One of the not-so-guilty pleasures of being a food blogger is the ability (and necessity) to set aside time to peruse many of the fabulous food blogs out there.  Today I happened upon Fork Spoon Knife and Smitten Kitchen.  What beautiful sites filled with mouth-watering food photography and delicious recipes.  Both sites had photos of similar desserts that caught my eye.  Fork Spoon Knife had one for a Strawberry Buttermilk Cake while Smitten Kitchen had photos of their Summer Strawberry Cake.  In both sets of photos the strawberries peeked out of golden brown puffed cakes, just begging to be eaten.  I knew then and there, that we would be the ones to eat them.  I had strawberries and buttermilk just waiting in my fridge for a good use.  But there was only one problem – we didn’t need dessert, we needed dinner.  So what’s a mom to do?  I upped the nutrition ante of course!

My Out of the Box “Foodified” version swaps out regular flour for whole wheat pastry flour, half the butter for olive oil, reduces the sugar to only 1/3 C for the whole cake, and adds flax meal for a fiber and omega 3 boost.  It’s so healthy, my family is going to eat it for dinner tonight with a couple of steamed spring artichokes.  This is the kind of meal that will tantalize the taste buds, evoke a dinner table giggle and nourish the soul.

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Out of the Box Food ^SM Whole Wheat Strawberry Cake

Adapted from Asha Pagdiwalla’s Strawberry Buttermilk Cake of Fork Knife Spoon

Special Equipment: 8″ round cake pan, stand mixer (or hand mixer), large bowl, medium bowl

Time: Prep: 10 minutes  Cook 20-24 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 C whole wheat pastry flour
• 4 tbsp flax meal
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 C sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 C buttermilk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• fresh strawberries, roughly chopped or quartered (or any berry you have on hand will work)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Butter and flour an 8″ round cake pan.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, flax meal, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
• In stand mixer, cream together butter, olive oil and sugar until light and creamy.  Add vanilla and beat on medium for one minute more.
• Add egg yolks and beat on medium for 1-2 minutes more.
• Stir in buttermilk.
• Pour butter/egg mixture into four mixture and stir to combine.
• Clean stand mixer, then add egg whites.  Beat until stiff peaks form.
• Gently fold egg whites into batter.
• Pour batter into prepared cake pan.  Tap cake pan on counter to settle batter.
• Drop berries onto top.
• Bake for 20-24 minutes or until wooden skewer comes out clean.
• Cool and serve.

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This Whole Wheat Strawberry Cake is delicate and light, yet the nutrient rich dense ingredients make it healthy enough to serve as a brunch, lunch or even light dinner dish.  Go ahead have fun with your food.  Until next week…