In all my years of making cake for loved ones, there is this one Strawberry Cake that gets reactions like no other!! A cake, that the first time I made it, had the entire household sit down at 4pm in the afternoon, the moment it was finished being frosted, and dive right in, having cake before dinner. Dinner. Then more cake. In fact I never quite got thru icing it entirely, before little fingers appeared and were sneakily swiping and licking frosting.

This is that cake. This cake drives people wild. My sister in law has written sonnets about it. Over the years, I have gotten multiple requests to make and bring THAT strawberry cake to gatherings. And no one upon eating it, has ever cared to learn that it begins with a mix.  I also have never, ever had a crumb of it left over.

Now it is unapologetically pink, but other than that fact itself, it’s not the prettiest cake. Don’t get me wrong, the frosting is filled with real strawberry flecks and swirls that beckons you and it has more than enough rustic charm to be left alone. But when have I ever left well enough alone?!

This icing is so delicious and makes the cake. So you definitely don’t want to change a bit of it, but it can’t be piped or even smoothed successfully (because of those delicious real strawberries). It is what it is. So if it’s not broke (delicious wins every time in my book) don’t fix it, just stick a giant flower on top. At least that’s what I did when the occasion called for it!

Strawberry Cake Ingredients:

1 Box White Cake Mix

3 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour

1  85g Box Raspberry Jello (gives a more intense flavour than strawberry jello)

1/2 Cup Water

1 Cup Vegetable Oil

4 Eggs

I Cup Frozen Strawberries, defrosted

Strawberry Frosting Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Room Temperature Unsalted Butter

4 Cups Icing Sugar

1 Cup Frozen Strawberries Thawed

Pinch of Salt

 

Flower Cake Topper:

1/2 Cup Pink Wilton Candy Melts

Pink Non- Perils

Kitchen Paint Brush

Parchment Paper

Tape

 

Strawberry Cake Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

1. Grease and flour two round 9″ cake pans lined (bottom only) with parchment paper. Then grease and flour both the sides and bottoms. Set aside.
2. In a glass measuring cup put frozen strawberries in the microwave for a minute (or until completely defrosted, you don’t want any hard frozen parts left).
3. In a KitchenAid mixer (hand mixer would also work) put in the cake mix, flour and powdered jello packet.
4. Next add the water, oil, eggs and defrosted strawberries. Beat together in mixer until well combined and strawberries are all broken up and dispersed thru the batter.
5. Pour into greased pans.
6. Bake for 30 minutes (at 350 degrees) or until a toothpick in the centre comes out clean.
7. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes in the pans.
8. Remove from pans and cool completely on cooling racks.

 

Frosting Directions:

1. Beat room temperature butter, defrosted strawberries ( I generally set a  cup of frozen berries out on the stove while the cakes cook and the heat from the oven defrosts them), powdered sugar and pinch of salt until well combined. The frosting should be on the thicker side if possible. Add extra powdered sugar if too thin (or a little heavy cream if too thick ).
2. Spread over layers and frost entire cooled cake.
3. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Cake Topper Directions:

1. Cut out squares of parchment and draw 6 large petal shapes (approximately 4.5″ x 2.5″) and 3 small petals (roughly 2″x2″)on the wrong side of each parchment square. Once you have your first petal shape, in each size,  use those to trace over onto the other paper squares so each petal will be the same size. I suggest making some extras of each size of petals, since it is easy to have them break.
2. Place some clean bowls on table or counter (for shaping the petals).
3. Melt pink (or whatever colour you want your flower to be) Wilton Candy Melts for 30 seconds in the microwave and stir. Continue in 10 second increments, stirring after each, until fully melted.
4. Using a clean kitchen paint brush (or very thin spatula or cake spreader) spread a THICK amount of melted chocolate/candy as evenly as possible. If it is too thin it will crack when you try to remove it once it hardens.
5. Working quickly, because the candy melts set up quickly, tape the parchment to bowls to get the curve of the petals. You can use both the inside and outside curve of the bowls. This is best done, immediately before you start on the next petal.
6. Allow to dry COMPLETELY.
7. Using some extra frosting as glue, put a generous amount in the centre of the cake.
8. Carefully detach tape and peel off the parchment. One by one attach the large petals onto the cake. Handling as little as possible, because the warmth of your fingers will melt the chocolate quickly.
9. Using more frosting in the centre, or where needed, as glue, peel back the paper and attach the smaller centre petals.
10. Use the exposed frosting to hold the non-peril cake decorations to the centre.
11. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

 

This cake topping is probably best not made in some killer heat wave in summer, but held up perfectly fine in spring for several hours at room temperature!

 

 

Here’s where I first  learned of this delightful cake and frosting (though I have made a few adaptations),  from addapinch.com

And here is where I found inspiration for the flower cake topper at thecakeblog.com

I’m not going to say this cake is part of our family, but here we are enjoying this cake on several other occasions…

May we tempt you with a few other favourite cakes?!
Birds Nest Cake
Swimming Pool Cake
Caramel Pumpkin Cake