Matthew & Kaia's 100-Mile Diet Birthday “Cake”

Author: Ada Vanden Berg

Ingredients:
Dough:
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil or Melted Butter or ½ of each
1/3 Cup Honey
1 Cup Rolled Oats (can substitute flour)
1 ½ Cup Wheat or Spelt Flour (I used light)
¼ Tsp (or less) Salt

Filling (custard and fruit):
1 ½ Cups Milk
¼ Cup Maple Syrup or Honey
¼ Tsp (or less) Salt
¼ Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Unbleached White or Spelt Flour
2 or 3 Eggs
2 Quarts Strawberries, quartered or halved (depending on size)
1 Tbsp Honey (approx)

Topping:
1 pint (or more) Whipping Cream, whipped and sweetened with
½ Tbsp Maple Syrup

Directions
1. Toss together ingredients for the dough, adjusting the flour / oil as needed to achieve consistency of cornmeal. Press into a 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Set aside.
2. Combine milk, maple syrup or honey (I used ½ of each) and salt and slowly bring to a boil, stirring regularly to keep it from burning. In a separate bowl mix ¼ cup milk, flour and eggs till smooth and set aside. When milk mixture is close to boiling stir about a 1/3 cup into the egg mixture, then add the egg mixture to the milk mixture. Continue to heat until mixture resembles a thick pudding.
3. Wash and prepare strawberries, drizzle with the honey and set aside
4. Assemble the “cake” by layering dough with ½ of the custard and ½ of the strawberries, then repeat.
5. When ready to serve, layer on whipping cream

Variations:
Vary fruit according to season / taste. When I made this, local oats were not available so I substituted flour. Add a thin layer of vanilla (or plain yogurt sweetened with about a tbsp maple syrup). Be creative! I “concocted” this from a variety of recipes I’ve used over the years. This recipe has just a bit more than a ½ cup sugar. It was a hit with kids and grown-ups.

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