I think the older I get the more I look to external joys to celebrate my birthday.
In my youth, I used to flippantly say, “My favorite holiday is my birthday!” I would demand that people shower me in attention and gifts. It was my day after all.
*head smack*
And while I fully support when others want to treat their birthdays as the best day of the year (heck, I encourage it!) for me, the greatest gifts are the simple ones. The best day ever is having my kids near, knowing family and friends are safe and healthy, taking a few moments to just enjoy the precious life I have been given… thats a perfect birthday.
Oh, and cake of course.
I recently posted about an event that totally threw me off. (My husband being hospitalized for heart issues.) While it has been hard to process and not something I ever wanted to deal with, I am thankful that it has helped me put my priorities in perspective.
The greatest birthday gift is peace of mind when it comes to accepting the curve balls life throws at us.
This cake has been a long time coming for me. I love strawberry cake, strawberry jam, strawberry wine, strawberry anything. For almost a year now I have been searching for a great from scratch recipe that did not include jello or gelatin. Not that there are anything wrong with those… just that I truly desired a from scratch recipe and couldnt figure out why it was so hard to come by!
Based on our news and wanting to make some healthier changes in my family’s diet, I was even more motivated to make my hopes a reality.
Tips for Success:
There are a number a steps to this recipe, so its a good idea to read through first and prepare your ingredients before hand.
I had extra strawberry puree left over, so I added it to 1/2 cup of buttercream for the middle of the cake.
I highly recommend pairing this cake with a whipped cream frosting. I chose Vanilla Buttercream for this because I wanted to use a particular technique (Ruffle Tutorial with #401 tip) for the frosting, but I ultimately believe that whipped cream frosting is the best choice in terms of flavor.
If you are baking at a higher altitude, be sure to check out my High Altitude Baking Tips.
I truly enjoyed this real strawberry cake and hope you will too.
And because its my birthday, and I allow myself one day a year to be bossy without guilt, (without guilt are the key words there!) I am going to request that today you tell at least one person how much they mean to you. Pick one quality that you admire in someone and tell them so. I promise that not only will it brighten their day, but it will brighten yours too. 🙂
Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
- 1 c butter
- 2 -3 cups diced fresh strawberries
- 1 c sugar
- 4 egg whites
- 2/3 c strawberry puree 1 cup thawed frozen strawberry & 1-2 tbsp water in blender
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 3 c all purpose flour
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 c white sugar
- 2 tbsp. flour
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 8-in round cake pans.
- Whip four eggs whites in mixer until soft peaks form. Add 1 cup sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, whipping to maintain soft peaks. Pour whites into large bowl (This was about 5 cups in volume after whipped) and set aside.
- Cream room temperature butter and 1 cup sugar until fluffy. Add in vanilla and almond extract. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating after each addition.
- Sift together 3 cups flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Alternatively add flour mixture and strawberry puree to batter until fully combined. Batter will be thick.
- Fold in egg whites.
- Coat diced strawberries in 2 tbsp flour and gently add to batter. (I used 2 cups but think 3 cups would also be delicious.)
- Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If using two 8-in cake pans, bake for 45-50 minutes.
- Recipe adapted from [Allrecipes.com | http://allrecipes.com/recipe/melt-in-your-mouth-blueberry-cake/]
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
I love the bossy direction at the end. Telling people you care is important!
I made this cake – it is D E L I C I O U S O! oh my! I would love your whipped cream icing recipe – I used that butter cream and it was good but a little overpowering. Also, why do we coat the strawberries in flour before adding to the batter. I am definitely making this again. I think I’m going to try blueberries instead of strawberries.
I believe coating the strawberries in flour helps keep them from sinking to the bottom of the cake.
Have you ever tried this recipe as cupcakes? Any suggestions?
I made the cake – it was AMAZING! I’m looking forward to making it again with peaches, and with blueberries, and with a combo of berries – blue, black and straw!
I did use your butter cream frosting – the frosting is delicious but was a little heavy/sweet on the cake. Do you have a whipped cream frosting that you recommend?
So glad you liked it! I did recommend in the post to use whipped cream… and think that if you just google a recipe you should be fine. That or cool whip! 🙂
This looks divine! Question: with strawberry puree mixed into the batter, how is the cake not tinted pink? Or is it but it doesn’t show in the photo? Just curious…
I baked these as cupcakes, filled cups 2/3 high and convection baked for 23 mins at 400 F. Do you think they will freeze well with the diced, fresh, strawberries??
Hi Amanda, Beautiful cakes! How do you tint the frosting to various shades of pink? White is white, but from the lightest to darkest pink – what is your method and measurement? Thanks!!
sooo confused, what the heck does “de-thawed” frozen strawberries mean? LOL… soo just frozen NOT thawed??
What the heck?!?! I have no idea what I wrote that!! Um, lets go with thawed and see how it works. 😉
You know, I read that and thought is was some sort of secret trick of yours that made the cake taste better. I was totally going to thaw some frozen strawberries and freeze them again. I would have been very smug about too…
I’ll be making this for my daughter’s birthday this weekend. However it says to prepare 3 8″ pans yet gives the option to use only two. I’m confused! If I use three, will the layers just be thinner?
Hi,
I made this cake today, but the batter was crazy thick! Is that normal? I could hardly mix it. I have yet to taste it…..But I’m worried i did something wrong
The batter is thick. How did it turn out?