Strawberry coffee cake

We eat a lot of strawberries at my house this time of year.

My son and I picked 10 pounds of berries Saturday. We shared some with neighbors and were still enjoying what was left on Monday.

We eat them for snack and for breakfast, we eat them in pies and shortcakes and even homemade ice cream.

And starting this year, we’re eating them one more way — in a delicious, buttery coffee cake.

I’ve always loved coffee cakes, but I had never really considered adding strawberries. I’ve only baked with strawberries in the last few years, and I’ve been pleased with all of those recipes.

I found many recipes online for strawberry coffee cakes, and I just combined a few of them to come up with one I knew I’d like. I wanted one that didn’t have an abundance of butter but did have sour cream. Although some coffee cakes had a stick of butter in the cake and another stick in the crumb topping, I limited mine to 2 tablespoons of butter in the cake and 3 tablespoons of butter in the delicious topping. The rich, butter taste of this coffee cake might make you think it had a lot more butter!

I choose brown sugar for the crumb topping instead of granulated, which I saw in several coffee cakes. I love the flavor of brown sugar, and it was a good choice for this recipe. When I was making the crumb topping, I was afraid I had way too much of the mixture for my cake. But I used it all anyway. I’m so glad I did!

As the cake cooks, the topping sinks into the cake and bubbles up some on top. The result is a beautiful golden brown topping that, when cut, reveals a layer of thinly sliced strawberries.

I had the cake warm from the oven, and thought it was delicious. I brought what was left to work and shared it with my co-workers, who told me they enjoyed it as well.

If you like strawberries and you like coffee cake, give this recipe a try.


Strawberry Coffee Cake

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 cup light sour cream
• 2 cups strawberries, thinly sliced

Crumb topping:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons softened butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For cake, in a large bowl, mix granulated sugar and flour to combine. Stir in milk, egg, vanilla, butter and sour cream until smooth. Pour into 8-inch square baking dish prepared with baking spray or butter. Top cake batter with strawberries, overlapping if necessary.

In another bowl, combine crumb topping ingredients with a pastry blender or fork. Sprinkle on top of cake; there will be a lot, but use it all.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown.

The cake is best served warm.