Joy the Baker

Roasted Strawberry and Dumpling Skillet Cake

by 58 Comments

Roasted Strawberry and Dumpling Skillet

I was looking for rainbow carrots.  I was thinking we’d roast some carrots… you know, sit around a plate of carrots and just chat.

And then, nope.  

Turns out strawberries are in season!  Now.  Already.  It’s time!

Maybe still a little too soon for the white jeans and the flip flops (shut up California and Florida), but strawberries are here and we have major reason to celebrate (with dumplings).  

Come with it! 

Roasted Strawberry and Dumpling Skillet

 Strawberries have yet to reach their peek in sweetness and extreme loveliness.  When in doubt: ROAST! And there better be butter and a little bit of sugar.

Roasted Strawberry and Dumpling Skillet

Let’s make it easy for these dumplings:  self-rising flour.  

Yea… just get into it!  

I love this self-rising flour from King Arthur Flour because the flour is so light and fluffy, it creates the most fluffy dumplings.  

A dumpling is nothing if it’s not fluffy, and you know that’s true.  

If you want to know waaaaay more about flour:  check it.  

If you want to make your own self-rising flour at home:  check this.  

Roasted Strawberry and Dumpling Skillet

Lots of buttermilk in these little dumplings. 

I also used a dark Muscovado Sugar which is dark and extra lovely.  If you don’t have Muscovado on hand, light brown sugar will also be great!   Depth.  

Roasted Strawberry and Dumpling Skillet

Dumplings are more wet than biscuits.  

It’s just science.

You should  also know that I ALWAYS want to type a ‘z’ when I type biscuits.  

Bizcuits.  

Roasted Strawberry and Dumpling Skillet

The strawberries are roasted in the oven for about 15 minutes while we bring together the biscuit dough.  They’re roasted until just softened and bubbly, then removed for the oven for the biscuit batter to be added.  

Dollops.  Big ol’.  

Roasted Strawberry and Dumpling Skillet

 Biscuits golden and tender.  Strawberries all juicy and new.  It’s Spring fresh and we’re allowed to enjoy it exactly right now.  

Happy Spring!  

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Strawberry and Dumpling Skillet Cake

  • Author: Joy the Baker
  • Prep Time: 15
  • Cook Time: 15
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
Scale

Ingredients

For the Strawberries

  • 2–3 heaping cups halved, ripe, and hulled strawberries
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed

For the Biscuits

  • 2 cups self-rising flour
  • 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
  • 1 cup cold buttermilk

Instructions

  1. Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
  2. Place strawberries in an 8-inch oven-proof skillet and place small pats of butter on top of the berries. Top with brown sugar. Place in the oven to roast for 12-15 minutes. While the strawberries roast, prepare the biscuit dough.
  3. To make the biscuits, in a medium bowl whisk together flour and brown sugar. Add the cold butter and use your fingers to quickly break the butter down into the flour and sugar mixture. Some of the butter pieces will be the size of oat flakes, others will be the size of small peas.
  4. Create a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the cold buttermilk. Stir with a spoon. The mixture will be rather wet.
  5. Remove the strawberries from the oven and carefully dollop the biscuit batter over the hot strawberries. Return the skillet to the oven and bake for another 10-12 minutes, or until the biscuits are cooked through and the biscuits are golden.
  6. Remove from the oven, allow to cool until the strawberries are no longer bubbling, and serve warm with or without whipped cream (but definitely with…).
  7. Strawberry skillet cake is best served the day it is baked. Enjoy!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. DL

    So… This recipe didn’t work for me. The biscuits didn’t bake through in suggested time and needed another 20 minutes in the oven, which got them nice and dry… Don’t know what happened, as all other recipes were a success, but this one just didn’t work. Strange dough with a strange result.

    Reply

  2. Sarah Vita

    I just made this for my mother’s birthday! I mean, who needs a traditional birthday cake anyway? Amiright? It came out great, but I definitely had to cook the dumplings much longer than the recipe calls for. Could be my oven? My dumpling thickness? I also think I over-stirred the dumpling batter as it was a bit chewy. I’ll just be stirring this until combined next time. I also bought a brand new cast-iron skillet and this cake was its maiden voyage… tasted a bit iron-y and metallic, but I think that will subside with further use!

    My family loved this :)

    Reply

  3. memyb

    Yumm-o! I made this for Christmas breakfast, adding a dash of cinnamon on the strawberries before roasting to make it appropriately holiday-like (although I am sure it is astounding without it!) and would definitely make it again. Thanks, Joy!

    Reply

  4. Megan Price

    I just made this last night with peaches instead of strawberries and just a pinch of ginger… just as fabulous as the original. This would work well with just about any summer fruit, but I do agree that it needs more fruit.

    Reply

  5. Abbey

    Flavor wise this is great! I even used bananas and a peach with a splash of lemon juice in addition to the strawberries, and it was still awesome. Next time I will reduce the batter by maybe half since it was a little too biscuity – the batter fused together into one cake instead of separate cobbler pieces as pictured. This wasn’t bad, just too much biscuit in relation to the quantity of fruit.

    Reply

  7. Ines

    Joy this is simply amazing. I’ve added half a vanilla pod and cardamom pods to the strawberries to give it extra flavour!

    Reply

  8. Leslie

    I have a brand new-to-me cast iron skillet that was a perfect fit and peaches that needed to get used so I tried them both out with your recipe today. My husband and I both loved it. This a definite keeper. Thank you.

