Strawberry Cake

My big problem with most strawberry desserts is that no actual strawberries were harmed in the making of them. Seriously – they’re just…pink. And super sweet. But definitely not strawberry.

Well, let’s fix that. This strawberry cake uses a bunch of strawberries in both the cake AND the frosting. If you want to make it pink you absolutely can (I did), but you absolutely do NOT need to. It will look like a regular white cake with buttercream frosting, but when you taste it, it will be a burst of real (REAL) strawberry flavor!

Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

Cake

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
4 eggs, brought to room temperature
2 t vanilla
3 ½ cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
¼ t salt
¾ cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup strawberries, finely chopped (probably about 2-3 actual cups of full strawberries)
Pink or red food coloring *

Frosting

1 ½ cups butter, softened to room temperature
8 cups, powdered sugar
3 T milk **
1 cup strawberries, finely chopped (probably about 2-3 actual cups of full strawberries)
2 t vanilla
¼ t salt
Pink or red food coloring *

Optional I decided to use the food coloring for the icing and for one layer of the cake because I’m fancy that way.
This is approximate. You may need to add a little milk to get the icing to the consistency you want it. Just add a little at a time – you can always add more.

Directions

Butter and flour three 8” or 9” round baking pans and set them aside as we start with the cake part.

In a large bowl, put the sugar and softened butter and beat until smooth, just a couple minutes. Add in the eggs and vanilla beat again until everything is well combined and set this bowl aside.

In a separate bowl put the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and whisk until well combined. Get your bowl with the sugar mixture and add in half this flour mixture and mix until just combined. Next, add half the heavy whipping cream and mix again. Then mix in the rest of the flour mixture and finally add in the rest of the whipping cream and mix that until everything is just combined (you don’t need to overmix).

Finally, add in the chopped strawberries and food coloring and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined. IMG_0635_Moment

Bake the cakes at 350 for about 20-25 minutes, until the edges start to brown a little and a toothpick inserted in the center of each comes out clean.

Leave the cakes in their pans and move to a wire rack to cool. Once cool, remove them from the pans.

For the frosting, add the butter and powdered sugar to a mixer and beat until well combined and fluffy, maybe 3-4 minutes. If the icing is too thick, add in the milk, a little at a time, until you get it to a consistency you like. Put away the mixer.

Add in the chopped strawberries, vanilla, salt and food coloring and stir with a wooden spoon until everything is well combined.

Once your cakes are cool, you can ice them. I’m gonna assume you know how to do that 😊

Refrigerate the cake while you’re waiting to eat it, but take it out before serving and let it warm a little (but keep it still cool – it’s best somewhere between refrigerator temperature and room temperature).