Easy as Cake or is it Pie?

Just could not resist using this.. too cute! 

You feeling the heat yet where you are? Gracious, we just had a taste of Summer over the weekend, it hit 100 degrees! Still in the 90's now! I just watched the weather report, and next weekend we will be breaking records and going above 100! I guess Spring is over, even if the calender says it is still a couple of weeks away. When Summer hits, I think of all the wonderful fresh berries that are in the markets, sold at the farmers markets and even on the street corners. I grew up picking raspberries in the fields my family planted each year on our mini farm, and stopping at road side stands to buy strawberries so large, one would fill my entire hand, and so sweet, juicy and red, it was truly the best dessert all on their own with nothing done to them.  

Sometimes the early Summer berries need a little help to sweeten them up, so I thought I would share a recipe I tried just this last week, Strawberry Custard Cake ( though it is made in a pie dish) that even if the berries are not 100% as sweet and juicy as you would like help them along . It reminded me of the French dessert Clofuti ... I personally think it is basically the same thing without the fancy name. I usually make mine with blueberries, but this one is of course with strawberries.. though I went berry happy and threw in some blackberries as well. I just  could not help myself!  If you have read any of my recipe posts before, you know I can not seem to leave recipes alone.. always have to tweak them.

Now baking anything in the old oven that came with the house is risky, even though supposedly it bakes at temperature, I do not 100% believe it. No matter what I bake I have to play with how hot the oven is and how long something bakes, or even the placement and even then, there are items that just do not turn out. Lucky me, this did, though I shall admit, that since I added extra fruit, that was juicy, I had to bake it a bit longer and so the custard got a little darker on top than the original photo,  but it still was tasty... or so hubby told me. Anyway, thought I would share the recipe with you. 

The recipe from Prevention Magazine 

What ya need to do...

Prep to table time ... 50 minutesserves 8

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat shallow(1 1/2 inch) baking dish (2 quart) with baking spray.Hull and slice ( though I just removed the tops and sliced)
1/2 pound of strawberries and arrange in the dish.
2. Beat 4 large eggs and 1/3 cup sugar on low until smooth .
(about 2 minutes) Stir in 1 cup 2% milk, 3 TBSP each of whole wheat and regular all-purpose 
flours, 1 tsp each vanilla extract and lemon zest, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 
and a pinch of salt.  Pour over the berries and bake until puffed, set and golden,
*I put a baking sheet under the  pie dish to catch spills
(about 40 minutes)Cool and dust with confectioners' sugar and serve .

I may have, just maybe added a few more berries than
called for.... 

Ok... maybe way too many berries over what was called for.

Eggs in the bowl... such a bright and cheery color!

Everything in the bowl and mixed.. I skipped the
hand and stand mixer and did it the old fashioned way.

Now you know why I used the baking sheet
below it in the oven to catch spills. 

All baked and ready to cool. Does not look like the
photo, but just goes to prove you can not mess it up!

Ready to eat.... and that is exactly what we did!





Worth heating the oven up for,
ENJOY!