Everyone needs a dependable, easy-to-make cake in their repertoire. This one fits the bill. Once you’re proficient with it, start to finish, you can serve it in about an hour and a half. The buttery cake has a springy, moist crumb and a slightly crisp crust. The ingredients are simple and good butter makes a difference.

Italians call this type of cake ciambella and often serve it for breakfast. An Italian friend first made it for us, and you’re going to love how versatile it is. Flavor it with a tablespoon of lemon or orange zest and dust it with powdered sugar. Or sub out a half cup of flour for cocoa powder for a chocolatey spin on the cake. Try mixing in chocolate chips. Or try it our way, with whipped cream and sliced strawberries—for Mother’s Day brunch! You’ll love it.

Ingredients:
Makes one 11″ Bundt cake

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
16 Tbsp unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
2 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
1½ Tbsps unsalted butter (for coating pan)
2 Tbsp granulated sugar (for coating pan)
1 pint strawberries
Lightly sweetened whipped cream

Instructions:

Arrange the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter liberally the inside of a 12-cup Bundt or ciambella pan (tube pan). Sprinkle 2 Tbsp of granulated sugar onto the pan’s buttered sides and rotate the pan until the sugar uniformly covers the interior.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and pale in color, about 5 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, making sure each is thoroughly mixed in before adding the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and mix for another 30 seconds to make sure all of the ingredients are fully incorporated.

Add a quarter of the flour mixture and mix until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add another quarter of the flour mixture and mix until incorporated. Continue like this until the dry ingredients are all mixed in. Scrape the batter into the prepared Bundt or ciambella pan (it should be about half full).

Bake until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center tests clean, usually 50–60 minutes depending on your oven, but start checking at 40 minutes.

While the cake is baking, slice the strawberries and prepare your whipped cream. When the cake is finished, cool it in the pan on a cooling rack for 10–15 minutes. Delicately loosen the cake from the sides with a thin spatula and invert onto a serving plate. Top it with whipped cream and garnish it with strawberries. Serve with extra strawberries.