Apple-Strawberry Buckle

BUCKLE is a tender yellow cake with a fruit and streusel topping.
I adopted the recipe from the "Fine Cooking Annual" book. The original version is Apricot-Raspberry Buckle. But since I still have some strawberry left I better use it before it goes bad. I also use some diced apples that I sauted with some butter, fresh vanilla bean, cinnamon and sugar. Smells amazing!!
When hubby came home yesterday I asked him to taste it, and he just could not stop ...he even skip dinner. Need I say more??

APPLE-STRAWBERRY BUCKLE
Recipe adopted from the Fine Cooking Anual, modified by ME.
Serves eight to ten.

INGREDIENTS :

For the Streusel :
1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar (I use cane sugar)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Fresh vanilla seeds from 1 bean (then I use the bean string to saute the apple)
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small piecies

For the cake :
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar (I use cane sugar)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (I use vanilla beans)
1/4 tsp pure almond extract
3 large eggs
3/4 pound apple (diced, sauted for 5 minutes with 1 tsp of butter, 1 tbsp of sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and vanilla beans)
2 cups of fresh ripen strawberries

METHOD

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 370F, butter a 9 inch square pan.

Make the streusel :
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add the cold butter and cut it in with a pastry blender or two table knifes until the butter pieces resemble small peas. Refrigerated until needed.

Make the cake :
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl
With a hand or electric mixer (use the paddle attachment) beat the butter on a medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add 1/4 cup of sugar and the extracts. Beat for 1 minute. Gradually add the remaining 3/4 cup sugar while beating on medium speed. Stop and use a rubber spatula to scrape the bowl and batter. Beat on a medium high speed until pale and slightly fluffy (the sugar will not be dissolved), about 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs, one at a time, mixing it until the batter is smooth each time.
Stop and scrape the bowl and the beater. On low speed, add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated.
The batter will be thick. Add half of the apples and half of the strawberries to the batter and fold them in gently with a large rubber spatula. Some of the strawberries will be break when baked, the pinkish cast will disappear.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan and distribute the remaining fruit evenly on top. Sprinkle the streusel over the fruit. bake until the cake springs back in the center when lightly pressed and a toothpick comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes.
Let the cake cool in its pan on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.