Strawberry Country Cake

I baked a strawberry cake today :) And OCT said it's delicious! To emphasize his appreciation, he testified further to his audience that he didn't like strawberries, and did not eat them in normal circumstance. But this strawberry cake is so good! That he wanted to eat more tomorrow.

The recipe is here. This is another winner from Ina Garten's cookbook. Come to think of it, there isn't a single recipe that I don't like from her book. Ironically, I haven't owned a single copy of her book yet.....I think I will get her latest book when it's out in October.

Coming back to the strawberry cake. Ina said this is the cake to make when strawberries are in season. Though the peak season has passed, I am still glad to find some pretty nice strawberries at the grocery store this week . Ermm....at reasonable price, of course. With August drawing close, I am going to make some berries tarts soon. Well, I am never a fruit/berries tart fan. But recently I have learned not to be prejudiced against any ingredients! And I am determined to give whatever food and myself a chance before I declare my dislike against them. I think I am going to give cilantro another try.(Yike!!!)

The recipe yields 2 cakes. I used a 9-inch pan instead of the 8-inch that Ina suggested. Because of this, my cake came out slightly flatter. The baking time was also shorter; It's roughly 30 minutes, instead of 50 minutes as stated in the original recipe. I was tempted to use both cakes initially, but decided to listen to Ina's advice. I carefully sliced one cake into half, and filled them with whipped cream and strawberries.

As I only applied a thin layer of whipped cream on the cake, I have some leftover. Since no one was watching, I dipped some strawberries into the cream. It was delicious, I tell you! You may think what's the big deal about whip cream? You know, I never care about whip cream before. And always ask for no whip on my Starbucks Mocha. But this whip cream is different. Luckily I have SELF CONTROL. So even when no one's watching, I threw away the rest of the cream. I think I will add more cream to the cake when I make it again..