strawberry buttercream

Have you ever been to Heather Cristo Cooks? Its a fabulous blog written by a fabulous woman.

Heather recently became an author with her first book, Generous Table, Easy & Elegant Recipes Through the Seasons. Its got everything you want a good cookbook to have… wonderful recipes, beautiful pictures, and extras tips to help you become a more confident entertainer!

I was immediately drawn to this cake, called the Strawberry Lemonade Cake. Its one of the BEST tasting cakes I have ever had! Perfect for summer.

Heather graciously said I could share the recipe with you! I hope you will try this cake, see how fabulous her recipes are, and run out and buy her book! Everything in it is just as fabulous.

Strawberry Lemonade Cake {Generous Table}

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temp
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tbsp fresh lemon zest
2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1/3 cup cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup buttermilk

Strawberry Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
5 cups powder sugar
2 tbsp whole milk
2-4 large strawberries, chopped

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 and prepare two 9-inch round baking pans.
In bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, place the butter, sugar and lemon zest. Beat until light and fluffy.
In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients and set aside.
With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, combining thoroughly in between. With the mixer still running, add the lemon juice. (batter will look curdled, but its not)
Add one third of the dry ingredients and 1/2 cup of the buttermilk. Mix, then stop and scrape the sides of the bowl. Repeat, adding another third of the dry ingredients and the remaining 1/2 cup buttermilk. Mix, then stop and scrape. Add the remaining third of the dry ingredients and mix until completely combined and the batter is light and fluffy.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let the cakes cool before removing from the pans.

Strawberry Buttercream

Combine butter and powder sugar in a large bowl or standing mixer. Mix together on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in the milk and strawberries and mix on high speed until the frosting is very fluffy and pale pink in color, with flecks of strawberry.

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Because I love and adore this cake and book so much, I am going to give away 2 copies!

To win simply comment and tell me, “How is your day going?”

See official rules for more information.

If you are impatient like me and need the book NOW, you can get it on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble. You can also see her trailer here!

Around January 2nd I started seeing Valentines Day goodies all around the web. Thinking that it might be too soon to start spreading the February love, I promptly ignored them and moved on.

But it wasnt that easy. You know this is true if you are addicted to Pinterest like I am. They kept coming. And I kept reading, and they infiltrated my brain. I am now Valentines obsessed. Its January 11th. My apologies in advance for the next month of Valentines treats.

These sweet little treats are chocolate sugar cookies filled with vanilla or chocolate buttercream, then topped with strawberry buttercream.

Basically a sweet overload. Its what I am here for.

As much as I love a fresh and palate pleasing real strawberry buttercream, I knew I wanted to pipe these, so that meant I could not have any chunks in the frosting.

To achieve a smooth as silk frosting I simply adapted my Back to Basics Buttercream… using Strawberry Extract in place of vanilla. Be sure to start with a teaspoon of the extract and taste as you go… I ended up adding two but you can easily use less or more depending on personal taste.

Strawberry Buttercream

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 two-pound bag powder sugar (about 7-8 cups)
2 teaspoons strawberry extract
4 tablespoons milk
dash salt
1-2 drops pink food coloring

Instructions

Put room temperature butter, strawberry extract, and salt into mixer. Add in powder sugar one cup at a time, alternating with the milk until you have used it all.
Add in food coloring a drop at a time to determine desired color.
If your frosting is too thick you can certainly add more milk. I found that this is the perfect consistency for me to pipe roses using the 1M or 2D tip.

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As you can see these started out as Neapolitan. I adore the combination of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. But I ended up adding some chocolate buttercream to the bottom of the cups instead of the vanilla.

And totally liked those better. You’d think all that frosting would be just way.to.much. But the truth is when combined with the thick chocolate cookie… its nice! Well… I mean, I should clarify. You should claim to like massive amounts of buttercream in your life prior to this baking experiment.

#justsayin

For the cookie I used this recipe. I made the recipe as directed then rolled out small balls. Then place one ball into a prepared muffin pan and press dough into sides of pan evenly. I made regular and mini cookie cups and they both baked in about 8 minutes at 350.

I also noticed that I had to go back and press in the bottom and side a bit to make sure they were hallow inside after they were done cooking. It is best to do this right out of the oven. I used a small juice cup to create a flat bottom and sides, and then allowed the cookie cups to cool to room temperature.

So in closing please jump on the “obsessed with Valentines Day treats” bandwagon with me and lets have a little candlelight single-along. Although, open flames on a bandwagon might not be good.

No matter. We’ll make it work.