As you know my friend Liz's 21st birthday was last week. She asked for a Strawberry Cream Cake so I flipped through some of my Southern Living magazines and came across a Strawberries and Cream Cake (found here). I decided that I would use their recipe for the Strawberry Jam filling but other than that I came up with my own combination of flavors. For the cake I figured a vanilla cake would be wonderful with the Strawberry filling. Lastly, I topped it off with a Cream Cheese icing with two drops of red dye to get a light pink color. Add a few sprinkles and tada a girly Strawberry Cream Cake.
Basic Vanilla Cake:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup(s) sifted cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
1/2 cup(s) (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup(s) sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
1/2 cup(s) whole milk
Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat an 8-inch cake pan with butter and dust with all-purpose flour. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl.
2. Beat in the butter one heaping 1/4 teaspoonful at a time, using an electric mixer set on low speed, until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Beat in the sugar a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture resembles fine damp sand. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and milk, and beat on medium-high, just until blended. Do not over beat.
3. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean 30 to 35 minutes. Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
4. Un-mold and cool completely
Strawberry Jam Filling:
Ingredients:
4 cups mashed strawberries
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 (3 oz.) package of strawberry gelatin
Directions:
1. Stir together strawberries and sugar in a large saucepan; let stand 30 minutes.
2. Bring strawberry mixture to a boil over medium heat; boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in gelatin until dissolved; cool completely (about 1 hour). Cover and chill 8 hours.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
Ingredients:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract.
I know that is a lot of different recipes but remember you could always use a boxed cake mix and store bought frosting. I promise it will still taste amazing either way!
To make this cake layered I cut my two 8 inch cakes in half and then put three layers of the filling. Finally, I frosted the whole cake.
Enjoy!
Lots of Love, Natalie