Strawberry-Marsala Cake

Strawberry-Marsala Cake
Romulo Yanes for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui.
Total Time
1 hour
Rating
4(408)
Comments
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Joe Trivelli, the head chef of the River Café in London, has a recipe for an apple cake in his 2018 cookbook, “The Modern Italian Cook.” It’s simple to prepare but complex in flavor, because its batter includes vin santo and brown butter. Both the fruit and fortified wine are ingredients associated with Northern Italy. In Sicily, Marsala would be the spirit of choice; it has more depth than its counterpart thanks to a subtle savory quality, and is often used for macerating strawberries. It’s a perfect pairing, improved upon when baked into this cake, especially when berries are in season. —Charlotte Druckman

Featured in: The Case for Marsala

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Ingredients

Yield:8 servings
  • 9tablespoons/125 grams unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
  • pounds/565 grams fresh strawberries
  • ¾cup/150 grams superfine sugar, plus more as needed
  • 4extra-large eggs, whites and yolks separated
  • ¾cup/180 milliliters sweet Marsala
  • 1cup plus 2 tablespoons/150 grams all-purpose flour
  • ¼teaspoon baking powder
  • Heaping ⅛ teaspoon fine salt
  • Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
  • Freshly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

433 calories; 17 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 58 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 27 grams sugars; 8 grams protein; 99 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Brown the butter: Melt the 9 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, swirling it occasionally. As it melts, the butter will sizzle and foam. Continue cooking until the foam dissolves and the solids turn golden brown, about 5 minutes. (If the butter is spattering too much, reduce the heat a bit, and watch carefully to make sure it doesn’t burn.) Remove it from the heat and allow it to cool.

  2. Step 2

    Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9-inch square cake pan with butter, line it with parchment, then grease the parchment.

  3. Step 3

    Hull the strawberries and slice them lengthwise, ¼-inch thick. Toss them in a bowl with 2 tablespoons superfine sugar and set aside while you prepare the batter. (If strawberries aren’t in season and yours are underripe or less sweet than they should be, you may want to add 1 to 2 additional teaspoons superfine sugar.)

  4. Step 4

    In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and 5 tablespoons superfine sugar together until pale. Whisk in the browned butter (scraping to include the solids, if you like), then whisk in the Marsala until incorporated. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Sift over the batter and gently whisk to combine, smoothing out the lumps as best as you can.

  5. Step 5

    Using a stand mixer fitted with the wire whip on medium speed, or an electric beater, or simply a whisk and a bowl, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining 5 tablespoons superfine sugar while beating to form a shiny meringue with stiff peaks, 5 to 7 minutes. Gently fold ⅓ of the meringue mixture into the batter, followed by the rest, then fold in the strawberries, using a slotted spoon to add the berries to the batter, leaving any strawberry juices behind.

  6. Step 6

    Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the top is golden and the cake is springy to the touch, 30 to 33 minutes.

  7. Step 7

    Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve right away with some freshly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Tip
  • When figs are in season, they make this cake extra-special. Cut 1¼ pounds stemmed ripe, black figs into eighths from tip to base, skip the step where you toss them in sugar (thus reducing the overall amount of sugar by 2 tablespoons) and bake according to instructions.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
408 user ratings
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Comments

Throw away the cake batter, marinate sliced strawberries in the Marsala (with sugar if needed) and serve as is or over vanilla gelato, for a dessert made in heaven. It's a winner every time.

Is there a meaningful difference between a “heaping 1/8 tsp” of salt and 1/4 tsp?

It would be most helpful if you added the word "divided" after the 3/4 cup sugar to warn that it's used in 3 portions I dumped the entire 3/4 cup on the strawberries, thinking "that's a LOT of sugar" - which are now being turned into jam, after restarting the recipe.

I used rum and frozen strawberries because that’s what I had… turned out well!

The problem with this recipe isn’t so much the recipe, per se. I just always find a strawberry cake gets soggy from the strawberries. After I made it, I felt like I should have known better! I agree with one of the other commenters: macerate your strawberries with sugar and Marsala and put it in a delicious pound cake!

It would be useful for the recipe to note that 1/14 pounds is roughly a quart of strawberries.

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Credits

Adapted from “The Modern Italian Cook” by Joe Trivelli (Seven Dials, 2018)

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