Strawberry Coffee Cake

This is the second new recipe I made to bring to my house closing, along with the delicious feta and chive sour cream scones and my good old pecan rolls.  As I said before, it may be bizarre to bring breakfast to a lawyer, but it made me feel good to do it.  As I also said in a previous post, I was a bit overwhelmed the day of the closing.  Overwhelmed, as in, I felt like I was maybe going to pass out when I emptied out my savings account at the bank.  As in, we bought a box of coffee from Dunkin' Donuts and proceeded to leave it in my car.  As in, I had already cried maybe two times by 10 AM.  I was excited and happy, but oh so overwhelmed with everything.  And so let me add: as in, I forgot this cake on the counter at home.  Oops.

But it ended up not being such a bad thing.  After all, my family is always happy when there is a cake around.  It got cut into later that afternoon when my aunt Linda came over to help us move.  We left it at my mom's house, since at this point, I didn't have plates or silverware yet (not till my shower 2 days later!).  Once I did have civilized items in the house, we brought the cake here and I served it up when people came to visit and check out the new place.

Now, if you bake often, you know that many baked goods, like cakes, don't last that long.  They get stale, or gummy, or just not so great.  But the weird part of this cake?  It stays good.  It stays good for a long time.  Like, I was still serving this just about a week after I baked it.  That is unheard of!!!  I am not sure what it was about the cake that kept it good (I was still getting compliments on it!) for so long; the cake has a lot of sour cream in it, which I am sure helped to keep it moist.  It has a flavor of vanilla mixed with a touch of almond from a drop of almond extract.  Then there is a layer of cooked-down strawberries  (delicious!) and topped with streusel.

Besides the fact that this cake was so good, you should make it just for its long-lasting quality!  Got a party this weekend?  Bake the cake tonight!  You can relax Friday night! :)

Recipe:

strawberry coffee cake
from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:
1 heaping cup sliced strawberries
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons water
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a few drops of almond extract

topping:
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Make the topping: combine all the ingredients in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until crumbly.  Set aside.

2) Make the strawberry mixture: combine the strawberries, 1/3 cup sugar, water, and cornstarch in a small saucepan.  Cook over low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring constantly until the sauce is thickened and strawberries are soft and somewhat broken down.  Set aside to cool.

3) Grease and flour a 10 x 10 inch baking dish, knocking out excess flour, and set aside.

4) Make the coffee cake: cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add vanilla extract and almond extract.

5) Sift dry ingredients together.  Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter in 3 parts, alternating with the sour cream in 2 parts, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Beat until just combined.

6) Spoon 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan.  Spread the cooled strawberry mixture over the batter.  Spoon the remaining batter onto the strawberries and spread evenly.  Top with streusel topping and bake in upper third of the oven.  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.