June ABC challenge: strawberry cream cheese coffee cake

The challenge this month was breakfast/brunch.  My favorite!  I used up some leftover frozen strawberries by making half the original recipe.

Here's what I used:

Strawberry Filling

3/4 cup frozen strawberries, thawed, drained, and cut into pieces

1½ tablespoons sugar

1½ teaspoons water

3/4 teaspoon cornstarch

Cream Cheese Filling

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/8 cup sugar

1/2 large egg

Butter Cake & Crumb Topping

1 cup all purpose flour

3/8 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, cold and cut into chunks

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

3/8 cup sour cream (full fat)

1/2 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the strawberry filling, mix the strawberries and sugar in a pan. Cook briefly over low heat to warm (until the strawberries release their juices if using fresh, about 5 minutes). In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and water to make a slurry, then add to the strawberries and stir until well combined. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for another minute or two until it has thickened. Let cool to room temperature.

For the cream cheese filling, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar and ½ egg and beat until well combined.  Set aside.

For the cake, combine the flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut the butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Measure out 3/8 cup of the mixture and set aside. Add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix well. In another bowl, beat the sour cream, ½ egg, and vanilla extract until well blended. Add to the flour mixture and stir gently until just incorporated. Spread the dough in a greased 8 x 4" or 9 x 5" pan that's at least 1.5 inches deep, patting down with damp fingers if necessary. Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the dough, then top with the strawberry jam. (Avoid letting the jam touch the edges of the pan to prevent sticking.) Sprinkle the reserved 3/8 cup crumbs over the strawberry filling. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack at least 20 minutes before slicing.

 

I had some difficulty deciding what pan to use.  I used a 9 x 5" loaf pan, so my cake was a little thinner than the original, and I think the high sides prevented proper browning on top.  Also, turned out the oven was at 375F for the first 20 minutes; I turned it down to 350 and baked it another 5, which was just the right amount of time.  It might need a little longer for a 350F oven, especially if it's a thicker cake.  The pan I used was non-stick and very slick, but I greased it anyway and the slice came right out.  The original recipe calls for a pan with a removable bottom, which would make for a nicer presentation but isn't necessary to get the cake free.

Conclusion:  This was much lighter than you might expect, and not too sweet.  (The cake part tasted just like a cinnamon streusel coffee cake my mom used to make.)  Very good.

Recipe:  Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake via Food Wanderings (adapted from a blueberry version on Annie's Blog)

Strawberry Basil Bundt cake

Update 8/28/22:  I made this again, properly this time (from a box with an expiration date of 2017, but oh well); curious how it turned out looking pretty much the same.  (Perhaps slightly less neon.)  I made only half the mix and baked it in a 5" x 2" round pan for about 38 minutes.  Also, based on my earlier notes, I used half the oil (2 tablespoons).

It baked quickly around the edges, then rose quite a lot in the middle.  Perhaps I should have used a lower temperature -- the cake was a little dry and quite brown around the edges.   In addition, with the correct mix in the cake, maybe the full amount of oil would have worked better as well.  I'm not sure which factor caused the dryness -- perhaps both.  Also, it could use a little more salt.  All in all it was a little bland, and I'm not sure about the basil this time.  I sensed I was eating something more savory, like cornbread, but then I'd get the overly sweet glaze.  Sort of a weird mix.  (One of the things I don't like about Bundt cakes and similar is that there's so much frosting on the outside and nothing on the inside -- it's too uneven.)

I still have half the box left, so I have one more try to get it right.

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Let me say up front that this is a boxed cake.  I saw it in World Market and thought it sounded interesting, and it didn't have any weird ingredients.  (Well there's basil, but I digress...)

I was making it on a weekday evening to take to a work party the next day.  When I opened the box, there were 3 unmarked, foil-looking plastic bags.  I searched them all over looking for some identification --- there was supposed to be a batter mix, a swirl mix, and a glaze mix --- but I couldn't find anything.  I figured the largest bag must be the batter mix and the middle-sized bag, the swirl mix.  The instructions were to mix up the cake batter and reserve 1 cup.  To that reserved cup you were to add the swirl mix.  The swirl mix, from what I could tell, was just strawberry-flavored powdered sugar.  Didn't seem TOO odd --- the cake mix wasn't terribly sweet, so a swirl of a more potent flavor seemed reasonable, but was a little disappointing.

I made the cake per the directions, swirling the two batters together, and it baked up fine.  I left it to cool overnight, with the intention of glazing it during lunch the next day. 

So the next day, I start to prepare the glaze.  I pick up the packet and there I see, in fine type, "Swirl mix".  Well now, isn't that interesting.  No wonder the mix I'd used had looked like powdered sugar.  It WAS!  But a little (okay a lot) of extra sugar in the cake wouldn't hurt anything.  But how would the swirl mix be as glaze?  I was about to find out.

I opened up the packet and it was a dark pink powder, sort of like dry Jello.  It tasted mildly sweet, like strawberry, and a bit tangy.  I added about a cup of powdered sugar and a tablespoon or two of water until it was a glazing consistency, and forged ahead.

Conclusion:  In the end, it all worked out fine.  The cake was quite sweet, and the glaze came out tasting a bit like candy and had these strawberry "bits" in it.  A little went a long way --- it somewhat overwhelmed the rather delicate cake flavors --- but everyone thought it was great.  It's a decent cake mix, and those two flavors do actually compliment each other nicely.  But now I feel compelled to bake it again to see what it's like when done right!  Only this time, I would cut the oil (1/2 cup) in half, as it was a bit rich.  In the end, a fun experiment.

Recipe:  Strawberry and Basil Bundt Cake Mix by Sof'ella