Thursday, June 18, 2015

Spring Strawberry Lemon Bundt Cake - #BundtBakers


I was lucky enough to make this strawberry lemon bundt beauty at the peak of our strawberry season this year. It can fast, hard and left almost without warning... the heat didn't let these juicy gems hang around for long.

When I heard our June Bundt Baker's challenge was for lemon, I knew I had to incorporate a seasonal fruit with my love of lemon. Big thanks to Anne from From My Sweet Heart who chose this month's theme and hosted all our recipes.  Lemon just has a magical way of enhancing the flavor of other ripe fruit. Whether it is a blackberry, blueberry or strawberry, lemon is dear to my heart for helping the flavors to really pop.


My kids helped me do a lot of the picking this year. I am sure those visiting the U-Pick fields wondered who those talkative kids belonged to. They would beg me every day to go out and pick strawberries in the field. We had an agreement that they would leave the customers alone to pick, and that I would turn their finds into something delicious.

Well, I upheld my end of the bargain...


Now, if you enjoy bundt cakes and baking with bundt pans, you probably realize you don't really need a reason to want a new bundt pan... but I rationalized that this cake deserved something special. This heart-shaped bundt pan was just perfect.


Now I didn't want my fresh fruit to just sink to the bottom (top) of my cake, so I tossed the sliced strawberries in a little flour before gently folding them into the batter.

The resulting cake was beautiful on its own. But I still wanted to take it one step further.


While living abroad in Japan I became completely addicted to these amazing little lemon tea cakes. They were simple enough, but they had a thin, pucker-perfect, lemony sugar glaze over the top. It was the perfect complement to afternoon tea. That is exactly what I was going for here. It needed to help cut through the sweet and juicy berries.

And it turned out just divine!


Of course, I couldn't just stop with a lemon glaze, could I? I had to dress up the whole things with some more fresh fruit and lemon zest. Little tip, I placed an upside down ramekin in the middle of the cake so I didn't have to use too many fresh berries to "fill it".

Ready to dig right in?


Spring Strawberry Lemon Bundt Cake

You will Need:

  • 1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter softened
  • 2 c. sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3 Tbsp. lemon juice, divided
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, divided
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 8 oz. plain or vanilla, Greek yogurt
  • 3 c. fresh strawberries, diced
  • 1 c. powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a bundt pan by rubbing it with butter and gently dusting it with flour. Knock out the excess, set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a stand mixer, cream together the sugar, then add the eggs one at a time till fully incorporated. Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Then alternate adding the yogurt and dry mixture.

Toss the strawberries in the remaining flour, gently fold into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place in the oven. Reduce the temperature to 325 degrees. Bake for an hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Let the cake cool for at least 15 minutes. Then invert onto a cooling rack and allow the cake to cool completely before glazing.

Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice till thick, but still pourable. Pour half the glaze over the cake. Wait 5 minutes, then pour the remaining glaze over the cake. Decorate with fresh strawberries and lemon zest as desired.

Enjoy!




Thanks for stopping by to see my June Bundt Cake creation. Be sure to check out all the other lemon-inspired fun below:

BundtBakers

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving Bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board right here.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme or ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers can be found on our homepage.


Andrea
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