Like a slice of summer: Lemon-almond cake dripping with strawberry sauce

It’s a simple cake with all of summer’s prints in it. The best part? When it’s covered in strawberry sauce.

With all the complex recipes around, sometimes it is comforting to go back to simple ones for a change. Simple and quite basic, doesn’t a lemon-and-almond cake softened with yogurt sound good? And what if I dress up the cake with a delicious strawberry sauce dripping down its sides? Don’t worry, the sauce is simple too. With just three basic ingredients, you can have it dripping on your cakes too (even on ice cream and pancakes).

I like this dessert because of the refreshing fruits of the season that I used in making it. Lemons and strawberries both are abundant in summer, and using them at their prime creates better flavors. Enjoy this delicious dessert.

Lemon-almond cake recipe

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• Knob butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup canola oil (or any oil with a neutral flavor)
• 1 untreated lemon, zest only
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• Pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1-1/4 cups white flour (or Italian 00), plus more for sprinkling the baking pan
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• Strawberry sauce (see recipe below)
• Fresh mint leaves, for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. Grease a 7-1/2-inch Bundt cake pan or a 9-inch round cake pan with the butter, and then sprinkle with flour. Shake off the excess, and set the pan aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 365 degrees F.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs with an electric mixer until the color becomes pale yellow and the batter attains a creamy consistency.
4. Add the yogurt, and mix slowly with a spatula.
5. Add the oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt. Mix well.
6. Add the white flour, almond flour and baking powder. Mix well.
7. Transfer the cake batter to the baking pan.
8. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cake is cooked through.
9. Serve slices of the cake with strawberry sauce on the side or on top.
10. Garnish with fresh mint leaves, if using.

Strawberry sauce recipe

Yields about 2 cups

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla pod

Directions:

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the strawberries, sugar and seeds from the vanilla pod.
2. Once boiling, lower the heat, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Skim off the foam. Add more sugar if needed.
3. Use an immersion blender to puree the the sauce.
4. Let the sauce cool, and store it in a sterile container. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

More cake recipes

Maple-plum upside-down cake
Clementine mascarpone cake
Firecracker Bundt cake