This Italian Lemon Cake with Strawberries and Basil Whipped Cream Is Your "Dessert for Breakfast" Free Pass
The Institute of Culinary Education has partnered with GrowNYC for a monthly series highlighting seasonal ingredients at the local greenmarket. This week, we're talking strawberries.
When in-season and bought at the greenmarket, they're juicier, sweeter, and more vibrant than their off-season grocery store counterparts.
Since they're currently available in greenmarkets across New York City (home of our east coast campus), we tasked Pastry & Baking Arts Chef-Instructor Luisa DeGirolamo with creating a recipe that spotlights their peak season glory.
Lemon breakfast cake — an idea she first encountered on her honeymoon in Italy — came immediately to mind.
Initially, she scoffed at the idea of cake for breakfast, but the recipe's airy texture and hints of lemon and orange zest won her over at first bite.
To pair with the cake, Luisa lightly warmed the strawberries in browned butter (for nuttiness); white and pink pepper (for a savory kick); and a splash of lemon juice (to balance the sweetness).
In addition to strawberries, Italians love basil, and these two ingredients — both of which are in season right now — blend beautifully, according to Chef Luisa.
So, here's your permission to eat cake for breakfast, and the recipe to make it a reality.
More recipes using greenmarket produce:
• Sweet Corn Arepas with Caramelized Cherry Tomatoes
• Summer Squash with Moroccan Chermoula
• Hard Cider-Poached Rhubarb Crostini with Cheese and Mint
• Sweet & Savory Galettes
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 120g AP flour
- 120g cake flour
- 10g baking powder
- 4g fine sea salt
- 200g granulated sugar, divided
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- ½ orange, zested
- 4 eggs, large, separated
- 125g whole milk
- 125g plain yogurt
- 8g vanilla extract
- 76g olive oil
- 76g melted & cooled butter
For the Basil-Infused Whipped Cream:
- 250g heavy cream, 36-40% fat
- 16g fresh chopped basil
- 50g powdered sugar
- Pinch of salt
For the Warmed Strawberries:
- 215g strawberries (approximately 6-10 strawberries)
- 14g butter
- Pinch of salt and ground pepper blend (half white pepper, half pink pepper)
- Fresh lemon juice to taste
Directions
For the Cake:
- Sift together both flours, baking powder and salt; set aside.
- Combine half the sugar (100g) with lemon and orange zest.
- Add egg yolks to sugar mixture and whip until thick and light in color.
- Whisk together lemon juice, whole milk, yogurt and vanilla. Add slowly into sugar and egg yolks batter.
- Sift flour mixture directly over batter in a large bowl. Gently mix altogether.
- Stir olive oil into melted butter. Add to batter.
- Using a stand mixer or handheld mixer, whisk egg whites until light and airy and barely able to hold shape. Stream remaining 100g sugar into whites while whipping. Continue whipping on medium-high speed until egg whites are shiny and can hold their shape. Fold whites into batter.
- Pour cake batter into a prepared 9” ring-shaped pan. Sprinkle pearl sugar over cake and bake 20-24 minutes at 350°F.
For the Basil-Infused Whipped Cream:
- Add chopped basil to heavy cream. Put in an airtight container for at least 4 hours.
- Strain heavy cream and push down on basil using back of a spoon or small ladle to extract all the liquid.
- Pour into a Kitchen Aid stand mixer fitted with a whip attachment. Add powdered sugar and salt. Whip together until the consistency of lightly whipped cream.
For the Warmed Strawberries:
- Hull and cut strawberries.
- Melt and lightly brown butter in a pan.
- Add strawberries, salt and pepper blend.
- Heat 1 minute or until juices are drawn from berries.
- Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.
