Strawberry & Cherry Yogurt Cake

We were babysitting one of our friend's daughter who, like most young girls, is obsessed with pinks! Anything she wears or owns has to have pink on it :). She is like the pink-riding-hood of our group. Starting with her adorable boots to her hair accessories, everything is pink! She also wishes to have Rapunzel-like pink hair.

Since she also loves cakes and desserts, I thought of baking a strawberry cake. I have realized that baking home-made strawberry cake with just fresh strawberries and no artificial color or flavoring doesn't turn out as pink as you would like. Natural strawberries do not impart that beautiful pink color to baked goods. But I still tried! I just went along and made up this recipe. I wanted to grind strawberries with yogurt for a moist, pink cake. And the cake was indeed really moist, even if it was not as pink as I wanted. Next time, I should try cooking down the strawberries with a little sugar to make a compote. According to experts, the cooked strawberries impart a brighter color and flavor. So, an experiment for the future.

Anyway, here's what I did this time.

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1-1.25 cups sugar (more or less depending on the sweetness of the strawberries)
3. 12 medium sized strawberries (the riper the better)
4. 12 marachino cherries, drained and sliced
5. 2 eggs (preferably at room temperature)
6. 1 cup vanilla greek yogurt (or plain greek yogurt)
7. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
8. 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
9. pinch of salt
10. 1/2 cup vegetable oil
11. Chocolate syrup to drizzle on the cake

Preparation:

1. Mix dry ingredients - all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt
2. Grind the strawberries with the yogurt until smooth. Set aside
3. Whisk eggs and sugar together in a bowl until pale. Add oil and whisk until incorporated. To this, alternately add the dry ingredients and strawberry yogurt and mix with a spatula. Start with the dry ingredients and end with the dry ingredients. Do not over mix. Mix until just combined.
4. Finally stir in the cherries and transfer the batter to a greased and floured 9 inch baking pan (round or square baking pan).
5. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. 

Cool the cake on a cooling rack for 10-15 minutes. Loosen the edges of the cake and invert onto a plate. Let it cool for another 5 minutes. Cut and serve with a drizzle of chocolate sauce / syrup.