Strawberry Sour Cream Streusel Cake

In case you haven' t planned an Easter dessert, this will serve 10-12, is easy to make and doesn't dirty every dish in the kitchen. If memory serves (and sometimes memory does not), this is a Nigella Lawson recipe and we should all thank her very much. I believe it was in the New York Times. Haven't seen her recipes there for a while. They should bring her back for an encore.

Strawberry Sour Cream Streusel Cake

For the Strawberry Puree:
8 ounces strawberries
3 T. strawberry jam
2 t. cornstarch
2 t, vanilla

For the Cake:
Vegetable oil for pan
3.4 c. sugar
2 c. plus 2 T. flour
1 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
12 T. (1 ½ sticks) cold butter, cut into ½ inch cubes
1 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 T. vanilla

For the crumble topping:
2 t. Demerara or turbinado sugar

Prepare strawberry puree: In a blender, combine berries and jam. Make a paste of cornstarch and vanilla, and add to blender. Puree until smooth. Set aside.
Prepare cake: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 9 inch springform pan and set aside. In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour baking powder and baking soda. Sprinkle in butter cubs and rub them in by hand until mixture resembles large coarse crumbs. Remove ½ cup and set aside. To large bowl, add sour cream , egg and vanilla. Mix well.
3 Using a little over half the cake batter., drop dollops of batter into the pan. Pat batter across bottom of pan and about 1 inch up sides; mixture will be very stick and somewhat uneven. Add strawberry puree, making an even layer across bottom of pan and leaving a rim of dough above it. Cover with remaining cake mixture.
4 Prepare crumble topping: In a medium bowl, combine reserved ½ cup dough and Demerara sugar. Stir with a fork to mix. Sprinkle evenly over cake.
5 Bake cake until lightly golden, about 45 minutes. Cool complete before serving.,
6 Yield One 9-inch cake.

I served the cake with a side of slice strawberries, but whipped cream is also good. Of course, whipped cream is good generally. Of course you could do both. Yum!

Pork Tenderloin with orange/onion salsa

The smoke alarm in our house erupts screaming just about every time I saute or bake at high temperature. Tonight was no exception. The cats hate it and hide. The fan over the stove is, shall we say, inadequate.

But the pork tenderloin, which cooks in a 500 degreen oven, was luscious, and the salsa gives it a big burst of flavor. We had rice and green beans which made a nice meal, and the pork is such good, lean protein that one feels virtuous. Some of these diet meals are quite edible.

I've been tweaking the opening pages of three different books, based on the course I'm taking on "beginnings." I have been doing everything wrong. I had the world's greatest opening line but it didn't fit into the book. Others are way too tepid.

I think I've fixed Promiscuous Mode and maybe even Festival Madness, and now I'm working on the California book, and I'm not unhappy with World of Mirrors, although it needs someone to love it. Well, someday.

Thisbe has ventured into the downstairs which is Annie's territory, and there will be a cat confrontation any moment.

I'm baking a lemon pound cake tomorrow for a get-together on Tuesday. If the cake is spectacular, I'll print the recipe. I've had it around for ages, but never made it, the fate of far too many recipes. If I cooked everything I clipped, we would both weigh 300 pounds.

More Jane Austen tonight. The lead character, Fanny, looked a little too modern for the role. But like all Jane Austen, tender and fun.

Onward,

Grrrapeshot