Strawberry Flop

Yay for strawberry season!  Everybody in my family loves those tasty red berries, so when they're at their prime I buy way too many of them because they're cheap and look so good.  But the darn things go bad so fast, I usually end up throwing a few of them away.  There's a link circulating the Pinterest world that recommends pre-soaking your berries in diluted vinegar to prolong their life, and I keep meaning to try that, but it just hasn't happened yet.  So, once again, I have a container full of almost spoiled strawberries sitting in my fridge, silently screaming, "I'm dying!  Please eat me!"  Of course, my go-to recipe for berries that are almost gone is strawberry shortcake, but when I saw this beautiful strawberry-studded Bundt cake I knew I had to try it.  Plus, it's sort of like a coffee cake, which is breakfast food, and I am all about cake for breakfast.

Now I like to think of myself as a decent cook, maybe even a pretty good cook, but for some reason I have gained a reputation amongst my friends for being some kind of super chef who can do no wrong.  While I enjoy the admiration, I don't really think I deserve all of it.  So, lest my faithful followers develop the same level of veneration, I thought I would share one of my less-successful cooking experiences with you.

This recipe calls for the cake to be baked in a Bundt pan to attain a pretty shape since it is not frosted, but I don't own a Bundt pan.  Creative cook that I am, I decided to use an angel food cake pan instead.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves as to how well that worked out.  Nevertheless, this cake is super tasty, and a great use of extra strawberries, and it might even be pretty, if you follow the directions a little better than I did!

My attempt

How it's supposed to look = )

Strawberry Yogurt Cake 
Prep time: 20 min  Bake time: 60 min
Serves 12

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups sugar
3 eggs

3 Tbs lemon juice, divided

Zest of 1 lemon

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

8 oz plain or vanilla Greek yogurt

12 oz fresh strawberries, diced

1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan (10-15 cup pan.) Sift together the 2 ¼ cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 Tbs lemon juice. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated.

Toss the strawberries with the remaining ¼ cup of flour. Gently mix them into the batter. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled, whisk together the remaining 2 Tb. of lemon juice and the powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

346 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!