Elevate Your Baking Game With High-Altitude Strawberry Yogurt Cake

A buttery, light cake with bites of sweet strawberries. Image by author.

We’ve been riding the strawberry high over here at Furrow & Trowel this summer. Besides mixing the oven-dried ones into my yogurt with homemade granola or eating them fresh out of hand, I’ve transformed my childhood go-to spring strawberry shortcake craving into a strawberry cake that takes it final cues more from pound cake than crumbly biscuits.

This high-altitude strawberry-yogurt cake is a favorite for its sweet-tangy flavor profile and buttery crumb. I fiddled with the baking temperature and time in the oven to account for our elevation in the Denver metro area. I also added a little more flour to strengthen the batter and avoid the sunken cake center that often happens when making sea-level-tested recipes at higher altitudes.

As this year’s strawberry season bids us adieu, you can easily substitute the berries for plums, peaches, or apricots and keep this fruit-jeweled cake party going throughout the summer and fall.

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High-Altitude Strawberry Yogurt Cake Makes 9" by 9" cake

Ingredients

• 1 lb strawberries, hulled and halved

• 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest

•  1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature (plus a little extra for buttering baking dish)

• 1 cup granulated cane sugar

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• 2 large eggs, room temperature

• 1 cup plain whole milk yogurt, room temperature

• 1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature

• 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Directions

1. Fit a piece of parchment paper going one direction in a 9-inch by 9-inch ceramic baking dish, allowing the extra paper to hang over the sides. Then, butter the parts of the dish not covered by parchment paper. Set aside, and heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together milk and yogurt. Set both aside.

3. Place butter into bowl of stand mixer, and beat on medium speed until very light, about 3 minutes. Add granulated cane sugar and continue to beat on medium speed another 3 minutes. Scrape down as needed. Add vanilla extract, oil, and lemon zest, and continue to beat on medium speed until well blended.

4. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add eggs one at a time and continue to mix just until blended. Reduce mixer speed to lowest setting (“stir” on my mixer). Alternate milk mixture and flour mixture, and stir until just blended.

5. Pour the batter in the prepared baking dish, and smooth the top. Place the strawberries on the top in a pretty pattern, cut side down. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

6. Bake for 60 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and a tester comes out free of cake batter.