I can admire pictures of delicate French pastries all day. But when I see a photo of food cooked in cast iron, it moves me right into the kitchen. Not only does a dessert look appealing in a cast iron skillet, but it also evokes a sense of comfort and home. I don’t use this pan everyday or even every week. So it’s a fun occasion when when I haul that beautiful black skillet out of my cabinet. You just know something delicious is about to go down. And if it doesn’t? It must be operator error because my skillet could do no wrong. Fortunately, this strawberry skillet cake did not disappoint.

A rather last minute dessert idea, I originally wanted to make Cheryl Day’s strawberry-rhubarb crisp. My Instagram feed was flooded with photos of bright red rhubarb, and I have never tried it. From what I understand the vegetable can be quite bitter, which is why it’s typically cooked with sugar. It was a win-win situation: try a new food and a new dessert at the same time.

I placed my online grocery order for the ingredients only to discover (after the fact) that the store did not have any rhubarb. That left me with 2 pounds of fresh strawberries and zero strawberry-rhubarb crisp.

It seems with each passing summer that the quality of strawberries are hit or miss. Have you experienced this? Sometimes the strawberries are ripe, perfectly sweet and last all week in the refrigerator. Other times, they don’t last 24 hours before mold settles in and ruins the entire container full. Consequently, I wasn’t too inclined to let these strawberries go to waste while I searched for the bitter vegetable. It was likely to leave me bitter in the process, if unsuccessful. 

A general “strawberry dessert” search on the world wide web, and Google showed me a picture of Taste of the South’s strawberry skillet cake. Like I said: Show me a picture of food in a cast iron skillet, and I’m hopping into the kitchen to bake.

Generally speaking, I tend to take less liberties with a recipe when baking versus when I’m cooking. Baking is a science. I don’t want to risk making an inedible dessert for the sake of experimentation, unless I’m fairly confident it will turn out decent. As I bake more, I grow more confident making substitutions or additions to a recipe: using brown sugar in place of white granulated sugar, or using Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. So that’s exactly what I did.

The one thing I would have done differently was scale back on the amount of sugar sprinkled on  top of the cake batter. The original recipe called for 1/4 cup, but it was too much. I ended up brushing some of it off when it came out of the oven.

This turned out to be a great last minute cake - like a coffee cake with strawberries. The brown sugar gave it a hint of molasses. The cinnamon added warmth, and that sprinkle of white sugar on top added a little extra sweetness to each bite.

I’ve linked to the original recipe here, and my adaptation of it is below.

I enjoyed this cake alongside my morning coffee and as a late afternoon treat. I was pleased with how it turned out, and I hope to only become more confident in taking liberties with baking as time goes on. 

Strawberry Skillet Cake

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 lb fresh strawberries, halved
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
Note: The original recipe called for 1/4 cup. I’d use half the amount.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and spray your 9-inch cast iron skillet with cooking spray.

In a bowl, beat the butter, and 1 cup of brown sugar with a mixer at medium speed for about 5 minutes - until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

Gradually add the dry ingredients (flour mixture) to the wet ingredients (butter mixture), alternating with the yogurt. Fold in the strawberries.

Spread batter in the prepared skillet. Sprinkle with the white sugar.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.