Strawberry Sour Cream Streusel Cake

By Nigella Lawson

Published July 20, 2004

  • Craig Lee for The New York Times
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
1 hour
Rating
5(1,373)
Comments
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This strawberry streusel cake is the perfect end to a summer meal. But here's the interesting thing: Eat it slightly warm and it's dessert; let it get cold, and it makes a great coffee cake for breakfast the next day. The cake is slightly tricky to assemble, and at some point it may look like a mess. But everything comes together in the pan as it bakes, resulting in a tender, fragrant cake. This isn’t a recipe to embark on at the end of a long workday. Save it for the weekend.

Featured in: AT MY TABLE; Spatchcock The Chicken. Cut the Cake. Ah, Summer!

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Ingredients

Yield:One 9-inch cake

FOR THE STRAWBERRY PURÉE

  • 8 ounces strawberries

  • 3 tablespoons strawberry jam

  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

FOR THE CAKE

  • Vegetable oil, for pan

  • ¾ cup sugar

  • 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

  • 12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) cold butter, cut into ½-inch cubes

  • 1 cup sour cream

  • 1 large egg

  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

FOR THE CRUMBLE TOPPING

  • 2 teaspoons Demerara or turbinado sugar

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Prepare strawberry purée: In a blender, combine strawberries and jam. Make a paste of cornstarch and vanilla, and add to blender. Purée until smooth.Set aside.

  2. Step 2

    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 cubes and rub them in by hand until mixture resembles large coarse crumbs. Remove ½ cup and set it aside. To large bowl, add sour cream,egg and vanilla. Mix well.

  3. Step 3

    Using a little over half the cake batter, drop dollops of batter into pan. Pat batter across bottom of pan and about 1 inch up sides; mixture will be very sticky and somewhat uneven. Add strawberry purée, making an even layer across bottom of pan and leaving a rim of dough above it. Cover with remaining cake mixture.

  4. Step 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. Step 5

    Bake cake until lightly golden, about 45 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
1,373 user ratings
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Comments

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Jess

The recipe is written almost like a scone, so I treated it as such and used my Cuisinart to cut in the cold butter to the dry ingredients, and it worked beautifully. I substituted peaches for the strawberries and having no jam, just added a little sugar and extra peaches (weighing them out I actually think it was three times the mass of the strawberries recommended). I did cook them down on the stove with the cornstarch and sugar and a tiny bit of water just to get it to dissolve, but I tried to cook a lot of the moisture off on the stove first. I then refrigerated that along with the dry/ butter ingredients and baked it all off in the morning. I did not experience the butter oozing out of the pan I think because I chilled all my ingredients again, like a scone the butter should be cold when you bake it. Use a flax replacement because I’m egg intolerant. Had to bake it for an hour and 15.

Deb Johns

For those who are plant-based, I adapted this recipe with fantastic results. I used non-dairy yogurt I had on hand (1-5.3 oz Siggi’s Vanilla Cinnamon high protein yogurt plus homemade thick soy yogurt I wanted to use up). For egg, subbed 3 T Aquafaba whisked slightly by hand with 1/4 t cream of tartar and used Country Crock plant based sticks for butter. Cut sugar to 2/3 c since the Siggi’s yogurt was sweetened. The batter looked a bit scant for a 9 inch pan so I used my 8 inch springform instead, which worked perfectly (I did have a small amount of puree leftover). Chilling the assembled cake for 20 minutes worked well. I think this helped the crumb topping stay crisper and more defined. This was excellent!! I wanted to share my revisions for those who are vegan or serving vegan guests. This recipe adapted well!

Anju

Recipe wasn’t hard per se but did use several dishes/bowls/utensils. The cake itself, made according to instructions, turned out delicious. I was doubtful about the texture of the batter which was notoriously difficult to press into a neat layer, but ultimately used my spatula and fingers to pat it into place. I still couldn’t form an even layer though. I do agree that the batter needs a pinch of salt. The cake, when sliced turned out exactly like the picture, with a thin line of strawberry running through the center. Was a hit with my in-laws.

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