Friday Foodie

FRIDAY FOODIE with WENDY HESS of PUFFER MORRIS REAL ESTATE

Because I treat myself to The New York Times, Sunday Edition (delivered!), I receive a morning news update via email every day. From that email, I often save their Recipe of the Day into my recipe box. This strawberry spoon cake grabbed me partly because of the introduction, which mentioned that when the local strawberry harvest first arrives, we’re usually so excited to eat this early summer berry that we just plop them into our mouths – maybe even while picking them ourselves, if that’s your jam. We delight in them so very much… but then, eventually, we’re ready for other ways to enjoy them — and that’s when spoon cake comes in handy.

I picked a lot of strawberries when I was little. It was my first side gig (actually, my only gig at age 10), selling them at my family’s store, Pine View Dairy. Nowadays, I buy them one quart at a time at Central Market. If I’m lucky, I get a box from my mom’s garden—and my luck held this year! 

These days, I put my lifelong knowledge of our city and larger county to use as a realtor with Puffer Morris Real Estate. Before that, though, I was a professional baker for 16 years. I had a stand at Lancaster Central Market, and I, too, took part in the local strawberry craze each summer—making oodles of shortcakes every June. I always used Rose Meck’s (of Meck’s Produce) recipe, found in the Lancaster Central Market Cookbook. I remember Ruth from Thomas’s Produce—my amazing, hardworking, kind-hearted market neighbor—often bringing over a pretty berry to sit on my stack of wrapped cakes, thereby making them more attractive. (And giving those not in the know an idea about what to do with those round, yellow, plain-looking cakes!) I guess it’s true that at some point in the summer season, we’re all just looking for another vessel to get those amazing berries into our bellies. 

This recipe is sooo easy. It’s fun to mash the berries (but don’t keep anything important near you while you work!) and the smell of it baking is lovely (if you time it right, you can have your friends over just as this fragrant cake is coming out of the oven!). My oven is old, and I fear it’s on its last legs, so even if your oven and other kitchen appliances are equally well-used, I assure you this is a simple, yet delicious recipe.

This cake will be taken to another level if you serve it with vanilla ice cream. I happened to visit Down On The Farm Creamery in Strasburg with two friends the day before I baked, and had the wherewithal to purchase a pint of vanilla on the way out, after a lovely visit watching the goats and human kids alike romp about.

I threw in a few more berries than suggested, and I followed a reader’s commented suggestion to melt the butter for the batter in the baking dish as the oven warms up, in order to get a “lovely chewy crust” (which results from baking the batter in a hot pan). Another reader suggested using this same recipe for any of the many berries that will make an appearance throughout the rest of summer. Isn’t this season grand?!  

Strawberry Spoon Cake from Jerrelle Guy

Ingredients 

½ cup butter5 oz strawberries (about 1 cup)2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed½ cup whole milk (I used low fat.) ½ teaspoon salt1 cup all purpose flour1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

Step 1 Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease an 8-inch (square or round) baking dish with butter and set aside (or take the reader suggestion I mentioned above). 

Step 2 Using your hands or the back of a fork, mash the berries to release all their juices, and stir in 1/3 cup of the brown sugar. Set aside. 

Step 3 In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, remaining 1/3 cup brown sugar, milk, and salt, then add the flour and baking powder and continue whisking just until the batter is smooth. Transfer the batter (there’s not much) to the greased baking dish, and spread evenly into corners. 

Step 4 Spoon the strawberries and all their juices over the top of the cake batter. Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until right when a toothpick comes out clean in the center. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 3 to 5 minutes before spooning into bowls. Serve warm with ice cream.

Wendy can be reached at wjhess@gmail.com