Description
An adaptation of the famous New York Times Plum Torte, this strawberry delight is the perfect summer treat.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar (your choice - I used 3/4 cup)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick) (see notes)
- 1 cup unbleached flour, sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch of salt (optional)
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups of whole strawberries (approx.)
- Extra granulated sugar to sprinkle on top (before baking)
- Powdered sugar, sifted (for topping once cooled down)
NOTE: IF YOU WANT A THICKER CAKE SIMPLY DOUBLE THE BATTER AND ADD A HANDFUL MORE STRAWBERRIES. I'VE DONE IT AND IT WORKS GREAT.
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl. I cut the butter into cubes first and used a hand mixer to blend. If you don’t have a hand mixer just use a spatula. Once the butter and sugar are blended, (should be smooth and a little fluffy) add the flour, baking powder, salt and eggs. Beat again until everything is well combined.
- Spoon the batter into an 8, 9 or 10 inch Springform pan. If you don’t have that, just use a pie plate. If using a Springform, I usually wrap the bottom in foil – just in case. It will feel like there isn’t enough batter – but there is. I filled a small plastic cup with warm water, dipped my spatula in the water and used that to spread the batter evenly in the bottom of the pan.
- Time to add the strawberries. I used organic strawberries from Clark Farm, but you can use store-bought as well. My strawberries were small-to-medium in size, but medium-to-large will work too. Remember, the original recipe calls for plum halves, so the batter can handle larger strawberries. I made a video that shows all the steps very well. Place the strawberries in a circle starting about one-inch from the edge of the pan. Then another circle inside that. Then 2-3 smaller strawberries in the center.
- Sprinkle the top with granulated sugar before baking – a heaping teaspoon should be good.
- Cook in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 50 minutes to 1 hour (approximately). My oven runs hot and was ready in about 50 minutes. Knowing this, I set my timer for 45 minutes so I could do a toothpick test then. It needed about 5 more minutes.
- Let the torte cool down. Using a mesh strainer or flour sifter, sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the torte. You could put a dollop of whipped cream on the side too if you like.
Notes
- If using a hand blender, the butter and sugar mixture will bunch up inside the beaters. Be sure to scrape that out and blend back into mixture.
- Yes, the strawberries are supposed to sink into the cake.
- When I use a springform pan, I wrap in foil because most springforms are not completely air tight and I don’t want any leaks.
- DELICATE CAKE TIP: The original recipe doesn’t call for spraying the pan with cooking spray so I don't do that. It is a very delicate cake, so if you’re using the springform run a butter knife or mini spatula (I used a small metal one you can see in the pictures) around the edge of the cake to break any bond between the cake or the sugar and the side of the pan. When you are ready to release the springform pan with the latch --- do it carefully. When I first did it (slowly), I could see there was a section of cake still stuck a little to the side of the pan. I re-secured the pan latch and ran my mini-metal spatula around the edge one more time. Then I released the latch and it was fine. The cake was intact.
- About the unsalted butter. This is someone else's recipe so I gave you the exact ingredients from the their recipe. You can use salted butter if that's what you have on hand. I've found it doesn't really matter tastewise.