Strawberry Cream Cake

I am loving all the strawberries available right now.  I currently consider a meal that doesn't include strawberries to be incomplete.  So when I found out it was a co-worker's birthday this week and his favorite childhood cake was strawberry I new I had to try one.  This cake starts out like any other vanilla cake but instead of milk, crushed strawberries are mixed in to make a fruity, moist cake.

You'll see that I frosted the cake with a white icing.  My coworker likes sweet icing so I used my Little Debbie Cream Filling recipe.  While this was tasty I also made a strawberry glaze that I put on a cupcake I made to test the cake.  The glaze is definitely the winner if you like a lighter and less sweet cake.  Otherwise slather on that Cream Filling! :)

If you decide to ice the cake be prepared to do a full crumb coat and allow it to firm up in the fridge before your final frosting.  This cake is just a little crumby (not crummy!) so you will definitely need a crumb coat to get a presentable finished product.  I spent quite a bit of time icing this cake and adding the sliced strawberries on the top; I was actually really proud of my cake!  However, on the way to work Washington, DC traffic struck and an extremely rude man cut me off causing me to slam on my brakes.  The cake flew to the floor and smashed against the side of its carrying case.... :'(

After a bit of reconstructive surgery I was able to at least put the cake back together and arrange the strawberries but it was still an ugly mess.  Oh well, at least I took the pictures before I left for work!  Note of caution if you're transporting this... watch out for a middle aged balding guy in a late 90s blue BMW with DC plates!

Strawberry Cake Recipe

Ingredients
yields 2 8-inch rounds
2 cups cake flour
1/4 t. salt
1 T. baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/3 c. sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 t. vanilla extract
8 oz. (half a container) strawberries (if using frozen be sure to defrost completely)
*optional* a few drops of red food coloring to get more of a color pop than my cake had

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour 2 8-inch round cake pans (yes, do both... you'll thank yourself when you go to remove the cakes!).

2) Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.

3) Mix together the butter and sugar until combined (no need to cream it, just mix it until the sugar and butter are evenly distributed in the mixture... if you mix too long you can get a cake with holes in it).  After the sugar and butter are mixed together add the eggs and vanilla and beat with a whisk until well combined.

4) Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until there are just a few small lumps.  The batter will be stiff compared to many cake batters, that's okay... the strawberries will loosen it up.

5) Wash the strawberries and remove their green tops.  Using a potato masher or fork mash the strawberries.  This should yield about 3/4 cup of mashed strawberries and strawberry juice.  If you are a little short toss in a few more strawberries.  Pour the crushed strawberries, juices and all, into the cake batter and stir until evenly distributed.

6) Pour the batter evenly into the two pans and use a knife or spatula to spread the batter evenly in the pans. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out with just a few small crumbs attached.

7) Allow to cool completely and frost with either a strawberry glaze (recipe below) or a vanilla icing like my Little Debbie Cream Filling recipe.

Strawberry Glaze Recipe

Ingredients
1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. mashed strawberries
1 t. orange zest
2 T. milk (I prefer whole but you can use whatever you have)

Directions
Whisk together all ingredients and pour on top of the cool cake.