    Reply

  9. Jessica Harlin

    Ok. Made this for Easter, HUGE hit. It was perfect. And was pretty stinking good with coffee this AM.

    Thanks for being the wonderful recipe creating lady you are! You add to so many peoples lives and holidays…just through your ideas. Well done you.

    Reply

  10. Adrienne

    I made this for dessert this past weekend. Very nice flavours! I would say that the biscuit to strawberry ratio was a bit unbalanced. Next time I would add 50% more strawberries to even out the ratio as it was very biscuity. Of course I am a very resourceful person and handled this by taking whatever hunk of biscuit was leftover and slathering it with butter. So far this has worked out well for me.

    Reply

  11. Katie H.

    I’ve made this twice now and think that it’s landed squarely in my spring rotation. My sister and I made a scaled-down version the other day and then my husband and I baked it at the host’s house yesterday for Easter dinner (we had no time to prep much of anything and it was perfect). The whipped cream does up the game – I’m a real advocate.

    Reply

  12. missbrunettebronte

    I was really excited to make this recipe and it was delicious but the pan type was wrong. I used the 8-inch skillet (cast iron) called for and almost all of the strawberry juice boiled over, dripped down, and smoked out my oven during baking. As a result, the dish was kind of dry. It was still really good ( I served it with ice cream-yum!) just next time I will make it in a baking dish with high sides so I can contain all of the juice.

    Reply

  14. EBS

    I attempted this tonight – with almost none of the correct ingredients (all-purpose flour adding baking powder and salt to mimic self-rising, light brown sugar not dark, regular milk not buttermilk) sooo basically all I really had on hand was butter and strawberries. I also forgot to add the sugar to the strawberries. But I embraced it and forged ahead!! The good news is it was still positively magnificent! And a healthy dollop of whipped cream doesn’t hurt at all.
    Thanks for sharing this!!

    Reply

  16. Gwen Watson

    When strawberries are in season, it’s fun finding recipes that are easy to make and bring out their natural flavor. This skillet cake meets that requirement! In recipes like this, I also like to substitute for other berries if those are in season and strawberries aren’t.

    Reply

  18. Lori

    Smelled great in the oven, and lived up to the smell 100%! Not overly sweet, wonderful texture. In other words… perfect. Hubby said, “That Joy the Baker never disappoints.” I agree.

    Reply

  21. Lene

    Love, love, love your photos! So beautiful the way the distressed wood with hints of blue paint talks with the small light blue bowl…
    And cake sounds lovely, I will definitely be making this

    Reply

  24. Bhiravi

    I’ve seen a lot of roasted strawberry recipes floating around the internet this season, but I think this one is by far the most stunning! I love how you combine the berries with buttery-sweet biscuits. (I’m also thinking that adding malt And heavy cream to the biscuits might be a good idea. Is that crazy?) I’ll be making this in the next couple of weeks for sure. Also busting out the white jeans and flip flops, because, well… California.

    Reply

  34. Claire R.

    My mother in law used to make something similar with plums. It was my favorite dessert by her. Never occurred to me to try it with strawberries. Thanks!

    Reply

  37. Matt @ Plating Pixels

    Being a huge fan (obsessed) with skillet dishes, this just made my day. I noticed strawberries in the store the other day, and they actually smelled SWEET! That’s a good sign they are in season. Pinned for next time I get strawberries. Thanks!

    Reply

  41. cakespy

    Ever since I lived in Philadelphia I’ve been a sucker for dumpling dishes like this. This looks like a wonderful, spring-y treatment. Laissez les delicieux temps rouler !

    Reply

  42. Mary Ann

    Happy Spring to you too! Bizcuits! I have always wanted to name a puppy Biscuit, now I’m gonna have to change that spelling too. These look great. Thanks for the update on printing your recipes. Couldn’t be easier and that’s a fact. Will wait impatiently for my strawberries to come, we are a bit later than LA, but what is the rush, right?

    Reply

  45. Amber

    I’m in Florida and it actually feels like summer. I think we skipped spring altogether! Anyway, this looks incredible.. like my mouth watered big time. I bet eating it right out of the skillet while standing over the stove tastes best. Oh, when are we gonna see a kitchen tour?? :)

    Reply

  46. Mimi

    Mmmm! I just bought my first cast iron skillet – a 10 incher – and I’m hoping it will work for this recipe. If it wasn’t still SNOWING in Chicago, I’d buy strawberries fresh :/ Looks delicious!

    Reply

  49. Janice @Kitchen Heals Soul

    I can’t believe strawberries are already in season! In Montreal, spring just sprang yesterday. YESTERDAY!? We have been freezing cold since November. Winter was long. At this rate, we won’t see rhubarb ’til June :(

    I’ve never made a dumpling cake. Looks yummy! My only worry is for the layer of dumpling right above the strawberries: does that part cook? I hate when the cake above the fruit is doughy…

    Reply

  50. megbollenback

    This looks absolutely delicious! I have been waiting for strawberries to come into season in DC (they’re not very sweet right now), but now that I know you can roast strawberries to bring out their sweetness, I may as well pick up a quart and give this a shot. And who doesn’t love dumplings…so fluffy.

    Reply

  53. lisa

    I have never even thought of roasting strawberries. I bet they are amazing. Sweet and juicy. I am going to give this a try. Thanks.

    Reply

  56. Laura ~ Raise Your Garden

    Dumplings are my love language. And all that butter in these, I think I feel a song coming on. Looks so good! And you made this is a skillet, I’m lighting up like the 4th of July. Gotta do this. No fresh strawberries here until June!

    Reply

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