SHE HAS CRAVINGS

STRAWBERRY SWIRL CAKE

I love a good ‘ol butter cake but when strawberries are added to the mix, it elevates a plain butter cake to the next level – it is BERRY delicious. This recipe will give you a moist, pillowy and buttery cake with hints of sweetness and tartness from the fresh strawberries and jam. Strawberry Swirl Cake is the perfect cake to impress at tea parties (with berry little effort).

INGREDIENTS (Makes 1 Loaf/8 Inch Round Cake)

  • 250g Salted Butter – softened to room temperature
  • 120g Castor Sugar
  • 125g Cream Cheese – softened to room temperature
  • 1 Tsp Vanilla Essence
  • 5 Eggs
  • 250g All Purpose Flour – Sifted
  • 1 Tsp Baking Powder – Sifted
  • 125g Fresh Strawberries – Diced
  • 4 Tbsp Strawberry Jam – Stirred & Diluted with 3 Tbsp Boiling Water

HOW TO MAKE IT

  1. Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees celcius and line cake pan with baking paper and grease with melted butter. Set aside.
  2. In a mixing bowl, beat together butter and castor sugar until batter is light, fluffy and sugar has dissolved. You can hand mix using a spatula or use a cake mixer up until step 4.
  3. Add in cream cheese and vanilla essence. Mix until well combined.
  4. Add eggs – one at a time, mixing gently with every egg added.
  5. Once batter is well mixed, add in sifted flour and baking powder. Gently fold in using a spatula, do not over-mix.
  6. Add in diced strawberries and gently mix until well combined.
  7. Pour in cake batter and spread evenly. Give your cake pan a little lift and drop it on the counter/table to release any trapped air bubbles. Repeat 2-3 times.
  8. Mix your strawberry jam with boiling water and stir until jam turns a little runny. Let it cool for 5 mins before drizzling on top of your cake batter.
  9. Using a butter knife, run it in swirls across your cake batter to form a strawberry jam marbling effect.
  10. Bake in the oven for 50 mins – 1 hour in pre-heated oven or until edges are crispy and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  11. Serve with a side of fresh strawberries and a light sprinkle of icing sugar on top (optional).

Extra Notes

  • Using a good salted butter makes all the difference. If there’s ever a time you feel like splurging on good butter, this would be it. My personal favourites would be Lescure, Golden Churn and Westgold.
  • If you don’t have salted butter in-hand, you can use unsalted butter and add 1/4 teaspoon salt into the batter.
  • If you don’t have/can’t find baking powder, substitute your all-purpose flour with self-raising flour. It works the same.
  • The cream cheese can also be substituted with thick sour cream/greek yogurt.
  • The baked cake stores well in the fridge for up to a week in an air tight cake container. Just reheat in microwave (30 secs per slice) to consume.
  • Beside strawberries, this recipe also works well with other fresh berries and jams.

Watch video HERE.