As a treat and respite, tonight, from my studying I set out to make the Barefoot Contessa’s strawberry country cake. The picture in the book always looked lip-smackingly delicious and when the strawberries made their first appearance a few weeks ago at Whole Foods, I knew what I had to do.First, I made a self-conscious change from my normal, deplorable habit of spraying butter into the cake pans. I faced my options head on:
“Spray me!” said the can butter. “I’m so simple and so easy to use! Two squirts and you’re done!””Noooo!” said the real butter. “I’m fresh and real and much more authentic! Use me and gain clout with your foodie friends!”The latter argument won me over so I buttered and floured the cake pans.
Next, I put the sugar and butter in the mixer:
And I whipped it: (Cue “Whip It” by Devo):
After which I added four extra-large eggs (the Barefoot Contessa loves her some extra-large eggs, don’t ask me why):
Sour cream:
Orange zest:
Lemon zest:
and vanilla:
Then I sifted together the dry ingredients: flour, corn starch (<--this is key, it makes the cake taste like corn bread!), salt, and baking soda:
Combine the dry and the wet and pour the batter into the cake pans:
Baked for 40 minutes, and voila:
But, alas, the one on the left had a fissure:
And Lauren began whining in the other room: “Where’s my cake! I want my cake!”So I threw my hands in the air and waved them like I just didn’t care and I said: “Fine! You want cake now? We’ll make TUPPERWARE cake!”And I dumped the fissured cake into the tupperware:
Tore it up into pieces so it would absorb better:
Made Lauren whip the whipped cream by hand:
But she got tired so I stuck the bowl under the mixer:
Added the cream to the cake:
And topped with strawberries:
Scooped some out into bowls and you know what? It was delicious. That cake is awesome: the lemon, orange and sour cream make for a very complex, very unique–and wonderful–flavor. Fresh whipped cream, of course, rocks. And the strawberries: perfection. Who cares if it’s served in tupperware? In fact, the casual presentation made it taste even better. I took the other perfect non-fissured cake and plopped it into some tupperware too. Suddenly I felt liberated; like my inner perfectionist had suddenly choked on a peanut. I went around pouring everything into tupperware until Lauren smacked me across the face and said: “Snap out of it!” I did and ate some more cake. It was delicious.
Recipes and food adventures with Adam Roberts
Tupperware Strawberry Country Cake for Impatient People
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8 responses to “Tupperware Strawberry Country Cake for Impatient People”
Yum. But that whipped cream looks more like whipped butter… :-PGood luck with exams.
The orthodox baker in me shudders at the bare thought of plopping, mashing — and SERVING — cake in Tupperware bowls. But I do admit it looks really good and hey, everything mixes in the tummy, right? (Right.) So, kudos to you for your courage!
man, I made that cake a little while back. The combination of orange and lemon peel with vanilla is really good. The cake has a great texture to it and tastes even better the next day. I didn’t layer it like in the book but cubed the cake and made layers in individual glasses with strawberries, strawberry-berry sauce, and whipped cream. They were so purdy and everyone loved ’em.
That sounds good. I like the idea of the citrus mixed in with the berries. Interesting combination. A strawberry shprtcake for more discerning tastes!
You call that thing a zester?!#&* I think you were using a grater to get zest from a an orange and a lemon. Shame one you!Even though you profess to be an amateur, you should have the good sense to visit williams and sonoma before you begin your culinary concoctions.There is actually such a thing as a dedicated zester – I should know, my mom has one. I should also imagine that it works wonders compared to how you brutalize and ravage your poor fruit!
How DARE you Jonathan? Insult me and my microplane? For it is a MICROPLANE not a zester and it is used by some of the best regarded chefs in the country including SARAH MOULTON of THE FOOD NETWORK. It does a FANTASTIC job of getting the zest off your fruit. HMPH.
Hi! I saw this episode but was not able to write down the recipe. Looked up the foodtv.com for it but the recipe was unavailable.Is it possible to e-mail me the recipe so I can experiment on it as well?Thanks a million…
Here is a link to the recipe in case anyone wants it:http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/cake-recipes/strawberry-country-cake.htm