Summer Strawberry Cake. A quick solution to the strawberry dilemma

This summer has been great for ducks and berries. Plentiful rainfall has meant the berry patch has produced in abundance. One thing I have learnt about berries is that they can be a self limiting food. Until now I never thought you could say no to a raspberry or look at a gleaming pile of strawberries in despair. Yes, I know, poor me, such a tough life but even the birds have had enough and avoid the berry patch now. They have their eyes on the ripening fig trees, as do I.

Today I am trying to deal with the 1 1/2 kgs of strawberries picked on Friday before heading to the bottom of the yard to pick the next load. It's like we've struck the motherload. They are beautiful picked and eaten fresh, baked with rhubarb and maple syrup, in smoothies, with yoghurt, in salads with crisp cos, baby cucumbers, borage and balsamic, dried and tipped into homemade toasted museli......we've just about reached our limit and still they keep coming. Necessity however becomes the mother of invention and I'm constantly on the search for new recipes.

It's back to work tomorrow and a home baked cake in the tearoom can make a big difference in a busy, stressful day. It's an opportunity to pause, share a chat, exchange ideas or just draw breath before reentering the fray, so Strawberry Cake it is. I found a strawberry cake recipe at food on paper which had been adapted from the Smitten Kitchen. I love the fact that recipes start to develop a life of their own in cyberspace where people share great ideas and others adapt them into equally great ideas.

My version follows the recipe on 'food on paper' but uses panela rather than white sugar and I have added grated lemon zest into the batter along with the vanilla. I tossed the strawberries in a little aged balsamic before placing them on the cake with a generous sprinkle of raw sugar hoping for a little caramelisation during baking.

The result is a richly fragrant cake in which the strawberries nestle gently into the cooked batter. The top has a light sugar crispiness and there is just a waft of lemon and strawberry in the air. This is a lovely cake that I can see becoming a firm favourite in strawberry season.