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Cowboy Caviar
Margaux Laskey
3060 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
3,060
15 minutes, plus 2 hours’ chilling
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Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8-inch (square or round) baking dish with butter. Set aside.
Using your hands or the back of a fork, mash the berries to release all their juices, and stir in ⅓ cup of the brown sugar. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, remaining ⅓ cup brown sugar, milk and salt, then add the flour and baking powder and continue whisking just until the batter is smooth. Transfer the batter (it’s not much) to the greased baking dish, and spread evenly into corners.
Spoon the strawberries and all their juices over the top of the cake batter. Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or just when a toothpick comes out clean in the center. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 3 to 5 minutes before spooning into bowls. Serve warm with ice cream.
I ate this whole thing by myself. All of it.
This is a riff on an old fashioned recipe called “Essies Cobbler”. I recommend melting the butter in the pan while the oven is preheating (leaving a bit in the pan and putting the batter in the hot pan create a lovely chewy crust) and also increasing the amount of fruit which can be any juicy fruit - peaches, blueberries, etc.
This was a delicious easy dessert. I chopped 1 up of fresh rhubarb and simmered it with the 1/3 c. Brown sugar, when it was softened I added the strawberries. We are huge strawberry rhubarb fans, this might be better than our family pie recipe!
I browned the butter. Misread the recipe and heated oven only to 325. After 20 minutes discovered the error. Increased temp to 350 and baked for 15 mins more. Absolutely fabulous! The strawberries were caramelized, and the cake had a beautiful color and texture. I will never use Julia’s clafoutis recipe again, and I intend to make my temp/timing mistake each time I bake this. Plus browning the butter added so much umami. Almost as good the next morning at room temp with coffee. A real keeper.
I have some nectarines that need to be used. Do you think it would work in place of the strawberries?
This is the first time I felt the need to add a comment after several years of happily trying NYT recipes. Expected this to be a little heavy and wet but it is the airiest cake - and also moist! Needless to say this came out great. Followed the recipe with some extras - grated fresh young ginger roots to the strawberry-sugar mix, zested lemons and added 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste into the wet ingredients before adding the dry ingredients. Am in Bangkok. Will use ripe mangoes next time.
I’ve made versions of this recipe before; it’s basically a clafouti, a French cake. The first version I made years ago was from a Jane Brody cookbook. Any fruit is good in it. I’ve used blueberries, tart cherries, peaches and strawberries, solo or mixed together.
The big distinction being that clafoutis is very egg rich and this cake interestingly enough has no eggs.
My family inhaled this in one sitting! We used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten-free flour and fresh-picked strawberries. Served it warm with strawberry ice cream (made from scratch also with our garden berries). What a summer treat!
My grandmother taught me this recipe over 50 years ago. She called it Lazy Woman’s Cobbler. I still use that recipe and alternate the spices related to the fruit and season. So easy to make and take to family and friends. I tried this recipe as written worked perfectly.
I just made a version of this (with rhubarb) where the last step before oven involves sprinkling top with another 1/2 cup of white sugar and then pouring a 3/4 cup of heavy cream over the top of everything (use a deeper pan). Cream intermingles with the cake, fruit, and sugar to make a golden-brown custard-y topping. We still had the ice cream.
I made this with fresh cherries (I used 22, cut in half after removing the pits) and added a drop of almond extract to the cherry/sugar mix. Delicious !!!
lulz I love my baked goods with poisons.
Bakers' commentary has saved me again. I'm feeling so very low - children massacred; men defending gun rights; unprovoked war; people feeling free with hate. Then - Sara James: "I ate this whole thing by myself. All of it." and Mary: "I love my baked goods with poisons." I cried with gratefulness that there is still lightness. The world may be saved by bakers. Thank you.
DON’T MAKE THIS CAKE! It is highly addicting.
Has anyone tried subbing a little cornmeal for equal amount of flour? Love the texture of same.
used nectarine and blueberries as strawberries were not available. blueberries added the perfect acidic punch. delish!
Very good and easy
Half tsp vanilla essence
OMG..... So delicious.....
So delicious. So easy. Added grated fresh ginger and lemon zest to the strawberries and just lemon zest to the cake part. It added a delightful freshness and depth of flavor. Used 3/4 of the sugar called for and it was good, but little too sweet. Will use half the sugar next time.
Made this today with just picked blueberries. We loved,loved,loved it!
I've made this several times with many different fruits, and it's always delicious! This week, we made it with peaches and blueberries in a dutch oven over a campfire, doubling the recipe to fill a large dutch oven (w/ Lodge paper liners for easy cleanup) and reducing the sugar in the fruit because the peaches were so summer sweet. "Baked" for 30 min. with 10 briquettes under the oven and 20 on the lid, rotating the oven/lid every 10 min. Served with vanilla ice cream. Incredible!
I’d like to make this a day ahead of an event. Any tips on the best way to reheat it the day of?
It’s the summer 2024 heat wave so I cooked it outside on a stone over indirect heat in the grill. For some reason it turned out even better the conventional way. Used the last of our 2023 frozen berries. Great, easy recipe. Love it!
And used buttermilk …..
OK - Easy. Needs longer in the oven.
This recipe turned me into a liar. I had told my wife and mother I was making it. After completing it and giving it a try, I tried to convince them it was terrible, but said I would eat it all so it wouldn't go to waste. Unfortunately they saw through my pitiful attempt at deception, and now I have to share.
So easy and yummy! Use more fruit as suggested as well as a dash of ground cardamom on top before baking it. Added ribbons of fresh basil once it was out of the oven. It was delicious!! Will make it again and again :-)
i use half white whole wheat flour and half almond flour and it comes out great. I also omit the sugar in the berries and double the baking powder to compensate for the heavier flour
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