Canada Day is just not Canada Day around my place if I don’t produce something made with Strawberries! I have been craving Tim Horton’s Coffee Cake lately so I decided to bake up my own coffee cake, using strawberries and let’s see, what else do I have in the cupboards/fridge? Cream cheese, strawberry glaze, slivered almonds….Put it all together…

1 pkg Cake Mix (White, Vanilla, French Vanilla, Golden)
1/3 cup Butter
1 Egg

8 ounces Cream Cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon Almond extract
1 Egg

1 pkg Strawberries, washed and sliced
4 ounces Strawberry Glaze

2/3 cup Slivered Almonds

Preheat oven to 350F.
Lightly spray a 9X13 baking pan with vegetable oil spray.

In mixing bowl, using paddle attachment,  combine cake mix, butter and one egg; mix for a few minutes while slicing strawberries.
Remove bowl from mixer stand and work the dough between your hands, squeezing and gently crumbling creating coarse crumbs.
Press all but 1 1/2 cups (to which you will add slivered almonds) of the crumb mixture into the prepared pan.
Bake in preheated 350F oven for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven, cool for about 15 minutes on wire rack.

In the meantime, clean mixing bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, egg, vanilla and almond flavouring until no lumps remain.

Top the base cream cheese mixture, spreading evenly then top with sliced strawberries, drizzle glaze over berries and even out.
Add slivered almonds to remaining crumble mixture before sprinkling over strawberry layer.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until lightly golden.
Remove from oven and cool completely on wire rack.
Cut into squares and serve.

Yield 18 squares