a reason to love summer

is that you can top anything with summer fruit and its instant happiness.

strawberries are super cheap at the grocery right now

so i can not get enough of them.

then there are white nectarines

and ruby's favorite current snack of choice, apricots.

summer just plows on through with endless buckets

of delicious fruit....peaches...plums...berries....on and on.

for some reason it always makes me want to bake,

cakes, crumbles, buckles, etc.

last summer it was plum and cinnamon sugar buckle,

topped with homemade whip cream.

this summer it has been orange or lemon scented cake

with creme fraiche and berries,

or recently cream cheese frosting and strawberries.

i mean why not when ruby requests

to 'make sumping'

The above cake was moist delish-ous-ness, and i might add

super dooper easy.

so if you're feeling like you need a quick easy dessert to spice up your life, go make this.

and eat it for breakfast perhaps, b/c that is my favorite time to indulge.

french style yogurt cake with lemon

adapted from that book i cant get enough of. every chapter makes you hungrier and ready to jump into your kitchen and make something delicious.

1 1/2 c. a.p. flour

2 t. baking powder

pinch of salt

2 t. grated lemon zest (i used orange b/c that is all i had and it was still deelish)

1/2 c. well stirred plain whole milk yogurt

1 c. sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 c. veg oil

• preheat oven to 350
• butter and flour 9 in round cake pan
• in medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. add lemon zest and whisk to mix well.
• in large bowl, combine yogurt, sugar and eggs...stir to mix well.
• add flour mixture. whisk to combine.
• add oil and incorporate well. dont splash the oil up on your shirt like i did.
• bake 25-35 minutes, until set and cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

top with cream cheese frosting (once cooled and removed from pan)

frosting:

in mixer combine 4 oz cream cheese, 1/2 stick soft unsalted butter....with paddle attachment on high speed until incorporated. add 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar. mix until sugar is no longer visible. add 3 T. whole milk. mix well.

Top with sliced and lightly sugared strawberries. I slice them and let them sit and stir a bit while making the frosting so they soften up a bit. Rasberries would also be lovely.

Have a super monday! Can't wait to share some exciting happenings in the culinary world. I am working on a breakfast and lunch menu for a local spot. Will keep you updated as it comes along, so be on the lookout! And thanks for following along...you mean so much to me!