I love strawberries and some of my favorite baked goods use them. I have shared just a few of my favorite ways to enjoy strawberries here, but this is a new one. It’s simple and perfect for any occasion – like today is Thursday…I needed cake! This smells amazing while baking, and the vanilla sugar makes a difference! The finished cake is beautifully light, fruity and floral (thanks to the vanilla sugar). The raw sugar sprinkled on top before baking, became caramelized and crunchy. I like the strawberries arranged on top, it’s simple but elegant and girly! It’s a perfect spring time treat and great for sharing if you’re feeling generous 😉 I’m sure I will make this many more times this strawberry season.

I also have a unique way of hulling strawberries to show you. I saw this technique on Good Eats, where AB uses a large star tip for cutting and extracting the hulls of strawberries. AB is not a fan of “unitaskers” and a strawberry huller is just that. I thought it was pretty clever, and thankfully I had one that worked perfectly. ( ‘scuse the camera phone pictures).

Carefully twist the leaves off the top of your strawberries.

Gently twist the star tip into the center of the stem end of the strawberry, making sure to go as deep into the berry as the tip will allow.

Gently pull out the tip and your strawberry will have a nice hole in the center where the hull used to be. See? So easy – now make this!  Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Strawberry Cake – adapted from Martha Stewart

• 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 sugar (*I used vanilla sugar)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved
• 2 tablespoons raw or sanding sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch pie plate. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.

Put butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, and vanilla.

Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Transfer batter to buttered pie plate. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle raw/sanding sugar over berries.

Bake cake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges. Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.