’ll like it.
Strawberry Crumb Cake
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 servings 1x
Ingredients
Strawberries
- 4 cups strawberries, hulled, halve big ones
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 ¼ tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1 ¼ tablespoons water
Topping
- ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cubed
Cake
- 1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup almond milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch mixture in 8 inch square baking dish. Stir to combine and let sit while you prepare the topping and cake.
- Make the topping. In a medium bowl combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter with your fingers until the mixture looks like coarse meal and all ingredients are well distributed.
- Make the cake. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. I did this by hand, but a hand or stand mixer would work too. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until once again light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the almond milk. Add the dry ingredients in three installments and the milk in two.
- Pour the cake batter over the strawberries, covering them as entirely as possible. Top with the crumb topping. It should cover most of the cake. Place the baking pan on a sheet tray as it will probably bubble over during baking. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling, the cake is golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with only a few moist crumbs.
- Cake may be served immediately, at room temperature or cold. Cake may be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, covered.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Gerard Craft, courtesy of Food and Wine
I LOVE strawberries! But I understand when you say you have foods that you just can’t do. I’m the same way!! This looks so good – I love how thick it is!
I HATE fish and LOVE eggplant, so I completely understand your dislike of tomato sauce, as weird as it may sound. And I feel the way you do with strawberries Laura, they fine but not a favorite. But this crumb cake looks awesome! I do love strawberries when they are roasted.
It’s funny you mentioned roasted strawberries, I roasted the rest of these tart berries because I just couldn’t throw them away. They were amazing!
I love strawberries anyway so this sounds awesome!
I’m the total opposite with tomatoes! I can’t stand them raw, but a cooked tomato sauce is ok with me 🙂 These cake looks so scrumptious! Strawberries are my fave 🙂
I’m crazy about crumb cake, just made a peach variation. Love this one, especially all the good strawberry stuff on the bottom!
I love crumb cake too! Peach sounds so good.
That’s OK, I’ll eat all the tomatoes so you don’t have to! Just save me some of this Strawberry Crumb Cake – it looks terrific! Great recipe – thanks so much.
The height on that crumb…gorgeous fare here…exquisitely photographed!
Question…could I use another fruit in this wonder…rhubarb possibly?…I have a ROUGH time sacrificing my beloved fresh strawberries for anything but direct mouth-popping…but I MIGHT be willing to see them “shared” with rhubarb or replaced by it…Perhaps even blueberries…blackberries or nectarines? Thanks for any insight and for the share!
Without trying it, I would say you could use pretty much any fruit. It might be a little more or less juicy depending on the fruit, but I think it would work great. If you do use rhubarb you may need more sugar because it’s so tart. Thanks, Donna!
Strawberries gave me hives as a child so they aren’t my fave-but like this they could definitely work!
Laura, this cake sounds pretty incredible. I loooove all that crumb topping! DELISH!
The crust as I’ll call it was a treat by itself. Add in fresh strawberries it was a home run. Great job on this treat as you could enjoy this as a meal along with a glass of cold milk.
★★★★
As always, very impressive. I will say that it was devoured first thing the morning I received it. I hadn’t ate breakfast so I wish I could give it a better critique but it was gone too quickly to say anything other than really good stuff.
★★★★★
As you know, I’m not the world’s biggest strawberry fan. However, I would eat this any time. Very good.
Glad you liked it 🙂
That looks incredibly delicious. I love strawberries and so this would be such a treat!!!
This post is amazing for Crumb Cake, nice written and come with approximately all vital information. I hope more this type of information in near future. Keep sharing such blog posts.
★★★★★