Thursday, April 22, 2010

Strawberry Cake

It was hard to make this cake. Not because of the recipe, but because of the color of the cake. You see, I'm not a fan of pink because it reminds me of gender stereotypes that are pinned on people from the time most parents know the gender of their child. Gender stereotypes can sometimes hinder people from being and doing whatever they want because of societal expectations, and that bothers me to no end. Yes, all of these feelings surged about because of the color of this cake. Yes, I have problems hahaha. Moving on...
Anyway, I was really craving strawberries and cake, and I kept seeing strawberry cakes popping up on the internet, but they were all made with cake mix as its base and/or looked too dry. I wanted a true, homemade, strawberry cake that was sure to be moist and soft. I decided to use this vanilla cake recipe as a base and go from there. It was fun to experiment with the ingredients, but I was afraid of how the cake would turn out.
Fortunately, it came out almost perfectly. I say almost because I think I put too much purée in the batter and frosting because the texture of both was sort of weird... I can't explain it. The frosting was sort of gloppy yet smooth enough to place on the cake. Nevertheless, the cake was AMAZING.
I had meant to take a "fork-in-cake" photo so that you could see how moist and soft the cake was but I wanted to take a bite so badly and before you knew it, I had an empty plate with the lone, half-frozen strawberry on the side of the plate. A few hours later, I grabbed another slice. Yes, it was that good. I'm so sorry I couldn't give you that shot, but this cake was too freaking good. It was exactly what I needed, wanted and craved.
Despite its amazing taste, I need to experiment with the amount of purée required in the batter and frosting. As is, however, it is more than fine. I didn't get to decorate the cupcakes because I was too busy eating the regular cake. So, I will leave that job for the next man or woman to make :D...
In the frosting, I added lemon extract just to test it out. I loved how it gave a welcomed brightness to the strawberry. Oh, I want another slice right now....so, um, I better end this post now. Here's the recipe!

Strawberry Cake
Vastly adapted from Bridget's White Cake
PRINTABLE VERSION
YIELDS: 2 9 inch cakes PLUS 12 cupcakes or 3 8-inch cakes (halve recipe for less)

Baker's Joy or Cooking Spray
2¼ cups cake flour (9 ounces), plus more for dusting the pans
1 pkg (3 oz) strawberry gelatin (about 1/3+ cups)
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt (I use kosher)
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1½ sticks), softened but still cool
6 large egg whites (¾ cup or 180 grams), at room temperature
1 cup tablespoons whole milk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 - 1 1/2 cups strawberry purée (I used 2 cups in this cake, so I think 1 to 1 1/2 cups would be better) [1 1/2 cups strawberries with stems removed (fresh or thawed) + 1/4 - 1/3 granulated sugar (depends on how sweet the berries are) + Juice of 1 lemon]

Prepare the purée: Place the cut strawberries in a blender or food processor. Add sugar and lemon juice (without the seeds!). Purée the mixture until smooth.
The Cake: Set oven rack in middle position (If oven is too small to cook both layers on a single rack, set racks in upper-middle and lower-middle positions). Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray; line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper rounds. Spray the paper rounds, dust the pans with flour, and invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour (If you use the baker's spray, you don't need to do all of those steps. Just spray and proceed to the next step).

Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.
Mix cake flour, gelatin, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.

Add all but ½ cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using hand-held mixer) for 30 seconds. Add 1/2 cup of purée and beat for 30-45 seconds. Then, add remaining ½ cup of milk mixture, and beat 15 seconds more. Add another 1/2 cup of purée, and beat for 15 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed, and beat 20 seconds longer. (Tedious steps but necessary to avoid over-mixing)

Divide batter evenly between two prepared cake pans (I weighed them out on a scale); using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. (If oven is small, place pans on separate racks in staggered fashion to allow for air circulation OR bake them individually like I did.)Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 22 to 24 minutes.
Let cakes rest in pans for 5 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. The two different types of cake pans yielded two different looking cakes.
Re-invert onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1- 1½ hours.
Strawberry Frosting
by Memoria
PRINTABLE VERSION

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1/2 cup shortening (can sub more butter for a less fluffy frosting)
3-4 cups powdered sugar (to taste)
1 tsp lemon extract (optional)
1/4 - 1/2 cup strawberry purée


Beat butter and shortening for 3 minutes. Slow down beater or mixer, and add powdered sugar one cup at a time. Once the mixture is well-integrated, add in the purée until desired consistency is reached.

I did a crumb coating but didn't have time or space to refrigerate it. Anyway, I added the next batch of frosting and being the creative person I am, I plopped a frozen strawberry on top of the crooked, sliding cake! LOL!
The end!

61 comments:

  1. This cake looks so doggone good! Oh my! Even if it is pink with all of its stereotypical connotations, I am dying for a slice of it right now at 12:00 in the morning; now the photo shot with the empty plate and obviously used fork was just a cruel teaser, but I love ya anyway, you talented chef you! Have a great day :o)

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  2. Oh, that looks yummy! I'd soooo like to have a piece right now. It looks so sweet, creamy and refreshing. Really great for the spring time. :)

    Cheers!

    Petra

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  3. Gone? Only left an empty plate for me....oh.....

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  4. Oh yum! Look at that buttercream...heavenly!

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  5. You might be interested in this. It's pretty cool: http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/

    Of course, for a strawberry cake only pink will do. I have to say this cake looks AMAZING. It looks so light and moist!

