Strawberry, yogurt & olive-oil cake

Hot days don't often feel like cake days, but this one is custardy and refreshing.

Photo: Ruth Barry

The strawberry is a special fruit. The ancient Romans believed it could cure melancholy. The modern Germans mark the arrival of summer by installing strawberry-shaped huts selling the fruit on every corner. I can think of countless ways that strawberries can soften a sour mood: in a crisp tart brimming with whipped mascarpone. Served alongside vanilla ice cream with double cream poured on top, freezing into a shell. Stirred through thick Greek yogurt and sprinkled with chopped dark chocolate. Tugged straight off the plant. Simplicity is key. You can’t make strawberries better; you can only compliment their excellence.

A strawberry hut in Berlin. Photo: Ruth Barry

Hot days don’t often feel like cake days, but this strawberry, yogurt, and olive-oil cake is light, custardy, and refreshing. It’s an easy dessert to bring to a picnic, and you can even bake it divided between a couple of sandwich tins to make a layered cake filled with whipped cream. Because of the fresh fruit, it won’t keep too long, and it needs to be stored in the fridge overnight. Just make sure to bring it to room temperature before eating. 

Photo: Ruth Barry

Strawberry, yogurt, and olive-oil cake

Makes a 25-centimeter loaf

• 3 eggs at room temperature 

• 200 grams fine sugar

• 150 grams olive oil

• 110 grams yogurt

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

• 200 grams all-purpose flour 

• ¾ teaspoon baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 150 grams strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped

• Flaked almonds and icing sugar to finish 

Equipment

• Electric hand mixer 

• 25-centimeter loaf tin

Preheat the oven to 160°C (with fan). Grease and line a 25-centimeter loaf tin with baking paper.

Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl and add the sugar. Using an electric hand mixer, beat on a high speed for at least two minutes (use a timer) until light and airy. Add the olive oil in a slow trickle, mixing at a low speed as you pour, until it’s fully mixed in. Finally, mix in the yogurt and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. 

Tip the dry ingredients into the egg-and-oil mixture, and mix together on a low speed. Fold in the strawberries. 

Transfer the mixture to the prepared loaf tin. Dust the surface with powdered sugar, then scatter a handful of flaked almonds over the top. 

Bake in the center of the oven for one hour, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. 

Cool for 20 minutes in the tin before transferring to a cooling rack. The cake will likely drop a bit, don’t be alarmed!