I am just going to walk you through this one cuz it’s so simple.

Besides I do not want to dwell on the fact that Sup! made cookies earlier in the week and now I am making cake. Cookies and cake are very girlie. It's all that "sugar and spice and everything nice" I guess.

But I invented Sup! so he could be manly. You know "snakes, and snails and puppy dog tails"!

So here I go with Sup’s! version of a manly strawberry cake. This thing has no frosting, ice-cream is so much manlier! There is also very little clean up invloved. You serve it out of the tin you made it in. Nobody likes doing dishes.

So here is my no-fuss, no-muss, semi-girlie, semi-manly strawberry cake. Yes strawberry cake can be manly. Men invented cake…. And fire. And weapons of mass destruction.

Simple Strawberry Cake

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pie plate
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

Preheat oven the to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch pie plate.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.

Add the egg, milk and vanilla to a small bowl and lightly beat them together using a fork. Set this aside.

Put the softened butter and 1 cup of sugar into a bowl using a hand-mixer, or a small stand mixer, mix them together on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. A very large stand mixer’s bowl is too large to do an effective job with this small amount. I know I tried it...that is why I reccomend a hand mixer.

Once the mixture is light and fluffy, reduce the speed to medium-low; mix in the egg, milk, and vanilla mixture.

The rest of the recipe is best finished by hand. Because it is easy to overwork the batter. Too much mixing and the flour can start to develop too strong a gluten structure, making your cake “bready”. So you should gradually mix the flour into the butter, milk and egg mixture using a wooden spoon.

The batter will be quite thick. But that is fine.

Line the bottom of the pie tin with 1/2 of the cut strawberries. Then transfer batter to the pie plate and spread it over the strawberries that line the bottom. If you notice in the picture I did not do this. So in the final writing of the recipe I doubled the strawberries and added this direction. I just know it will make it even better. The above and attached recipe is the ammended version.

Arrange the rest of the strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Push them into the batter a little bit. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over the top of the cake.

Bake the cake for 10 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 50-55 minutes. Check for doneness with the tip of a knife. It should come out clean. Let the cake cool in its pie tin on a wire rack. Cut into wedges.

Serve with ice cream for boys and yogurt for girls. Sorry I don't make the rules.

Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.

SERIOUS FUN FOOD

Greg Henry

SippitySup