Cornmeal | Fifty-Two Cakes: Baking Recipes

I have plenty of cornmeal left over from making my cherry upside down cake recipe so I need to work on getting rid of it. That’s how I came to make this strawberry cornmeal cake. All told, I think the cake has a sort of southern down home cornbread appeal and it’s a yummy treat, but I’m not sure I’d make it again – not really my style. I thought it could stand for more strawberries, so I upped the recipe below to 1 1/2 cups of strawberries from 1. I also felt that the bake time was a little too long and my outside was a tad too crunchy, so I lowered the recipe to 40 minutes of bake time from 45 below. Just remember – you can always add time in the oven, but you can’t take it away. Enjoy!

Strawberry Cornmeal Cake Recipe Ingredients

1 1/3 cups cornmeal
2/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup butter, softened at room temperature
1 1/4 cups white sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I used Dannon)
1 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

Strawberry Cornmeal Cake Recipe Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and prepare a 9-inch round cake pan. Thinly slice the fresh strawberries. In a large bowl, sift together the cornmeal, flour, salt and baking powder. In a kitchen mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla. Alternate adding the sifted dry ingredients and yogurt into the mixture in about three total additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Gently fold the sliced strawberries into the batter with a spatula. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the cake springs back when gently pressed and your toothpick tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about a half hour before turning out onto your cake plate.

This is the cake using the other tied ingredient you voted on – balsamic vinegar. (The first one was beer which I used in chocolate beer cake)

This cake could be made in the traditional upside down cake fashion – in a cast-iron skillet in the oven. However, I do not own one, so I had to use my regular 9-inch round cake pan and it turned out just fine. Just line the 9″ pan with parchment paper.

I apologize for the lack of photos. I left my camera in Kansas City and won’t be back there to pick it up until next week. I promise I’ll edit the post and add photos soon!

Cherry Upside Down Cake Recipe Ingredients

0.75 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
0.25 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
3 cups whole pitted cherries
1.25 cups all purpose flour
0.25 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
0.25 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, separated
0.75 teaspoon vanilla extract
0.5 cup whole milk
0.25 teaspoon cream of tartar

Cherry Upside Down Cake Recipe Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a skillet, melt 1/4 cup of the butter, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar together over medium heat and stir together until sugar is dissolved. Raise the heat to high and stir in the cherries. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir together. Remove it from the heat and set it aside.

Whisk the dry ingredients – flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt – in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the remaining 1/2 cup of butter, then the sugar, until light and fluffy, or for about three minutes. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla. Alternate adding the dry ingredients mixture and the milk about half of each at a time.

In a clean, dry bowl with clean, dry beaters, beat your egg whites until they are foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until the egg whites are stiffer. Fold about a quarter of the egg whites into the batter with a spatula at a time.

Pour the cherry mixture into your 9-inch round cake pan lined with parchment paper and greased for baking. Spoon the cake batter over the cherries then spread it evenly (the batter is thick). Bake about 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown, and as usual, your tester comes out clean. Cool right-side up on a rack for about 5 to 10 minutes. Run a knife or spatula around the edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Place your serving platter upside down on top of it, and flip it over. Leave the pan on it for another 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the pan, fix the inevitable dropped cherries and cool the cake completely.

Tag: cornmeal

Cake 29: Strawberry Cornmeal Cake

Cake 19: Cherry Upside-Down Cake