Strawberries and Cream Bundt Cake

• 2/ 3 cup strawberries, fresh or frozen, finely chopped
• 2/ 3 cup strawberry preserves
• 2 ounces white chocolate, melted
• 1 3/ 4 cups sugar
• 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1 egg white
• 14 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 3/ 4 cups cake flour
• 1/ 2 cup corn flour
• 2 1/ 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/ 2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3 oz Strawberry Cream Tequila, optional
• 1/ 3 cup vanilla sugar*
• Rose petals, unsprayed, for optional garnish
• Red decorative sugar, for optional garnish
• Sweetened whipped cream, for serving
• *Confectioners’ sugar mixed with the seeds of 1 vanilla bean

Recipe also known as “Vanilla Dusty Ol’ Okie-Rose Cake ”

2011 Grand Prize winner for the “Bundts Across America”

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour pan; set aside. Mix chopped strawberries, preserves, and white chocolate together; set aside. In a separate bowl, cream sugar, cream cheese and butter. Add eggs and egg white one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk flours, baking powder and salt together.  Add flour mixture to the sugar mixture, in thirds, alternating with buttermilk and ending with the flour mixture. Pour half the batter into prepared pan. Drop the strawberry mixture by spoonful onto the batter.  Spread remaining batter over filling. Bake 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack. Invert cake onto rack to cool completely. If using tequila, drizzle over warm cake.  Let cool 20 more minutes and dust heavily with vanilla sugar and garnish with organic rose petals and red sugar, if using. Serve with sweetened whipped cream or strawberry tequila whipped cream, if desired.

Why this recipe represents heritage and tradition:
This gorgeous cake is reflective of my home state, my heritage, and my family.  The corn flour and strawberries  represent the official and traditional Oklahoma state meal, which includes grits and strawberries, as well as my gardening days growing up on a rural Oklahoma Farm we call Redbird Hill. The vanilla dust represents the lazy, dusty Oklahoma country roads in summer.   and the rose theme is for my mama, who at almost 88, is still a true southern belle and whom for me the smell of vanilla always reminds me.  She left Alabama in 1946 when she married my daddy, a WWII vetaran, whom everyone now knows as the Ol' Okie, thus the Ol' Okie Rose part of the name.  This little beauty of a cake makes a great June wedding shower cake, birthday cake, or anniversary cake.  So simple, but delicious and elegant without all the fuss, and the corn flour adds that little extra flavor and texture that complements the vanilla and strawberries perfectly.  I added a little modern flare of my own, by means of strawberry tequila, or what we call rose tequila. It gives the cake a unique appeal to young adults, especially if you serve it with strawberry tequila glazed fresh strawberries and whipped cream.  Another option is to add a little of the tequila to whipped cream, which works great if you have young children enjoying it – just simply serve theirs with plain sweetened whipped cream and save the special stuff for the adults.