The Strawberry Cake That Started It All...

Our eyes locked across my dad’s crowded birthday party. My little heart went pitter patter and I could have swooned…

This is the cake that started my love affair with desserts—a strawberry cake with strawberry icing, baked in a heart-shaped pan, the traditional birthday cake in my family for many years (at least until my dad went crazy and became a health nut… pff…).

This was THE cake in my life. THE dessert of dreams. THE cake to which my young self compared every confection I tasted… And now it can be yours…

Strawberry Cake

Ingredients: 
1 box yellow cake mix
1 3-oz box strawberry jello
1 10-12 oz pkg of frozen strawberries (or 2 pints of fresh strawberries)
½ c water
½ c oil
4 eggs
1 box (4 cups) powdered sugar (+ up to about a cup or so more, depending on how thick you want the icing)
1 stick melted butter

Preheat your oven to 350.

If you’re making this recipe with fresh strawberries, the recipe will be a little bit different than if you’re making it with frozen berries. If you’re using frozen berries, let them thaw over a strainer placed over a measuring cup.

Thaw until you get about 1 c of juice.

If you’re using fresh strawberries, hull about half a pint of them, then liquefy them in a blender. You want to have about a cup here too, so add strawberries as necessary until you get to a cup.

Now, combine cake mix, strawberry jello, strawberry juice / puree, water, oil, and eggs.

Mix thoroughly.

Prepare 3 – 8” round pans (or you can use a 9X13, or, if you’re going to a picnic like me, you could go with jars!) by spraying with cake release, or buttering/flouring them.

Bake for 20 – 30 minutes (depending on your pan size) or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (or with a few crumbs).

If you’re doing a layer cake, or baking your cakes in jars, cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then slide a knife around the edge of the cake, place a cooling rack on top of the cake, and invert. Then take a second cooling rack and flip it again so the top of the cake is facing upward.

I cut my little jar cakes in half to simulate a layer cake, feel free to do whatever you want!

Let your cake cool to room temperature, and while it’s doing so, you can go ahead and make the frosting. To do this, mix the powdered sugar melted butter and strawberries, adding more powdered sugar until you get an icing of your desired consistency.

Ice the cake! Note, this icing is a little bit on the runny side, so you’ll want to thicken it up a lot or consider cutting back on the butter if you’re making a layer cake.

Hope you love it as much as I certainly have!