Strawberry streusel cake

Strawberries generally are abundant in market places and grocery stores especially from April to October.
Living in a city with so many food produce stores around its easy to bump on one. Care should be taken that they should not be packaged too tight. This usually means they have been crushed and are much more perishable. Take advantage of near by farmers markets for freshly plucked strawberries. Choosing strawberries, is not a tough task. The best ones are firm, plump and deep red in color. Removing the unripe ones is always better because they will not ripen further. One spoil strawberry will contaminate the rest so watch out.

When it comes to storing the strawberries for a long period. When I say long I mean not more than a week or two. I freeze them. There are so many ways of freezing them. It can be done by washing and slicing them or by pureeing them. I usually remove their green caps,wash,slice and freeze. I use this mostly for making smoothies. For the rest I prefer consuming them fresh within one or two days of purchase.

Besides eating them fresh, I like them on cakes. Perfectly baked moist cake with crispy streusel topping. Streusel meaning "sprinkled or scattered" in German, is a topping made combining flour,sugar and butter. This crumb is usually topped on cakes, muffins and breads.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup cold milk or buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped strawberries
For Streusel:
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp cold butter

Method:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients and sieve.
2. In another bowl combine oil,egg,essence and milk. Whisk along with dry ingredients and finally add the chopped strawberries.

3. Combine the batter in a greased pan.
4. Combine the ingredients for streusel and spread it on top of the batter.
5. Bake at 350F for about 35 minutes or until the crust turns brown. Slice and serve hot.
You can slice and store them in an air tin container. Its good even when had cold.
COOK'S FILE:
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NOTE: Make sure the butter is cold while making streusel topping.
HINT: Slice them when they get to room temperature.