Birthday Cake: Strawberry

I'm kind of cursed when it comes to basic layer cakes. Although they always taste delectable, I can never manage to make them look edible, let alone pretty. They're either crooked or falling apart or just plain ugly; plus, I've never ever been able to pop a layer out of a nine-inch pan completely intact. It's just something that had never happened for me until this cake.



My birthday cake was a strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting that I found at some point on Recipezaar. I have actually been wanting a strawberry cake since I realized I had never eaten one back in February; I waited until my birthday to make one so that the strawberries would be ripe and in season and I was extremely satisfied with the results.



While looking for a recipe that suited my tastes, I kept in mind that, above all, I wanted lots of fresh strawberries to be used and I wanted the cake to be pink. This recipe was convenient because I love cream cheese frosting.



However, I should probably address some of the issues I had with the frosting; I'm guessing that during the "thorough draining" of the mashed strawberries, some not-so-thorough work went on. All I really had on hand that I could think of using was a sieved spoon, so I picked up small amounts of the mashed berried and mashed them a little more while they were in the spoon, thinking this would lead to getting rid of all of the juices. Obviously, it didn't, which made the frosting a little apprehensive to set; I had to leave the cake in the refrigerator for a little under two days, so I pulled it out every four hours or so to swirl the frosting back up the cake because it had already dripped down into a puddle. I noticed around the last few hours before we ate it that I didn't need to push it up as much, so I guess the frosting finally decided to give up the battle and just stay put.



Anyway, this didn't take away from the taste at all; it was delicious and the coconut and pecan, which I originally thought were fairly out of place in the recipe, ended up adding a nice crunch and texture to the finished product. Of all of the people that ate the cake, my mom was the only one who disliked it and then it was only due to the coconut and pecan. I will probably make this again sometime sans crunchy stuff.



Also, I had a lot of the frosting left over, and I don't know if that was due to the fact that it never thickened up or if it was just because the recipe was specifically for three nine-inch pans and I only used two. Either way, if I hadn't let it sit in the refrigerator for a week and a half, I would have been able to make cupcakes with it and they would have been delicious.



I didn't do the best job with taking pictures of all of the steps included in this recipe, as I was really set on making it actually look good. This is unfortunate because it is probably one of the prettiest cakes I have ever made.



Strawberry Cake
Makes one 9-inch (2 or 3) layer cake, about 18 servings

Vegetable shortening, for greasing the pans
Flour, for dusting the pans
1 (18.25 ounce) package plain white cake mix
1 (3 ounce) package strawberry gelatin
1 cup mashed fresh strawberries, with juice (1 1/2 cups whole berries)
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup whole milk (I used 1% and it worked fine)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup grated sweetened coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Strawberries, sliced, for garnish
1 batch Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two or three 9-inch round cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour and set the pans aside.

Place the cake mix, strawberry gelatin, mashed strawberries and juice, oil, milk and eggs in a large mixing bowl and blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The strawberries should be well blended into the batter. Fold in the coconut and pecans. Divide the batter among the prepared pans and place them in the oven; if you are using two pans, simply place them on the middle rack; if you are using three and your oven is not large enough, place two pans on the center rack and place the third pan in the center of the highest rack.

Bake the cakes until they are light brown and just start to pull away from the sides of the pan, 28 to 30 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the layer on the highest oven rack. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack, then invert again onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow them to cool completely, 30 minutes more. (Okay, I didn't do the multiple inversions; I placed them on little hotpads in front of a fan that was on high for about 30 to 45 minutes until they were mostly cool.

To assemble, place one cake layer on a serving platter. Spread the top with frosting. (At this point, I used a thin layer of frosting on top of the first layer; then I added thinly sliced strawberries and added another thin layer of frosting on top of the slices.) Add another cake layer, right side up, and frost the top. Repeat this process with the third layer and frost the top. Use the remaining frosting to frost the sides, working with clean, smooth strokes. Decorate the top layer with sliced strawberries, if desired. Serve at once or chill the cake for later serving. (I recommend chilling it - it really helps bring out the strawberry flavor.)

Place this cake uncovered, in the refrigerator until the frosting sets, 20 minutes (or 2 days, if you're me: that's how long it took to start to set). Cover the cake with waxed paper and store, in the refrigerator, for up to 1 week. Or freeze it, wrapped in aluminum foil, for up to 6 months. Thaw the cake overnight in the refrigerator before serving. This cake is best served cold.


Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes a ton of frosting
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted (I probably used about 5 cups, just trying to get the frosting to thicken up)
3/4 cup fresh ripe strawberries, rinsed, capped and mashed to make 1/2 cup, then drained well
1/3 cup grated sweetened coconut
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on low speed for about a minutes. Stop the machine and add the powdered sugar and drained strawberries (IMPORTANT: If the strawberries are not completely drained, the frosting will not set). Blend the frosting on low until the sugar is completely incorporated; then, raise the speed to medium and mix the frosting for another few minutes until the frosting lightens and is well combined. Fold in the coconut and pecans.


By the way, if anyone was wondering, I have not yet made the Coconut Cream Pie for my grandpa because we are waiting until he gets out of the hospital on July 14th to surprise him with it. But I still need to post about Cake Pops, and that's worth waiting around for!