Prepare Your Forks…

I know I sound like a broken record, but the guys in my family love lemon treats. That’s a capital L-O-V-E love. When birthday season rolls around and they hear my electric beaters whirring and see me juicing lemons, they turn into Pavlov’s dogs. Complete with the perked up ears and salivating mouth.

To start the doggies (er, men) drooling a little early this year, I decided to work on perfecting modifying their favorite lemon bundt cake. With such gorgeous juicy strawberries in season, I doubted they’d mind if I added a few to the batter. Or to the glaze.

Their verdict?

No clue. I ate all but two pieces of the cake by myself, so I’ll need to double the recipe next time if I plan on sharing…

Strawberry-Studded Lemon Bundt Cake

modified from the lemon bundt cake recipe in “The Best Light Recipe”

serves 6-8

To adjust the recipe for a regular-sized 12-cup bundt pan, simply double the recipe. This cake is already quite moist without the glaze, so another way to serve the cake would be to put the glaze in a little bowl and let people drizzle it on their slice themselves.

cake

1½ c. cake flour

1 c. sugar

2 tbsp lemon zest (about 2 lemons)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

½ c. milk

2 eggs

2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

½ tbsp vanilla extract

juice from one lemon

1½ c. diced strawberries

glaze

4 tsp strawberry jelly (NOT jam or preserves! chunks don’t make for a good glaze)

1-2 tsp milk

⅓ c. powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350° and lightly coat the inside of a 6-cup bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray with flour . To prepare the cake, whisk together the cake flour and next five ingredients (through baking soda) in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and next four ingredients (through vanilla). Add half of the flour mixture to the milk mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Stir in the lemon juice. Mix in the remaining flour, stirring just until incorporated. Gently fold in the strawberries, and pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 50-55 min, or until the top is lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Loosen the edges of the cake with a knife. Cool in the pan for 15 min before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. To prepare the glaze, stir together the jelly and ½ tsp of milk until smooth. Stir in the powdered sugar. If the glaze is too thick, continue adding ¼ tsp of milk at a time until it reaches the desired consistency. Drizzle over the cooled cake.