Summer has kind of been a bust here in Vancouver.
There has been more rain than sunshine and I'm finding myself wearing pants most days.
It's mid-July, it's shorts weather. Get with the program weather, honestly, I'm sick of this crap.
I am lucky enough to be leaving to somewhere very, very HOT in a few weeks, where I will absorb all the heat and sunshine I can get before coming back to the true, white, cold, rainy North.
But before then, I have to deal with rain and cloud. The only thing I like about this weather is that I can still bake without dripping with sweat and wear little to no clothing.
Taking advantage of this complete meltdown of a Vancouver summer, I made a strawberry tart with some lovely strawberries that my MIL picked up at a farm for me. It wasn't like a traditional tart with all of the pastry cream and such, more of a coffee cake with big, juicy strawberries baked into the top. The husband called it strawberry boy bait.
I would say that's a pretty exact way of describing it.
Then, we ate half of it in one sitting. And the next half for breakfast the next day.
And Jackson helped recycling the berry box.
Italian Strawberry Tart
[ from Epicurious ]
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons whole milk
1 pint strawberries, hulled and cut in half plus additional whole strawberries for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch spring form pan with non-stick cooking spray, set aside. Note: I don't quite know why the original recipe asks for a spring form pan, don't feel pressured to use one, if you don't have one, just use a 9-inch cake round.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until well mixed, about a minute. Add eggs, one at a time and the milk. Mix until just combined. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix by hand, until just moistened. Do not over mix, will make a tough cake.
Transfer mixture to pan and spread evenly throughout. Top with strawberry halves, pressing each halve firmly into the dough. I tried to make 3 fancy circles and then I just ended up stuffing extra strawberries into empty spaces.
Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Serve warm with extra strawberries and whipped cream, if you so feel incline.
