qu'ils mangent de la brioche = strawberry bread

Let them eat cake!  Wait, say what?  We've got a bread like cake?  Ok.  Qu'ils mangent de la strawberry bread cake.  

You know, it's so hard to find a strawberry cake from scratch meaning no cake mix and no jello. (FYI: I will eventually revisit my semi-homemade -meaning cake mix and jello- strawberry cake vlog recipe and update you on that.) So when I discovered this recipe for the cake only, I was excited!  I can agree with the blogger that the "cake" is indeed incredibly moist.  But it had the texture of bread, specifically similar to that of a banana bread. It was dense and chewy, and those are not characteristics I would attribute to a cake.  Had I known this prior I probably wouldn't have prepared a frosting with it, but I have a fantastic recipe for a strawberry cream cheese frosting that is simply divine; it tastes like a strawberry ice cream dream! 

Despite the fact that I separated the eggs, whipped the whites to stiff peaks, and folded them into the batter at the end, it did very little to fight against the gravity of the strawberry puree weighing down on the cake.

The bread itself has a sublime strong strawberry flavor.  Most baked strawberry desserts don't taste of strawberry but this recipe packs a punch.  I used a lot of strawberries to make a pureed strawberry reduction.  This is a good thing.  Buy frozen strawberries.  I got mine on sale at the local supermarket.  It was a buck a pound!  So I used a good 32 ounces and that produced 2 cups of reduced puree for me, which was so tasty by itself.  I could eat that by the spoonful.  And it was all natural - no sugars added in my reduction.  

Also, I had originally intended to add red food coloring to enhance that strawberry appeal.  But I had forgotten.  Sigh, life often doesn't go as expected.  The show goes on ---> love that new Lupe Fiasco song!

Strawberry Bread 

Recipe adapted from A Dash of Sass

Ingredients for a 9x13 inch baking dish

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/8 tsp of baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 cups reduced pureed strawberries [*see note below]

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

4 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup milk

Directions

1) Separate eggs and let sit at room temperature.

2) Preheat the oven to 350F.  Grease and flour a 9x13 baking dish.  

3) Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Add cream of tartar to stabilize them.  Set aside.

4) Beat egg yolks with sugar until creamy and pale yellow.  Add in oil and vanilla.  Add in strawberry puree.*  Set aside.

5) Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  

6) Add the dry flour mixture alternatively with the milk into the wet strawberry mixture.  

7) Fold in the whipped egg whites.  

8) Bake for 20-25 minutes.  (Yes, it bakes quickly...relatively quickly compared to cake in a pan this size!)

*Note: To make a reduced strawberry puree, puree 32 oz of frozen strawberries and transfer to a large saucepan.  Cook over low-medium heat for approximately an hour.  It will be relatively thick and incredibly delectable.  Store in a airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

I call this "cake" a bread because it is so dense.  Albeit a tasty strawberrific dense piece of bread with the right amount of sweetness and well accompanied by a finger-lickin'-good cream cheese frosting.

Strawberry Ice Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients to frost a 9x13 inch cake
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
a handful of freeze-dried strawberries, pulverized in a food processor to a fine dust
1 - 2 cups confectioners sugar

Directions
1) In a mixer, blend the butter and cream cheese until soft and pliable.  With the mixer still in motion, dump in the strawberry powder.  Slowly add the sugar in increments until desired sweetness is acheived.
2) Frost the cake.