The quarantine has changed my baking. The creaming and the whisking and the finicky angel food and genoise sponges are in the past. Give me a good solid oil cake using the muffin method anyday. If the cake can use up the frozen berries that have been in the freezer since the smoothie phase years ago- even better! This is based off a NYT Dawn Perry recipe.  Couple of things to remember- don’t defrost your berries, this is a slow cooking cake and the berries form their own jammy pockets. Also poking this cake with a skewer to see if it is done may or may not work- you may hit some fruit which will be wet. The sugar on top is essential- the crackly crust goes brilliantly with the jammy fruit. I’ve used a 10 oz bag of just rasperries and a 10 oz bag of mixed berries- works great with both. Cut the strawberries into rasperry size bites.

Heat oven to 350 F and prep a 9 inch square or round pan (butter and flour/PAM spray/parchment). Parchment works best for this cake- it is a soft cake.

Dry ingredients- whisk with a fork to combine: 1.5 cups all purpose flour, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Wet ingredients: whisk well till sugar dissolved: 1cup sugar, 1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with 1/2 tsp vinegar) , 1/2 cup neutral oil (canola, vegetable etc), 2 eggs and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Mix dry and wet ingredients till just mixed (there will be lumps- such is life) . Toss a 10 oz bag of frozen berries with 1 tbsp of flour -gently fold into batter.

Add batter to pan, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar evenly on top and bake for 55 minutes or so till the top is golden. Eat with whipped cream if you are feeling particularly indulgent and the news has been really depressing.