Recipe: Velvet Crumb Strawberry Dessert

I made this over the weekend, and I have to say I was very pleased. Once again, it is more of a summer dish, and was a nice little pick-me-up instead of the typically February dreariness. It was a light dessert in the sense that there wasn't a lot of it, and it wasn't too heavy on the sugar.

Taste: Wonderful. I loved how all of the tastes of the strawberry, the cake, and the cream cheese blended together into one smooth, delightful taste. It particularly worked out because the strawberries that I had were slightly on the tart side, so the dessert wasn't sickeningly sweet. The cream cheese, which I was skeptical about, gave it a great twist.

Grade: A

Cooking: For a cake, extremely easy. The recipe calls for a baking mix, which takes a lot of the mixing out of the picture when you're making the cake. In fact, the glaze was the hardest part. It comes together really quickly.

Grade: A

This is a great dessert for the summer or even spring during Easter.

Here's the recipe:

Velvet Crumb Strawberry Dessert (Summer Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, 1989)

1 1/2 cups baking mix (Bisquick)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk or water
2 tablespoons shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
Strawberry glaze (recipe below)
2 packages (3 ozs each) cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 1/2 cups strawberry halves

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour round pan, 9 x 1 1/2 inches. Beat baking mix, sugar, milk, shortening, vanilla, and egg in large bowl on low speed, scraping bowl frequently, 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 4 minutes. Pour into pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 5 minutes; invert on serving plate.

Prepare strawberry glaze; cool. Mix cream cheese and lemon peel; spread over top of cake. Arrange strawberries on cream cheese mixture; pour strawberry glaze over strawberries. Refrigerate until set, at least 1 hour. Refrigerate any remaining dessert.

Strawberry Glaze

1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3 or 4 drops red food color

Mash strawberries. Mix sugar and cornstarch in 2-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in strawberries and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir one minute. Stir in lemon juice and food color; cool.