Strawberry and Lemon Coffee Cake

This Strawberry and Lemon Coffee Cake is soft, zingy and filled with juicy strawberries. With its crunchy crumb topping, this is one seriously delicious accompaniment to your coffee!

Happy Thursday! How has your week been?

It’s been a busy few days in my house; it was one of my husband’s work colleagues birthday last week and I made her a strawberries and cream cake which she loved.

It was also my Dad’s birthday on Tuesday, so on Sunday we all went down and had a lovely family meal. I made a lemon and blackberry cake and we went back to my great aunt’s to blow the candles out!

I think I might have to make that cake again for the blog because it was amazing! I made a light lemon sponge, then I made a mixture of lemon juice and sugar and poked holes into the cake. I poured the mixture onto the cake to infuse it even more with that gorgeous lemony flavour then filled the cake with blackberry jam and lemon buttercream. The topping was lemon buttercream with fresh blackberries on the top. It was delicious!

I always love spending time with my family and I love seeing how my nephew has changed since I last saw him a few weeks ago. He’s got 4 teeth now and is so close to walking! He is so full of energy, his mum has her hands full with him! He managed to climb out of the highchair in the restaurant even though he was strapped in!

My aunt (my great aunt, but I call her aunt as it’s easier than calling out great aunt every time!) nicknames him “fingers” because you can see him eyeing up everything and what he can grab. If he sits at the table, everything needs to be moved! He has his fingers in everything!

He went through my handbag a few weeks ago, it was hilarious. He went through picking each thing up, he opened my purse looked at it, saw nothing of interest, then closed it up and dropped it on the floor. Then came the phone, the keys… he does not like being still!

Now, let’s talk about this Strawberry and Lemon Coffee Cake. You should know that I’m a crumb topping obsessive. If I can put a crumb topping on it, I will, so coffee cake is the perfect marriage between soft cake and crunchy topping for me!

I used the zest of a large lemon in the cake batter, folded in diced fresh strawberries and then topped it with an oaty, buttery crumb topping before baking it until golden.

Pure perfection. The sponge is light and full of lemon goodness, then you get a burst of juicy strawberry. It’s the kind of cake you keep going back for because it’s so darn good!

Coffee cakes are so easy to make, yet so satisfying you’ll be surprised at how easy they are. It really is a bung it all together kind of recipe. The most taxing part is rubbing the butter into the flour and oats for the topping.

There’s a story that comes with that too… I bought myself a pastry cutter a few weeks ago and it’s life changing. However, I managed to cut myself on it yesterday! On the side that doesn’t cut as well…. I should not be allowed near sharp things because on Saturday, I cut the same finger with the back of a knife.

Yes you read that right, the back of the knife, the part that doesn’t cut!

I’m off to try not to damage myself any further, enjoy this fabulous cake!

5 from 5 votes

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Strawberry and Lemon Coffee Cake

This Strawberry and Lemon Coffee Cake is soft, zingy and filled with juicy strawberries. With its crunchy crumb topping, this is one seriously delicious accompaniment to your coffee!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Author Annie N

Ingredients

• For the crumb topping:
• 1/2 stick (56g) unsalted butter,* cold and cubed
• 1/4 cup (50g) light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (60g) rolled oats
• 1/2 cup (70g) plain/all-purpose flour
• For the cake:
• 1 stick (113g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup (200g) caster/white sugar
• Zest of 1 large lemon
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (280g) plain/all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup (150g) diced fresh strawberries
• 1/2 cup (120ml) milk

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and spray an 8x8 inch square pan with cooking spray. Alternatively, you can line the pan with grease proof paper.

2. Make the crumb topping: place butter, sugar, oats and sugar into a small bowl and rub between your fingers until you have a coarse breadcrumb texture with some pea sized lumps. You can use a pastry cutter to begin with, but it will need hands for the final mix as it helps the mixture meld together. Leave to one side.

3. Place the butter, sugar and lemon zest into a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, and beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.

4. Add in the eggs, scraping down the sides as necessary, and mix until well combined, around 1 minute.

5. Place the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium sized bowl and mix briefly. Place 3/4 of the mixture into the egg mixture, then place the strawberries in the remaining flour and stir to coat them in flour.

6. Begin to mix the cake mixture on low. When it starts coming together, gradually add in the milk and continue to mix until fully combined. Turn the speed up to medium and mix for 30 seconds. 

7. Tip in the floured strawberries and fold until they're evenly dispersed through the mixture.

8. Tip the cake batter into your prepared pan and smooth into an even layer. Sprinkle the crumb topping all over the cake and press very gently to help it stick to the cake mix.

9. Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden, then turn the oven down to 160C/325F and cook for a further 23-28 minutes until an inserted skewer into the centre of the cake comes out clean. 

10. I would check every 10 minutes after you've turned the oven down as this cake can go from not cooked to over cooked in minutes!

11. Leave to cool completely before slicing into 9-12 squares and serving. You can also melt some white chocolate and drizzle it over the top like I did.

12. Strawberry and Lemon Coffee Cake will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature, for 3 days.

Recipe Notes

*You can also use a low fat spread - I would never normally say to use this as I love real butter in baking, but I used a low fat spread once for a crumb topping and it was the best crumb topping I'd ever eaten!