Friday, August 10, 2012

THB : Strawberry Coffee Cake

It's our seventh bake at The Home Bakers (THB)! Our fellow baker, Alice from I Love.I Cook.I Bake has chosen Strawberry Coffee Cake for our bake. Alice is a dedicated baker with a wonderful blog, if you have not had the pleasure of knowing Alice, please do pay her a visit! 



I really, really, like this cake! Can you see the lovely moist texture, almost smooth crumbs! Although, there are several blunders that I made when making this cake, I'm so relieved and glad that it turn out fine in the end, more than fine, it was delicious!


The batter is made up of, other than the usual, eggs, flour, sugar, there's a mixture of cream cheese and butter, the proportion of cream cheese is double to that of butter. Seeing that the sugar is not too much for this recipe, I did not reduce the amount as I would have in most of the cakes that I baked. I only made half a recipe, using a 7" round cake pan, which is my first blunder. After the batter has been spread into the cake pan, I realized that the cake pan might be too small, but I was lazy to switch pan, and leave it at that. One of the raising agent is a small amount of baking soda, but I mixed in the full amount of baking powder instead, for half a recipe, and decided to omit the baking soda. (blame it on the hubby! he came into the kitchen to ask me something, when I was measuring the baking powder and got distracted! yeah! yeah!) Next on the "blunder list" are the strawberries! I have some leftover frozen chopped strawberries in my freezer and I used that, even though I knew that it is not a perfect choice, because the strawberries was frozen when they were really ripe and wet. Instead of discarding the overripe berries, I decide to freeze them. The thought of buying some fresh strawberries did come to mind as I knew that my frozen chopped strawberries will bleed and release their juices, but I went ahead to use the frozen ones anyway! Let's just say, I expected the strawberries juices will bubble, but keeping my fingers crossed that the cake will turn out OK!!


The instructions in the recipe mentioned that half the batter is to be spread into the pan, scatter the sliced strawberries over the batter and top with the remaining batter. Since I'm using chopped and wet strawberries and did not want them to sink to the bottom of the cake, I spread all of the batter in the pan and scatter the strawberrries on top, which I coat with 1 tablespoon of flour and which makes no difference at all, as all the flour disappear when mixed with the wet strawberries!! (I got to thaw my frozen strawberries as they are stuck together in one big lump!, hence the strawberries got really wet from their juices when thawed! oh well!). The mixture of nuts, I use almonds, and brown sugar are then sprinkle over the strawberries. When I am done with all this, the pan is already full to the brim! Oh well! Let's hope for the best. Into the oven the pan went!

The cake was bubbling into the 35 minutes of baking! The juices from the strawberries and the sugar on top, began to bubble and some of it dripped onto my oven floor. I then placed a baking sheet under the pan to catch the drippings! Not looking good, so far! I checked the cake at 45 minutes and it is still soggy in the middle! The top is browning nicely, so I tent the top with foil to avoid burning! Not looking good at all! I baked for a further 20 minutes until the cake is done. I guess the long baking time is due to the small cake pan than I've used, resulting in a higher and thicker batter, thus taking a longer time to cook! I let the cake cools in the pan for about 20 minutes and turn it out onto a plate. It looks OK, but the real test is when I sliced a piece to taste.


This cake is so good! I love the texture of the cake, you can definitely taste the cheese flavour, and the texture is compact, but at the same time, it is moist and soft, almost with a velvety texture that you would expect from a cake made with cream cheese! It is not too sweet, in fact the sweetness is just perfect! As for the strawberries, they are soft and juicy, and since I'm using our local strawberries, they are tart, but goes really well with the cake. The topping of mixed almonds and brown sugar added a wonderful crunch, since the strawberries are little bit sour, the sugar topping is perfect! This is one cake that I would be making again! Just got to remember to use a slightly bigger pan!


Please stop by Alice of I Love.I Cook.I Bake for the recipe and to see the rest of my fellow bakers'  bake on this cake, please visit The Home Bakers (THB).


