Homemade Strawberry Sauce

Deep down... I have this secret fantasy about one day cultivating my own berry bushes and annually morphing into an absolute berry pie-making, jam-canning, syrup-bottling domestic queen. And I would make my own little label and tie bows around cute canning jars and give these as gifts and feel like I contributed to making the world a sweeter place.

Maybe someday...

In the meantime, last week I went to King Soopers and bought 2 pints of strawberries and made homemade strawberry sauce to go on top of an Almond Birthday Cake. The sauce was a hit. It was also the only portion of the dessert that I could eat given my current food restrictions. So I poured a generous portion over some raspberry sorbet and enjoyed what was one of my first real desserts in 6 months!

This would be completely lovely over vanilla bean ice cream or mixed in with some plain yogurt. I put a little over some rice granola and banana with my breakfast last week. Or you could use it in place of jam. OR!!! An idea just came to me... You could mix it in with some lemonade and a little sparkling wine!

Here you go:

Homemade Strawberry Sauce

2 pints strawberries, roughly diced
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- Place 2/3 of the cut up berries, the sugar and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Cook until sugar dissolves, juices release and sauce begins to thicken slightly - about 10 minutes.
- Take 1/3 of this mixture and put it in a food processor or blender and puree.
- Mix the puree, remaining cooked berries and juice and fresh berries and chill.

Make about 2 1/2 cups of sauce. Will keep in the refrigerator for about a week.

Almond Cake

I'm feeling rather sheepish as I sit down to write this... It has been almost 3 months since my last blog post! Shameful, I know...

But to any of you still out there reading, I have something scrumptious for you today: Almond Cake!

Don't think "almond" like chunky nuts inside of a cake. Think "almond" like Swedish butter cookies at Christmas-time and Celestial Seasonings Almond Sunset Tea. Think "almond" like a whole tablespoon of almond extract and one whole dreamy can of almond paste. YUMM!

My family used to joke about baking: When in doubt, add almond extract. We did (and I still do) add it to almost everything sweet. So if you happen to get a little giddy about this one particular flavor, then this cake is for you.

Without further ado, here you go:

Almond Cake
(feeling tempted to make the name fancier...)

Absolutely Addictive Awesome and Amazing Almond Cake
(much better...)

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1 cup sour cream at room temp *(+ 2 T)
1 tsp baking soda *(3/4 tsp)
2 cups all purpose flour *(+2 tsp)
½ tsp sea salt
1 ½ cups sugar *(1 ¼ c.)
1 - 7oz tube ( 8oz can) almond paste, cut into small pieces
4 egg yolks, at room temp
1 tsp almond extract

*Parenthesis are for high altitude adjustments
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease spring-form pan; cover with waxed paper; grease waxed paper (YES, this step is completely necessary! Anything that uses almond paste gets sticky and it will stick to your pan)
Mix together sour cream and baking soda in a small bowl
Sift flour and salt into another bowl
In electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy
Add almond paste a little at a time and beat for 8 minutes
Beat in egg yolks one at a time and fully incorporate (it will look a little curdled - don’t worry)
Blend in almond extract and sour cream mixture
Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually incorporate flour mixture until just blended
Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly

Bake about 50 min - 1 hour until top springs back and edges have pulled away
Cool and dust with powdered sugar

OPTION: Top with toasted slivered almonds or strawberries or drizzle with chocolate

I made this recipe for a birthday party at work last week and served it with homemade strawberry sauce and whipped cream, almost like a strawberry shortcake. I will do a post on the strawberry sauce soon. It was almost good enough to eat by itself!

Enjoy your summer day!