Strawberry Crumble Cake (or Jahodový Koláč s Drobenkou in Czech) is a quick and easy dessert to make. This moist cake tastes more like a super sweet strawberry bar than a cake and that is precisely why we love it so much. I remember eating this cake as a young girl for breakfast and feeling so lucky that I got to eat dessert for the first meal of the day!
Secret # 1 – to have it be so moist and taste like a chewy bar is to use a larger pan. If you put this into a 9″ round pan or a 9″ square, you will have a cake twice as tall, but you lose all of that chewiness that makes our version so delicious. Therefore, you’ll want to use a 13 x 9 oblong pan.
Secret #2 – the more fruit you use, the better and chewier it gets!
Every one of my Czech cookbooks has a version of this cake, but this recipe is my mother’s creation and our trusted favorite!
Ingredients
- 2 pints strawberries (you can use blueberries, raspberries, pitted cherries, plums or apricots as well)
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 stick butter
- 1 tsp Czech rum or vanilla
- 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
For the crumble topping
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup flour
Directions
You’ll want to pull out your butter ahead of time and make sure it’s at room temperature. Unsalted butter is best, but we’ve made it with salted as well.
We always make the crumble first. Just mix the three ingredients in a bowl and get your hands in there, pinching and working it between your fingers until it resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 and butter or oil your pan and then dust with breadcrumbs or flour so your chewy goodness does not stick. Set aside.
To make the cake use two bowls. Whisk all of the dry ingredients together and set aside.
Then, in a larger bowl, cream the butter and sugar together, using an electric mixer on medium speed. Blend for 3-4 minutes ensuring the mixture is light and fluffy. Then add your eggs, one at a time, still beating.
Add half of the flour mix as well as half of the milk and mix only enough to incorporate, this time on the low setting. Finally, add the remaining flour and milk and mix just enough that it’s mixed. You don;t want to over mix the final step.
Pour your batter into your prepared pan, making sure to scrape up every last bit and use your spatula to even it all out in the pan.
Add your fresh fruit over the top, just setting it on the batter gently. Some pieces will seem to float on it while others want to sink in. Don’t worry….
When the batter is covered with all of the fruit, sprinkle the crumble over it all. Some will land on fruit, some will sink into the little crevices between the fruit.
Bake approx. 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
It’s best to let it cool on a wire rack completely before slicing.
We know it’ll be hard to wait that long, but it will be worth it!
Slice and serve for dessert, an afternoon snack, breakfast or at any other time your heart desires.
This lovely batch was made by Zynnia and she made it at 9 pm for a ready to eat in the morning surprise.
Thank you Zynnia!
Dobrou Chut!
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This is such a wonderful and versatile dessert! While I was already living here, after my mother passed away, my father in his eighties, living alone in Prague, mastered the recipe so he can make it for himself!
Thank you Dana, for sharing that!
It’s wonderful that your father did that!