about 2 cups of strawberries
2 large eggs
½ cup sugar
½ cup strawberry yogurt
2 ¾ cups organic semolina
¼ cup mild vegetable or nut/seed oil
½ cup water
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 pinch of salt
2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
semolina flour to sprinkle, as needed
confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar), to taste
2 tablespoons chopped almonds
Quarter or thickly slice the strawberries and set aside.
In a bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar (it works best with an electric mixer) until frothy.
As you are whisking, add the yogurt, until that it absorbed. Sift the semolina and add that, a little at a time, alternating it with the oil poured slowly, until they are completely mixed. Now, do the same with the water: drizzle it in slowly and continue mixing. Next add the lemon zest, salt and baking powder.
Toss the strawberry pieces in a little semolina flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the batter as the cake bakes, then gently stir the strawberries into the batter.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Pour into a greased and floured loaf tin, sprinkle with the chopped almonds and bake at for 35 minutes. Once cooked, take it out of the oven, let it cool and sprinkle generously with confectioners/powdered sugar.
Originally this cake, from Germany, was called “Pflaumenkuchen” or plum cake. Rectangular in shape, it was made of shortcrust pastry and pieces of plum. It delighted visitors to the country and its popularity spread, especially in English-speaking countries.
A curious theory has it that this cake was originally a dish based on meat cooked in wine, seasoned with plums and spices but was transformed into a sweet dish in the Victorian era. In England it was known as a “poundcake“, thanks to fact that the same unit of measurement was used for each ingredient (one pound of flour, one of eggs, one of butter, one of sugar and one of fruit) so as to make it easier to remember the quantities of the ingredients. (American poundcake is named for the same reasons, but contains no fruit, meat, etc).
