Strawberry Cake

Last night I came to the rescue for Valerie and made some emergency cupcakes for her fiance's birthday. She is my cupcake loving friend who was the lucky recipient of the red velvet cupcakes for her bridal shower (see red velvet cake post). I love to bake and not have the remnants sitting around our place, and I also jump at any chance to try to create a new recipe and decorating technique. I thought I did a pretty good job since I didn't have much time, but then I discovered they weren't as pretty upon delivery. I never even considered putting a fresh strawberry slice on top would "ruin" the frosting, but it definitely left its mark. The icing started to run a little due to the moisture of the strawberry slice, and being the perfectionist that I am, this did not make me happy. At least I learned a valuable lesson....juicy strawberries don't mix with frosting! Guess I will have to figure something else out for the future. If you have any tips let me know!!

This was the first strawberry cake I have ever attempted, other than a boxed strawberry cake (which ended up being the Easter floor cake I mentioned before). I found the recipe on the Food Network's website, and when I saw it was done by Paula Deen I figured it had to be good (I hope I don't get in trouble for posting this!!). Since I am trying to stick to my diet, I did not eat the cake but have been assured they were yummy, but you can judge for yourself. FYI - don't expect these to be a normal cake texture...I would classify them as "squishy." Obviously that is not a proper cake term, but it will do for now. :)

Strawberry Cake

Ingredients:
1 boxed white cake mix
1 3oz box strawberry gelatin
1 15oz package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed (I couldn't find ones in "syrup" but found them labeled "sweetened")
4 large eggs
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/4 c water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Combine cake mix and strawberry gelatin.
Add in the pureed strawberries, eggs, oil, and water and mix until combined and smooth
Divide evenly between 2 cake pans, or I made 24 cupcakes and 36 mini cupcakes.
If making a cake, the directions say to bake for 20 min.
If making cupcakes - bake 15 min for regular sized, and 12 for mini.
Frost with your favorite icing - I used the classic cream cheese frosting, but the recipe provided a yummy strawberry cream cheese frosting. I think that may be a little too much to serve along with the strawberry cake, but I will try it with a different cake sometime in the future.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
1 8oz package cream cheese
1/2 stick butter
1 box powdered sugar
1 t vanilla

Directions:
Cream butter and cream cheese together
Slowly mix in powdered sugar (otherwise you will have a cloud of powdered sugar dust floating up)
Add in vanilla and mix until smooth (confession - I never measure vanilla and usually always add more than a recipe calls for because I think it makes everything better)
**Variation - I looked for strawberry extract at the store thinking it may be better than vanilla for this recipe, but couldn't find any - try it if you have it and let me know how it tastes