Strawberry – Rosemary Cake

First post of the year.. yes i was partly lazy but hey we moved to different city now.. we moved to Bangalore, Little man started play school, Axl’s Little shop is getting slightly busy… 😀 things are moving ahead slowly but moving ahead.. which is good.. and the strawberry season is in , which means i am drowning in cakes with strawberries,.. can you believe i got the most delicious  strawberries on the road side for 50 rs a pack! probably the most delicious ones i have had in India so far. Been reading up on using herbs in baking… thyme has been slowly peaking in a few cakes and desserts already, i wanted to try rosemary this time so here it is…. the cake has a earthy notes in it along with the sweet hint of strawberry. The flavour of rosemary needed to be subtle and yet give a nice punch! 

Ingredients: 
Rosemary infused milk:

• Rosemary – 2-3 sprigs
• Milk – 125ml 

Cake: (makes 1x 8 inch cake)

• All purpose flour / maida – 120gm + 2 tablespoon for dusting the strawberries
• Butter – 100gm
• Sugar – 100gm 
• Eggs – 2 large 
• Baking Powder – teaspoon
• Rosemary infused milk – 80ml 
• Vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon 
• Strawberry – 10-15 or about 15gm 
• White chocolate – 25 gm

Method
Rosemary infused milk:

• In a small heavy bottomed pan, add the milk and rosemary sprigs. Let it simmer for 5 minutes. Turn of the heat and let the rosemary sprigs soak up in the milk for another 15 minutes. 
• Strain the milk and let it come to room temperature. 

Cake:

• Wash the strawberries and cut them into halves, roll it in some flour, this helps the strawberries to not sink into the cake. 
• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line the cake tin with parchment sheet. 
• In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light, pale and fluffy.
• Add and beat one egg at a time. 
• Add the vanilla and rosemary infused milk and mix well. 
• Sift in the flour and baking powder into the bowl and mix thoroughly. 
• Pour the batter into the cake tin and place the flour coated strawberries in a circle. 
• Bake for 25-30 minutes, check with a wooden skewer to see if completely baked. 
• Once baked, let it cool on a cooling rack. 
• You can either melt some white chocolate and drizzle over the cake or dust it a wee bit with icing sugar.
• Enjoy a big slice for breakfast