White Zinfandel Sponge Cake with Macerated Strawberries

This recipe has been adapted from Gourmet’s Wine Cake with Macerated Strawberries at epicurious.com. The dessert is a simple sponge cake, made delicately fruity with the addition of White Zinfandel, and topped with warm strawberries. It’s a lovely after-dinner dessert, but is equally delicious in the morning, with coffee, or in the afternoon, with tea.

White Zinfandel is a simple, refreshing wine, perfect for spring. Try a glass with sliced strawberries, or other mixed sweet fruit, for a sort of pseudo-sangria.

White Zinfandel Sponge Cake with Macerated Strawberries

For the cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup White Zinfandel
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs, separated
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1¼ cup sugar, separated

For the strawberries:
3 cups strawberries, quartered
½ cup White Zinfandel
¼ cup sugar
pinch of salt

For the cake:
In a small bowl, mix together the flour and salt. In a separate small bowl, or a measuring cup, mix together the wine, lemon juice, and vanilla.

In a large bowl, using electric beaters, beat the egg yolks at medium-high speed, until smooth. Add the lemon zest. Next, comes one cup of sugar; blend with the egg yolks until everything is pale and thick – just about two or three minutes. Add half of the flour mixture; once well blended, add all of the wine, lemon juice, and vanilla. Add the remaining half of the flour mixture.

In a separate bowl, add a pinch of salt to the egg whites. Using cleaned beaters, whip the egg whites over medium speed, until soft peaks hold. (This means that, when you pick the blenders up from the eggs, the whipped mixture will form gentle hills.) Gradually add the remaining sugar, blending continuously, until stiff peaks hold. This will take a few minutes.

Add about a quarter cup of the whipped egg whites into the yolk and flour mixture, to lighten the yolks. Then fold in the remaining whites, gently combining everything.

Pour the batter into an ungreased glass pan. Bake until the top is golden and springs back when lightly touched – about 35 to 40 minutes in total. Once you’ve taken the pan out of the oven, turn it upside down onto a cooling rack. Let the cake cool for one hour, then remove from the pan.

For the strawberries:
Add all strawberries, White Zinfandel, sugar, and salt into a bowl, and let macerate for two hours.

Pour the strawberry mixture into a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Over medium heat, let strawberries simmer for fifteen minutes, until the alcohol in the wine has burned off, and the berries are soupy. Transfer half the berries to a blender, and puree. Combine puree with remaining strawberries.

Serve slices of the sponge cake topped with the warm strawberry mixture. This cake is also extremely good when slathered with cream cheese before being topped with a layer of berries.

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