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  6. Your strawberry cake came out gorgeous. My daughter would love it. The pink makes it extra fun!

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  7. OMG, so many amazing recipes I need to catch up on. You are hilarious with your feelings about pink food! This cake looks super good and all of a sudden I am now craving strawberries and cake. Look what you did..!

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  8. Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful! I love it!

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  9. Great job!! It is beautiful. I totally love pink... but I was 29 years old before I would be caught dead near it!

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  10. Que rica receta, tiene que estar buenisima. Un saludo

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  11. What a simply gorgeous creation! I'm also not a fan of pink. My whole childhood mom made everything around me pink & I hated it & wanted blue. Now I'm a blue lover. I hate it when people think pink-girls-blue-boys. Anyway great recipe!

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  12. aspettami che arrivo con piattino e forchetta!!! è troppo goloso! complimenti!! :)

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  13. Mem, it's absolutely pretty in pink! And you can still rule the world, you know. ;) Beautiful cake. I can see the halo. :)

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  14. You just found my weak spot! I'm a sucker for a good strawberry cake!! My mom used to make them for my birthday! This looks seriously amazing!!!

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  15. Mmmmm.... that looks amazing! I may definitely have to try this one out!

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  16. I love strawberry cake. You've got me craving it now!

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  17. wow, i've never had a strawberry cake that wasn't made from a wretched boxed mix...which is why i haven't often had strawberry cake.

    now, if strawberry season would just get here a little quicker...

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  18. It's pink! It may be the only pink thing on your blog. ha ha!

    Your cake looks really light and fluffy. Makes me want strawberry cake too!

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  19. This cake looks heavenly! Do you suppose it would work well with almond milk rather than regular?

    Thanks for the recipe!

    jessyburke88@gmail.com

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  20. So beautifull your strowberry cake!!!!
    Very nice your blog! See you soon ;)

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  21. This looks so good. More little changes to your blog - nice.

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  22. I love the new look of the blog!

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  23. What a pretty cake! I love strawberries and it is a good thing because they are grown right down the street from us! Cant wait to try this! I am your newest follower and cant wait to keep reading!
    Shamrocks and Shenanigans

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  24. Embrace the pink! I think it looks great on everybody - men and women! What a gorgeous cake.

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  25. Looks good...looks tasty. Sounds fresh, love the colour (my daughter would too!) and need me a slice!

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  26. that looks absolutely delicious!

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  27. this is my sister in law's all 0time favorite cake. I am going to have to make this for her. Looks delicious.

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  28. This looks amaaaazing! I love the color. Such a pale wonderful pink.

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  29. It's 9:20 in the morning and I would love to have this for breakfast!

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  30. I've been wanting to make a from-scratch strawberry cake for a couple years now! This looks just mouth-watering and incredible. Was the texture of the cake strange? I couldn't tell if it was just the frosting or the cake too that had a weird texture b/c you did mention the batter but then said it was really good.

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  31. I made this cake just this morning and I found a few pickles with it. Firstly there's gelatin in the ingredient list but no where in the description is it mentioned. Secondly, my cakes were still very runny in the middle after 30 minutes of baking. I think It would have been better to make 3 9" round cakes instead of 2 to prevent any burning. Aside from that, this cake will be delicious :)

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  32. Saltsea - You are supposed to add the gelatin to the dry ingredients. I apologize for that oversight.

    That is weird about the runny nature of your cake. As you can see from my photos, I didn't have that problem. I did mention to use less purée than I did just for texture sake, but I really didn't encounter problems with runny batter, and I have a very temperamental oven.

    Lastly, I mentioned in the post that I made cupcakes with the rest of the batter. I am going to add how much batter this recipe yields.

    I'm glad the taste was still good, though! I admit that it is still a work in progress, but I did like it the way it was. I'm sorry it didn't come out perfectly for you. :( I hope you try it out again with modifications and keep me posted!

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  33. Beautiful strawberry cake. I love the colour. This would make a lovely birthday cake.

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  34. Mmmmm, I could so go for a slice of that. It looks really good. I love it's made from scratch look, definitely makes you want to dig right in.
    ~ingrid

    Wishing you and your Mom a wonderful day! Btw, sorry I've been missing lately!

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  35. This looks so yummy!!! We just went strawberry picking yesterday and have tons of strawberries to use!!! Can't wait to make this!!!

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  36. Hi
    I am going to try this cake tonite can u please answer some of my Qs -
    1. I don't have strawberry gelatin - is it really needed ?
    2. I have got normal flour not the self raising flour - is it okay ?
    Priya

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  50. Just wanted to let you know that the "printer friendly" version of the cake recipe did not tell me when to put in the gelatin. I had to come back and find the website to see and added it later. Hope my cake isn't ruined :(

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  51. You must have clicked on something and accidentally deleted it because I see the part about the gelatin in the print friendly version. I copied and pasted it from there "Mix cake flour, gelatin, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed."

    I hope your cake turned out okay!!!

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  53. and I kept seeing strawberry cakes popping up on the internet,

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  54. that are pinned on people from the time most parents know the gender of their child. Gender stereotypes can sometimes hinder people from being and doing whatever they want because of societal expectations, and that bothers me to no end. Yes,

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  55. The frosting was sort of gloppy yet smooth enough to place on the cake.

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