milk cake with strawberries

I made it for what was meant to be a party to celebrate bottling her homemade wine... but turned into more of a bonfire night celebrating drinking the wine (which was awesome, by the way). The cake got a bit forgotten while we were down at the beach, but it made a fantastic breakfast for everyone over the next couple of days. It's a slightly sweet bread-cake, lighter than pound cake but denser and less chewy than angel food. Extremely easy to make and perfect for matching with fresh or cooked-up fruit. The book calls for roasted strawberries, but these were so perfect I couldn't bear to do anything to them.

10 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cups whole milk
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a loaf pan or a large shallow baking dish.*

Heat the butter and milk on medium-low until all the butter has melted. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs on high speed until they thicken (about five minutes). Gradually add the two cups of sugar, continuing to beat on medium speed for two more minutes.

Whisk together the flour and baking soda and add to the egg mixture. Beat on medium until smooth, about two minutes. Add the milk and butter mixture and the vanilla, and beat for another two minutes. Pour into the baking dish and bake for 35-60 minutes, depending on the depth of the dish. When a thin-bladed knife slides in and out cleanly, the cake is done. Let rest for ten minutes before turning out of the pan, and cool completely before slicing.

* The original recipe called for a loaf pan, and I am very fond of loaf-shaped cakes, but it took much longer to bake through than the recipe suggested, and burned a little on the bottom. Look how nice the top looked, though:

Overall, nice little cake. It lasted a whole four days, lazily wrapped in foil and left on the counter. Just as tasty the last day as it was on the first. You should also appreciate my lovely plate of wine-tasting snacks, because I rarely bother with/succeed at making something this nice-looking.