It's only been a few months since I first tried baking with sumac. But I'm getting a lot of mileage out of the bag of sumac I bought to make puckerdoodles, because I keep coming across recipes that call for it. I made Yossy Arefi's blackberry crumb cake, which has a sumac-less sour cream cake topped with a sumac crumb. Thalia Ho's "Strawberry Sumac Buckle" from Wild Sweetness is the converse -- a sumac sour cream cake topped with a sumac-less crumb topping. I decided to give the recipe a try after picking up some beautiful strawberries at the farmers market.
To make the cake batter, you cream softened butter and sugar until fluffy; add eggs, followed by vanilla and orange zest; alternately add the dry ingredients (flour, ground almonds, sumac, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) and sour cream; beat until aerated; and fold in strawberries. You transfer the batter to a parchment-lined pan; top it with a crumb mixture made from sugar, flour, ground almonds, cold butter, and chopped almonds; and sprinkle on coarse sugar.
The recipe specifies a 9-inch round pan and so I used a 9-inch pan that is two inches tall, which is what I would consider to be the standard height for a round cake pan. The cake rose right to the top of the pan and if I made it again, I would use either 10-inch diameter pan, or a 9-inch pan that is 3-inches tall. I had to bake my cake from slightly longer than specified in the recipe, but I was very happy with the even bake, and the crust was not too dark. The cake had a good texture and was nice and moist.
I liked this cake a lot. For me, the best part was definitely the almond crumb on top, which was very crunchy (crunchy is my favorite texture for a crumb topping) and delicious, despite not having any spices or seasoning at all -- not even salt. I was pleasantly surprised at how forward the orange flavor was in the cake from the zest. But I was disappointed that the strawberries definitely played second fiddle here, even though I used excellent quality fruit. The sumac was hard to detect, but this is by design; the recipe headnote says that the sumac flavor in the cake is not pronounced, because "Subtlety is key."
I enjoyed this cake and loved the crumb, but honestly, I was a little bummed that it seemed to be a waste of great strawberries. I think I would have preferred eating a strawberry-less version of this cake with some macerated strawberries on the side.
Recipe: "Strawberry Sumac Buckle" from Wild Sweetness by Thalia Ho.
Previous Posts:
- "Another Use for Sumac!: Blackberry Crumb Cake with Sumac Crumb," March 12, 2021.
- "Corn with a Side of Sumac: Pucker-Doodles," February 18, 2021.
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