One of my favorite things about cooking and baking is that regardless of what a recipe calls for, if you’re creative enough, you can make it work. And I did just that with this one, which I came across on a Facebook group I’m part of.
The original recipe is a glazed cinnamon apple cake that looks incredible, but it’s quarantine, I have no apples, but plenty of strawberries and cream cheese, so let’s get to it and see how I created this tangy lemon cream cheese and strawberry dessert.
INGREDIENTS
For the dough
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
For the cream cheese layer
1 8oz package cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 lemon – zested & juiced
For the strawberries
1 lb strawberries, chopped
2 tbsp sugar
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Wash and chop your strawberries, place in a bowl with sugar and lemon juice to marinate and stir occasionally while you prepare the rest of the cake.
- For the dough – with a stand mixer (or hand mixer) cream the sugar and butter together until they’re well combined and creamy.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and continue mixing until well combined. Add the baking powder.
- Add the milk and flour alternatingly and set aside after the batter looks well incorporated.
- In another bowl with a stand or hand mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest until it’s a smooth, lump free mixture.
- Spray a 9×9 baking dish with some oil and lay down half of your batter, then layer your cream cheese mixture, followed by your strawberries, and top off with the second half of the batter. I used my (CLEAN!) fingers to spread the batter a bit better on top.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes (I did 50). Allow to cool and sprinkle with a light dusting of powdered sugar. Or don’t. It tastes amazing by itself. ENJOY!
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