Strawberries, Wild Strawberries, Shortcake Variation, Pinot Grigio

Summer's here!

I dream of strawberry shortcake, even though cream (and milk) and I don't get along. Today I thought of an alternative to whipped cream/double cream/clotted cream. Vanilla Yogurt! The yogurt can be home-made or store-bought, but the thicker the better, and obviously quality makes a difference--the less ingredients in yogurt the better it is. If your yogurt is runny, that's fine, but the berries may slide off faster. To make a thicker yogurt just place the yogurt in a sieve lined with cheese cloth over a bowl, and let the liquid--whey--drain. Thick store-bought yogurts (like Greek style) are made thick in two ways: thickeners and straining. If you don't make your own yogurt and you don't want to pay more for Greek style, just buy regular yogurt and strain it (in the fridge). Buying plain yogurt and flavouring it yourself is best, because it won't have all the additives of sugar and flavours.

Anyway, using vanilla yogurt in place of cream is fantastic. Now I can eat even more strawberry shortcake!

These are strawberries and strawberry-wild strawberry mutants from my backyard. Last year my strawberries and my wild strawberries cross-pollinated, which messed up the wild strawberries. They are now a bit larger with a distinct texture and more of a strawberry taste. I wish it had gone the other way.

Vanilla and cardamom poundcake with vanilla and berries.

Wild strawberries floating in Pinot Grigio. They're even better with champagne.

Sliced strawberry on top of vanilla yogurt.

This is a photo from last year. You can see the thickness of the cream.

Enjoy!

Lemon Pound Cake

I've been craving a really good pound cake, and usually when I'm craving something I just make it myself, because then there is less room for disappointment.  I haven't found an amazing bakery in this city yet.  Sometimes I think I should start one, but I don't think there is a market for my degree of quality, which comes with a price.  Example, pie in St. Jacobs, a Mennonite community, is $8-10; my pies cost me $12-18 for ingredients alone, I know if I was buying in bulk it would cost less, but I'd never be able to compete with those Mennonite and even supermarket prices, and I don't think there is a market for expensive (because of good quality) pastries.

I looked at a bunch of pound cake recipes, and wasn't crazy about the sound of any of them, so I decided to create my own recipe, easy and incredibly moist.  It was delicious, I say was, because it's gone, even though it was a large cake.

Here is what you will need:
- 3 cups flour
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 lemon worth of juice
- 1 lemon's zest
- 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cardamom (optional, but recommended, it enhances the flavours)
- 1/2 tsp salt

Mix dry ingredients, set aside.
Mix butter and sugar.
Add one egg at a time, blend well after each one.
Add vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest, cardamom, and blend.
Mix in flour mixture and buttermilk, alternating.
Pour into buttered and floured bundt/ angel food cake pan.

Bake at 325 for 90 minutes.  You don't want any drafts with a pound cake, so don't open the oven door.  After 90 minutes, take it out and let it sit in the pan for about 10 minutes, then take it out and place it on a cooling rack.

This is tasty on it's own, or you can make a glaze out of lemon juice and icing sugar, and drizzle over the whole thing or over individual slices, which is what I did.

This cake would also be great with whipped cream and/ or fruits, especially a compote.  Be sure to store it either in a plastic bag or container, or under a glass cover, to keep the moisture.  It may not look like much, but as far as pound cakes go, I'll be making this one again and again.

Enjoy!