Strawberry Cake

I wasn't a huge fan of strawberry cake (regular birthday cake), until I tried this recipe. Don't get me wrong, the cakes I've had were all OK, but just so.... store bought. (I'm not a snob, I just know what tastes good.)

My Mom's birthday was this past Sunday and I offered to make her a cake this year. Being her usual Mom self, she told me to buy a cake or make a box cake- keep it simple. She must have been suffering from temporary insanity. A box mix? Me? (They don't taste bad, but really. A box mix?!?!) I of course poo-pooed those ideas immediately, and started crusing the internet for recipes. She doesn't like chocolate and I am planning on making a carrot cake for Easter, so I looked mostly at non-chocolate, non-carrot birthday cakes. I finally found a few strawberry recipes that looked good, but they all had strawberry Jello, extract, or some other kind of artificial flavoring. I'm sorry, but strawberry cake should call for strawberries. (It's a radical idea, I know, but stay with me.)

After narrowing it down to two non-strawberry flavored food cake recipes, I picked this one. It's great! Moist and delicious, everyone really did enjoy this one. I was a bit leery about the cream cheese icing, not because I don't love cream cheese icing, but I was afraid it would be too sweet. Not the case. It was just right, especially for a birthday!

Here's a link to the recipe I used.


Ingredients

Cake:
Nonstick vegetable spray
All-purpose flour, for pans
3 cups self-rising flour
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup pureed strawberries (About 1 lb.)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
4 large eggs, beaten

Cream Cheese Icing:

1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
1 stick of butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
1 TBL milk (if needed)

Begin by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Spray your cake pans and lightly flour, tapping excess off, and set aside.

In a food processor, puree your strawberries. I got 1 1/2 cups with just short of 1 lb. Buy extra just in case, and to use to decorate the cake!

Combine sugar, strawberries and oil. Mix.

Next time I MIGHT use a little less oil and a bit more strawberries instead. Not only will this intensify the taste, but will make the cake healthier less bad for you.

Gently beat eggs and add. Blend into the strawberry mixture.

It looks a little like a science project, I know. Stay with me!

Add lemon zest and vanilla. Now gradually beat in the flour until just incorporated. If you don't have self-rising flour on hand, it's SUPER easy to make.

The batter is ready! *You may add red food coloring if a rich red color is desired, but it isn't really necessary. Pour evenly into your 3 cake pans (about 1/2 full).

Bake about 28 minutes, or until the middle of the cakes spring back when you gently press on them and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool 10-20 minutes in the pans and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling, right side up. I like to make my cakes in the evening and ice them in the morning, but as long as you let them cool completely, you're fine.

 Make the frosting by beating together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually add sugar until the sweetness is to your liking. (I didn't find 3 Cups made it too sweet, personally.) Mix in vanilla. Add milk to thin it out but make sure not to add too much! A little goes a long way. I ended up using the 1 Tbs milk so the icing was easier to spread. (Icing cakes is NOT my forte, but this one didn't turn out too badly.)

Add a thin layer of frosting to the first cake. Place the second cake on top. Repeat. Once all three layers are iced, ice the sides.

Can you tell I was having a good time taking pictures?

The finished product!

My cake in action! Here's my G-ma lighting the candles. She's the nicest person in the world, and a pro at candle lighting.

I think I'm going to go eat my left over slice now. It was so damn good!

Now it's your turn. Try this recipe and let me know how it turns out! Brian will thank you for it...

Happy eating! (And Happy Brithday, Momma!)