before the berries get moldy
Nothing gets my ADHD motivation machine running like a deadline or consequence. As much as I love baking and cooking, I still find that I struggle with banking enough time and energy for it. I’ll buy produce at the grocery store with the intention of using it for something delicious, like the beef bones I got from the deli counter that I promised myself I’d use for a beef bone broth three months ago.
In this case, it was the strawberries. The beautiful dollar Acme strawberries that had been waiting patiently in my fridge for their moment. Every day, I’d open the door to collect other items and their apperance reminded me that I still want and need to use them. Each day that passed, that feeling inspired more anxiety knowing that I’m rolling the dice. Either I’ll use them or the mold will take them and I would dump them into the trash without tasting a single berry.
Thankfully, the stars aligned and I made the time to use these beautiful berries (only a few were moldy) AND I got to test out a new baking tool that I was equally as excited about, the new Silpat Mini Cake Mold.
Now, let me be real for second. I am not a recipe developer. I’m not even a very talented chef. But when I am motivated and enthusiastic about something, I can kill it. It’s when I take things a little bit too seriously is when it loses it spark. I want to be a better cook but I don’t want to overcomplicate the process. But if there’s no sense of a challenge, I’ll get bored and yeet baking out of my hyper fixation hobby rotation. So as I’m learning and growing more comfortable, I’m taking recipes I’m familiar with and asking myself “can I do this? can I add that? how can I make this a new experience?”
Can I add strawberry to this sour cream coffee cake? It turns out yes. Yes, I fricken can. But…I think I should also add a crumb topping to it for extra texture and for prettiness.
The biggest question was how I was going to successfully assemble the cake so that I could achieve equal distribution and flavor? Normally, I would bake the Sour Cream Coffee Cake in a 9” tube pan but I didn’t want to throw my entire batter all at once during a recipe trial. I decided to use the Silpat mold for this so that I could experiment with the cake batter-to-fillings ratio and determine how exactly they should be layered. As someone who lacks ample kitchen and pantry space, an extra bonus is that 6-8 mini cakes are a lot easier for me to store and snack on than one large 9” cake. In the future, I can either bake mini cakes for a tiered layer cake or a batch of mini desserts as gifts for neighbors or friends for the upcoming holidays.
As always, I couldn’t do it without my sous chef, Bodhi. He loves to hang out (or sleep) with me while I’m working in the kitchen and he’s happy to provide a warm body for emotional support pets whenever I need a boost of dopamine.
RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
For the Strawberry Puree:
8 ounches hulled strawberries
3 tablespoons strawberry jam
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Walnut Filling :
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
For the Cake :
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter or 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup sour cream
For the cumble topping :
2 teaspoons Demara or turbinado sugar
PREPARATION
Prepare your strawberry puree by combining your strawberries and jam in a blender or with an immersion blender. Make a paste of cornstarch and vanilla, and add to the blender and mix in with your strawberries until the mixture is smooth. Set aside until the cakes are ready to be assembled.
In a small bowl, combine your walnuts, cinnamon, and sugar until equally distributed. Set aside.
Pre-heat your oven to 375 F, lay your Silpat Mini Cake Mold on a perforated baking tray and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Sprinkle in the butter cubes and rub in by hand or with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles large coarse crumbs. Remove 1/2 cup of the mixture and set aside for your crumb topping.
Add the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla to the large bowl and mix will until evenly incorporated.
Add 2-3 dollops of the cake batter to each mold well and spread across the bottom and up along the sides of the mold. Spoon a layer of your walnut filling and your strawberry puree over top. Add 1-2 more dollops of cake batter over the fillings and top with the walnut filling.
Once all wells are filled, take your bowl of reserved 1/2 cup of dough and add your demerara sugar. Stir to mix and sprinkle evenly over each cake.
Move the cakes to the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the cakes are lightly golden. Remove from the oven and let the mold cool for 15-20 minutes before unmolding. You can serve the cakes as they are or you can warm the strawberry puree and pour over top.
Watch it all come together on my little TikTok