After months of preparing life and work for a nearly two week vacation, we successfully journeyed to Greece and Italy and back, and the time couldn’t have been sweeter. We fell in love with Greece, renewed our love for Italy, ate fabulous food, walked until we dropped, and spent time with dear friends and family. We’re working through processing our photos, which we’ll share once they’re are available, along with some of the Mediterranean food we’re now experimenting with.
Despite the reality check of suddenly being at our office desks instead of hiking the Mediterranean coast, it actually feels good to be back: to connect with friends again, sleep in our own beds, and be able to cook for ourselves. Today, we had a kitchen-full of friends to help us cook and stand in as hand models. It’s such a joy to spend time with these people, who make Indianapolis rival the best places in the world.
Strawberries are ripe at our farmer’s market now that we’re home, and we’ve created this cornbread cake to share with you, an adaptation of this rhubarb cornbread from Edible Perspective. We’ve had it several times and it’s become a standout favorite: a dessert that tastes just as good as it is nourishing. It’s made of cornmeal, oat flour and almond meal, so it’s gluten-free, and sweetened only with maple syrup, with fresh orange juice to give it some zest. It’s a truly satisfying way to end a summery meal. Sliced strawberries and sweetened whipped cream are a lovely topping (though a simple drizzle of maple syrup does the trick too!).
Friends, it’s good to be back! Thank you again for reading – your constant encouragement and notes. We’ve missed you!
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Strawberry Maple Cornbread Cake
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Yield: 8
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup old fashioned oats or oat flour
- 6 tablespoons almonds or almond meal
- 3/4 cup cornmeal
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup milk (unsweetened almond milk for dairy-free)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 orange
- 2 1/2 tablespoons butter, divided (coconut oil for dairy-free)
- 1 cup strawberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- To make the oat flour and almond meal, place ½ cup oats in the bowl of a food processor and blend until very fine. Remove the oat flour, then place 6 tablespoons almonds in the bowl of a food processor and blend until very fine.
- In a large bowl, stir together the oat flour and almond meal along with ¾ cup cornmeal, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 eggs. Then whisk in ⅓ cup milk, ⅓ cup maple syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ tablespoon orange zest, and ⅓ cup fresh squeezed orange juice. Melt 2 tablespoons butter.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, pouring in the melted butter last. Stir with a large spoon until just combined (avoid over-stirring). Let the batter sit for 5 minutes to thicken.
- Meanwhile, wash and slice 1 cup strawberries.
- In a 10-inch skillet, melt 1/2 tablespoon butter and use a pastry brush to brush it evenly over the entire pan and sides, then remove from the heat. Pour the batter into the pan and it spread evenly. Then place strawberry slices on top.
- Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out fairly clean (the center should spring back when lightly touched and the edges will be golden brown).
- Let cool for 10 minutes, then slice with a knife. Serve plain, with homemade whipped cream, coconut cream, sliced strawberries, or a drizzle of syrup.
Notes
Inspired by Edible Perspective
19 Comments
CakePants
June 8, 2014 at 10:38 pmOh wow, this sounds delicious! I love the rusticity of this dessert – so gorgeous! Can’t wait to see what Mediterranean dishes you have to share!
Alex
June 9, 2014 at 9:03 amThanks! Let us know if you try it!
Matt Robinson
June 9, 2014 at 1:25 amYou guys are amazing, love this!!!
Valentina @Hortus
June 9, 2014 at 3:40 amHey guys!!!
So happy to read about your excitement in the kitchen! I can’t wait to see the pictures, hear stories, and see what kind of inspiration you got for mediterranean dishes. I am especially curious about Greece…
Unfortunately I’m not a fan of anything corn, but this cake makes me really curious :)
Alex
June 9, 2014 at 9:03 amI’m not sure how one can dislike all corn items… but you should start with this one ;)
Kathryn
June 9, 2014 at 4:27 amWelcome home! I wish I could say that I was finding the return to reality as easy as you are. I clearly need this cake in my life ;)
Alex
June 9, 2014 at 9:04 amClearly! Plus, it’s Monday, so only a few more days until the weekend!
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
June 9, 2014 at 6:19 amI love the way the strawberries are arranged on top! This cake is so pretty :)
Alex
June 9, 2014 at 9:05 amThanks! We actually had a friend help with the strawberry styling — didn’t it turn out perfect?
Katie @ Whole Nourishment
June 9, 2014 at 10:01 pmTransitioning back to normal life from vacation always involves mixed emotions, doesn’t it?! I love the almond, oat, and cornmeal combination here. Seems like it could double as a breakfast cake too!
Courtney @ The Fig Tree
June 9, 2014 at 10:46 pmSo glad to hear you had an amazing vacation! Cannot wait to see some photos of your adventures! We are three weeks away from our trip to Europe. I’m soooo excited!!! I will have to try this cornbread cake. I’m a sucker for cornbread. Really beautiful photos :)
Grace
June 10, 2014 at 12:53 amLOVE this, in fact I kind of want to make it right now!
kristie @ birchandwild.com
June 11, 2014 at 12:04 amThis looks incredibly delicious! And welcome back :)
cynthia
June 13, 2014 at 2:04 pmYour vacation photos were SO incredible! I had a mini-vacay yesterday at my desk looking through them :) So glad that you had a good time (and even gladder I think that you’re enjoying being back! That part can be so hard!) And this cornbread cake sounds SO. GOOD. I always love a good cornbread but love it best when it has a healthy dose of sweetness. Maple syrup and strawberries sound incredible with it. Thanks so much for sharing! :)
Allyn
June 13, 2014 at 4:12 pmThis looks so delicious! If I decided to do anything with this week’s strawberries outside of eating them plain, this is at the top of the list.
Kathleen
June 15, 2014 at 1:29 pmThis looks like a wonderful cake…perfect for the season! Could I make this the day before serving?
Sonja
June 15, 2014 at 5:48 pmHi Kathleen – thank you! I would recommend making this the day of serving if you can, since it is so good freshly baked! However, if you want to make it in advance, I think you could; you could store it in a sealed container the refrigerator, and then I would heat for just a few quick minutes in the oven prior to serving to freshen it up!
dina
June 17, 2014 at 7:48 pmit looks yummy!
Roshni
May 13, 2017 at 7:15 pmI absolutely loved this – it’s wonderfully moist and crumbly at the same time. I didn’t have fresh strawberries on hand, so I whipped up a compote with some frozen ones and served the warm, jammy strawberries over the freshly baked cake. Your suggestion for heating it up worked wonders; I had a slice for breakfast the next morning and it was just sweet enough without being indulgent. Thanks for such a lovely recipe!