berry bonanza

As promised, I spent time in the kitchen this past weekend and have plenty to write about.  The entire weekend revolved around strawberries.  I would not be surprised if I turned into a strawberry myself due to the overwhelming consumption of berries.  Each June, my Mother and I journey to the strawberry patch to pick a few flats of berries.  Other than the 4th of July, this is the summer day I most look forward to. Each year on the way to the berry farm, we promise each other that we will pick fewer berries than the previous year but somehow we manage to leave with at least 30 pounds of berries.  We arrive home to find that only half of the berries fit in the refrigerator and immediately start thinking of ways to incorporate strawberries into everything (pf course, we eat handfuls of berries while we come up with ideas).  This year, berry season is running a few weeks behind due to the unusually cool spring.  I have been anxiously awaiting the time when the berries are ripe and the day finally came on Friday!  In addition to the beautiful weather, we kept our promise and picked less than 30 pounds! 

I think we consumed about 4 pounds of berries on the drive home, which is only about 10 minutes.  The strawberry concoctions began just seconds after placing the berries on the kitchen counter. 

The first thing we whipped up was strawberry lemonade in the blender. So refreshing in the 90 degree heat.

Dinner was followed by strawberry milkshakes.

After the milkshakes on Friday night, I think we were all in a strawberry coma.  We waited until Saturday evening to make a strawberry lemon buttermilk cake and this turned out to be the real star of the weekend. Just to give you an idea of how out-of-this-world the cake was, we made it at 9 pm Saturday night and this is all that was left by Sunday morning at 10AM:

You get my point.  You all know that I would much rather have chocolate baked goods over fruity baked goods, but not this time.  I have never, ever tasted something quite like the flavor of this cake.  The batter was the perfect consistency, and once again, I loved the subtle lemon flavor from the zest.  I cannot wait to use the batter in combination with other fruits such as blueberries, plums and apricots. I will bake this cake again this weekend, guaranteed.


Strawberry Lemon Buttermilk Cake (Anja's Food 4 Thought)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

75g butter (about 6 TBS)
2/3 cup agave syrup
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh strawberries, trimmed and quartered
1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 200C (392F). Grease a 9 inch tart tin.
Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.In a large bowl, mix butter and agave with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add lemon zest, vanilla extract and egg and mix until well combined. Now stir in the buttermilk. Add the flour mixture in several batches and stir until just combined. Pour the batter into the cake tin, leveling the top. Scatter the strawberries evenly over the top and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for about 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean of the center of the cake. Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.