Strawberry Bundt Cake

Buttery, lemon and vanilla scented cake studded with sweet, seasonal strawberries. Last weekend I gathered with my beautiful village of female friends and family to celebrate my upcoming wedding. We ate delicious food, played silly games, and made some special memories. After the last slice of pineapple cake had been eaten and the last flamingo garden decoration had been handed out I had some quiet time to reflect on what this celebration meant to me. I was touched to be surrounded by strong, kind, interesting women, and that they all showed up to shower my with their love and blessings for my future with Chris. I was also saddened that at the moment in Australia our politicians are fighting (still) about whether our country should (finally) move forward with marriage equality. When we get our postal votes in the mail Chris and I will both be ticking a big, fat YES on our cards because it is vital to us that our marriage is set on a foundation of equality for everyone. We have friends and family whose lives will be changed by this vote, and we hope it is for the better. Even if we didn’t have these people in our inner circle, the value of our marriage can only be enhanced if it is a choice that everyone is able to make. I want more men and women (and non-binary folks) to be able to marry the ones they love; to commit to a lifetime of standing together and facing challenges and joys; and for everyone to create a family that looks just the way they would like it to. But now we should talk about this Strawberry Bundt Cake. I haven’t felt like making cake for a long time, but when I woke up on Wednesday morning (we had a public holiday in Brisbane!) and the sun was shining perfectly, and a whole day of nothingness stretched ahead of me I felt the baking itch. I wanted to beat butter and sugar to golden white creaminess. I wanted to crack eggs, and measure vanilla (just kidding, I never measure vanilla….), pour batter into a tin and watch it rise up.
After just a few minutes in the oven this bundt cake scented my house with buttery-vanilla heaven. After cooling it completely I decided the only way to properly dress this cake was a thick drizzle of vanilla cream glaze.
Each bite of this buttery cake is studded with pockets of strawberry melted to jammy perfection. The crumb is the perfect shade of golden sunshine yellow thanks to the six eggs in the batter. This is a rich cake that needs only a few fresh berries for extra garnish. Its the perfect cake to pair with your coffee. It’s not a light and fancy affair, or a complicated flavour combination, it’s just a good, old-fashioned, come-on-over-and-have-a-cuppa kind of cake. The kind your grandmother would just have sitting on her kitchen counter ready for guests. The kind of cake you can make to share with your friends while you talk about the state of the nation and prepare to stand up for equality in your own way. 

A few tips before you bake this cake:

• Remember to bring your eggs to room temperature before you start baking. Take them out when you take your butter out to soften and that should be okay. This will ensure you get maximum volume from your eggs when you beat them. Volume = light, fluffy crumb = perfection.
• You can replace the plain flour here with your favourite gluten free blend. Just be sure to replace weight for weight, not volume for volume. So, 3 cups = about 400 grams/14 ounces. Also check that your baking soda and icing sugar are gluten free.
• I know that 30 minutes is a long time to wait to take your cake out of the tin, but believe me, you don’t want to rush taking your bundt out of it’s cozy home or you’ll end up with a topless cake…

Strawberry Bundt Cake

Makes one 12-cup bundt cake | leftovers keep well-wrapped at room temperature for up to two days
Adapted from here

Ingredients

• 200 grams butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) caster sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 6 eggs at room temperature
• Vanilla extract (about 3 teaspoons, or a decent sploosh)
• 3 cups (400 grams) plain flour
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup Greek/natural yoghurt
• 2 cups chopped strawberries

For the glaze

• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 -2 tablespoons cream

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 160C (320F) and grease the inside of a 12 cup bundt tin very thoroughly.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using a hand mixer) cream butter, sugar, and lemon zest on medium-high until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well between additions and scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.
4. Beat in vanilla.
5. In a small bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.
6. Turn the mixer speed to low and add the flour to the bowl in three additions alternating with the yoghurt. Mix until just combined.
7. Use a wooden spoon to gently fold through the chopped strawberries.
8. Pour batter into the prepared bundt tin and smooth the top.
9. Bake for 50-55 minutes. Check at 55 minutes with a wooden skewer, only a few moist crumbs should stick to the outside.
10. Remove cake from oven and cool in the tin for 30 minutes before turning the cake out onto a rack to cool completely.
11. Once the cake has completely cooled mix together the icing sugar, vanilla, and one tablespoon of cream. Add remaining cream in 1/2 tablespoon increments until you achieve a pourable consistency. Pour glaze over the top of the cake. Leave for a few minutes to set, and then serve the cake.
12. Enjoy!