Fresh strawberry cake using ghee and raw local honey
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| Garnished with traditional zucchero a velo (a.k.a confectioner's sugar) |
I reached for the pint of organic strawberries that I bought maybe 5 days ago and noticed a moldy one at the very bottom corner. Immediately in alarm (and annoyed because they cost good money) mode, I check on the pint. Most of them--about 95%--were fine, but I knew they would all eventually go bad if I didn't act fast, so I looked up recipes. After some Googling and critiquing, I decided on this one:
Onceuponachef's Fresh Strawberry Cake
I was going for a few ingredients, no frosting, and something wholesome-tasting and easy to do. I followed all the instructions carefully but made a couple ingredient substitutions with minimal alterations:
Since honey is a different texture than sugar, with more liquid and acidity, I adjusted the cited recipe by adding a half of a teaspoon more of baking soda and cutting the milk down from 4 to 2 oz. I was a little nervous because this was my first time making this cake, but I'm confident in my research abilities and in science, so even if it turned out halfway decent, well at least I'd be the only one eating it to either enjoy or complain lol.
To prevent the cake and strawberries from drying out, I lowered the oven temp by 20°F/7°C and made a little steam bath with an extra cake pan that had water and some ice cubes.
While in the oven, it smelled so delicious: strawberries caramelizing with sugar will do that! A little over an hour later, I took it out of the oven. I admired it briefly and let it cool down for about an hour and a half while I worked on my balcony garden.
Finally, after planting some flowers, rearranging the pots, sweeping and clearing the deck, I come back inside to try the cake.
It's good! It tastes like a strawberry scone. To satisfy my nerdy curiosity, I look up the recipe to scones and realize that the ingredients are identical. So I can also make honey ghee scones in the future.
Why did I use substitutions?
I was going for a few ingredients, no frosting, and something wholesome-tasting and easy to do. I followed all the instructions carefully but made a couple ingredient substitutions with minimal alterations:
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| Used instead of white sugar and butter |
Since honey is a different texture than sugar, with more liquid and acidity, I adjusted the cited recipe by adding a half of a teaspoon more of baking soda and cutting the milk down from 4 to 2 oz. I was a little nervous because this was my first time making this cake, but I'm confident in my research abilities and in science, so even if it turned out halfway decent, well at least I'd be the only one eating it to either enjoy or complain lol.
To prevent the cake and strawberries from drying out, I lowered the oven temp by 20°F/7°C and made a little steam bath with an extra cake pan that had water and some ice cubes.
While in the oven, it smelled so delicious: strawberries caramelizing with sugar will do that! A little over an hour later, I took it out of the oven. I admired it briefly and let it cool down for about an hour and a half while I worked on my balcony garden.
Finally, after planting some flowers, rearranging the pots, sweeping and clearing the deck, I come back inside to try the cake.
It's good! It tastes like a strawberry scone. To satisfy my nerdy curiosity, I look up the recipe to scones and realize that the ingredients are identical. So I can also make honey ghee scones in the future.
Why did I use substitutions?
- I don't have much sugar left
- I haven't been using my raw honey lately and figured why not because it's better for me anyway
- the jar of ghee did not require room temperature softening, unlike my baking butter which I store in the freezer before use
I even shared some with a friend who did a no-contact pickup.
"Delicious 😋," she said via Messenger.
I have achieved my sense of accomplishment for today!
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