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French strawberry cake recipe with cut strawberries on pink plate and dusted with icing sugar

French Strawberry Cake

Flossie
A summery strawberry cake as pretty as a strawberry tart
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
mixing time 5 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course Baking, Dessert
Cuisine british, French
Servings 8 portions

Equipment

  • 1 loose bottom tart tin
  • 1 handheld mixer
  • 1 large mixing bowl
  • 1 spatula
  • 1 scale for weighing your ingredients

Ingredients
  

  • 85 g unsalted soft butter at room temperature
  • 190 g plain flour (all purpose)
  • 175 g caster sugar plus extra 2 tablespoons for sprinkling
  • 1 large egg
  • 120 ml milk
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • fine zest of one lemon (optional)
  • 400 g fresh strawberries hulled and quartered
  • a dusting of icing sugar

Instructions
 

Preheat & Prep

  • Preheat oven to 180℃ or 350℉.
  • Prepare a tart or shallow pie dish, I use a 25 cm (10 inch) diameter tart tin with a removable bottom. A 23 cm (9 inch) deeper tin will also work. Grease it with a little soft butter to avoid the cake sticking to it.
  • Remove the strawberry hulls and cut them in quarters. If they are too large you can cut them in smaller pieces, but reasonable chunks. If the strawberries are small, they can be halved instead of quartered.

Make the cake batter

  • Beat the soft butter with the sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer for approximately 3 minutes.
  • Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Don't worry about the lumps.
  • Add the dry mix (flour, salt, baking powder and lemon zest if you are adding) gradually, mixing until just smooth.

Assemble the cake

  • Pour the batter into the greased tart dish. Spread with a spatula so that the batter is fairly even.
  • Arrange the quartered strawberries on top of batter, cut side down and close together in one layer.
  • Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar over the top of the strawberries. This will create a thin crunchy top.

Bake the cake in two stages

  • Bake the cake for 10 minutes at 180 ℃ (350℉) then reduce oven temperature to 163℃ (325℉).
  • It will be ready when the cake is golden brown and a tester comes out clean. Test the cake in a place where there are no strawberries after 30-35 minutes to decide if you need to bake it for less than 50 minutes.
  • The total time should be approximately 50 minutes, but depending on your oven, 45 minutes will work just fine. If left too long, it may be too dry and crumbly.

Cool and Serve!

  • Let the cake cool in its tin. This is the hard bit, waiting!
  • Push the tin bottom up to remove the cake and place on a cake stand. Dust generously with icing sugar and slice into wedges. Enjoy!

Video

Notes

If the strawberries are too large you can cut them in smaller pieces, but reasonable chunks.
If the strawberries are small, they can be halved instead of quartered.
Keyword easy French strawberry cake, French strawberry cake recipe, fresh strawberry cake
Tried this recipe?Tag me @candyflossiecooks on Instagram! I'd love to see how your dish turns out ! ✨