Welcome to The Home Bakers



THB is currently baking from Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas, if you would like to join in, please hop over to THB for details on how to become a member. Everyone's welcome!

26 comments:

  1. Joyce, this is the first time I posted earlier than you but somehow I feel that you could have been earlier than me LOL
    I agree, this cake is a keeper! Will try to put the berries on top like u did, must be good to taste the fruits mixed together with the nuts mixture :)

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  2. The description of the cake is wonderful, I love desserts with strawberries, are beautiful and delicious, my kids love it. Thank you for sharing this delight. Hugs from Portugal:)
    Duxa
    http://duxaskitchen.blogspot.pt/

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  3. It certainly looks moist and good. I think I will replace with blueberries like what Alice did since I have a punnet of blueberries in the freezer.

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  4. I cannot tell there were any blunders at all. It looks perfect. Your cake looks really moist and delicious. I also get distracted when my kids start talking to me when I am measuring stuff. There are times bread would get ruined as I put in the full amount of liquids when I was making half a recipe!! I love this cake too. Thinking of making it again soon and this time will use your method of scattering the strawberries on top. First need to get some sweet strawberries :)

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  5. where got blunders... don't see any, just a delish cake!

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  6. Despite all the blunders, the cake still looks so good, must bookmark for future bake:)

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  7. hi, just drafting the cake post half way, will post it up by today. who can tell you went thru all those 'accidents', it looks perfect!

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  8. kekeke, yup Joyce, tats e blunders that we will always make wen we half the portion... guess u n me made the same blunders & always...:-p nevertheless, yr cake looks perfectly great thou there are blunders during this bake process. & it was yummy after all rite:-D

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  9. I can see that it's a truly moist cake full of fruity and nutty flavour!

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  10. Joyce, I can RELATE ! lol Blunders ?! Bah ! Humbug ! :D ;D It turns out beautifully ! It looks moist and soft and I really love the jam-like texture of that strawberries !

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  11. The cake looks really moist and has a perfectly fine and smooth crumb. Beautiful!

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  12. Never tried this combo, strawberries and coffee, looks so delicious..

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  13. I love how the top looks with all the strawberries!

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  14. If you can't see and don't taste blunders, there is nothing wrong, with the cake. So, you have a perfect cake. It sure looks pretty.

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  15. I really don't see any blunders, in fact it looks really good & lovely with strawberries! I really wanna bake this cake since I've some strawberries in my patch! Ya, after a short break , I'm really looking forward to bake this cake with THB again! My hand is getting better , so might be baking this cake tomorrow! I'll asked my boys to give me a hand on chopping those strawberries! hehehehe Have a lovely weekend , Joyce! :)

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  16. Yum! This looks like a delicious cake! Love the strawberries and the smooth texture :) Awesome cake!

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  17. One day I will have to show you some real blunders, Joyce. Have I ever told you I'm famous for them??? Your Strawberry Coffee Cake looks delicious. Perhaps you have just "invented" a better way to bake a Strawberry Coffee Cake:) Now that you have written those "blunders" down, you have the makings of a new recipe!!!

    It looks so good, I sure wish I had a piece with my tea:)

    Thanks for sharing...

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  18. Strawberry chocolate cake made with cream cheese,these are my fav ingredients,haha! Can we have an afternoon tea together?

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    1. I realised that I wrote coffee as chocolate,but either of this goes well with berries,haha!

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  19. Eileen@Hundred Eighty DegreesSaturday, August 11, 2012

    Hi Joyce, you are quick to salvage the blunder, obviously you are a professional home baker :) I think your version of topping the strawberries is a good choice, it looks awesome.

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  20. For all those blunders, you still managed to turn out a beautiful looking cake - good save :-)

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  21. Hi Joyce,

    Like you said, I don't really see much of your blunders in your cake. It looks very moist and delicious. Good that your fruit has been "behaving" :D

    Zoe

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  22. Hi Joyce,
    I finally managed to bake this cake, I am always the last one lol ;) and yes your were right the cake really is delicious.
    I look forward to enjoying it later today at a BBQ, I look forward to my friends comments.

    xoxox
    Angela

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