I’m the official “Sharp Gathering Dessert Provider” and when I asked Andrew’s Sister Jane what her perfect birthday cake would be she said strawberry cake with strawberry frosting. After some pinterest perusing I landed on Sweetapolita’s Strawberry Layer Cake with Whipped Strawberry Frosting, I added even MORE strawberry to it and thus named it Strawberry Strawberry Cake, and the birthday girl LOVED it!

Strawberry Strawberry Cake: Minor adaptions from Sweetapolita.com

Printable Recipe

Cake Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups (350 g) sugar
• 1 package strawberry flavored gelatin
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 4 eggs (room temperature)
• 3 cups (300 g) sifted cake & pastry flour (you can make your own by adding 1 tbsp. of cornstarch for each cup of all purpose flower).
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon  pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup  strawberry puree made from thawed frozen strawberries

Whipped Strawberry Frosting Ingredients:

• 3 sticks + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
• 4 cups sifted (500 g) confectioners’ sugar (icing, powdered)
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup strawberry puree made from frozen strawberries (if you want the frosting seed-free, you can put the puree through a sieve before adding to frosting)

Directions for the Cake:
1.Thaw about two cups of frozen strawberries. Place into your favorite pulverizing tool (Magic Bullet) and puree the strawberries until smooth. Measure out 1/4 cup for cake and 1/3 cup for frosting.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Baker’s Joy spray 3 8” Round pans or the pan combo of your choice.
3. In a big measuring cup, combine  1 cup whole milk, 1/2 cup strawberry puree, 1 tablespoon vanilla.
4. Sift dry ingredients together in a medium bowl, and set aside.
5. In your kitchen aid cream, the butter, sugar, and jello, until you get pink puffy butter, after 5 minutes on medium
6. One by one add the 4 eggs. Mixing in-between.
7. Alternate adding your dry mix with your strawberry milk, mix enough to incorporate but don’t over mix.
7. Add the wet & dry ingredients to the creamed mixture by alternating–beginning and ending with dry ingredients and mixing just enough after each addition to incorporate, but not over mix.
8. Divide the batter in 3 cake pans.
9. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes clean when inserted into the center. (Mine took longer). After 10 minutes of cooling flip onto wire racks.
Directions for the Frosting:
1. With the paddle attachment whip your room temperature butter for 8 minutes on 4.
2. Add powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, mix on low speed for 1 minute, then on medium speed for 6 minutes. (YES this recipe didn’t call for slowing adding the powdered sugar mess, and it still turned out.
3. Add strawberry puree slowly, I added about a 1/3 cup, by slowing adding, and tasting, trying to push how much strawberry the icing could handle before getting too watery.
4. Frost and decorate to your hearts content.
I made the Happy Birthday stencil by wrapping a thin piece of chipboard in contact paper and cutting it out with my Cricut. I had intended to use it as a reverse stencil using the sprinkles, but it wasn’t showing up as much as I hoped so I left it on the cake.

Printable Recipe


This post is partying here.

Elvis Presley's Favorite Pound Cake via epicurious.com

 I made this cake for Andrew's Sister's birthday and served it with fresh cut strawberries and whipped cream. It was perfect!  This recipe was a perfect found too since Andrew's Granny loves Elvis and actually went to high school with him =)

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for buttering pan
• 3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) plus additional for dusting (They have you sift it twice)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups sugar
• 7 large eggs, at room temperature 30 minutes (Sounds weird but go with it)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Special equipment: a 10-inch tube pan (4 1/2 inches deep; not with a removable bottom) or a 10-inch bundt pan (3 1/4 inches deep; 3-qt capacity) (If you use a smaller one your cake will get burnt while trying to cook the middle)

Kirstin Additions

• Fresh Strawberries sliced
• Whipped Cream

1. Put oven rack in middle position, but do not preheat oven. (I love the quirkyness of this recipe, makes it seem more likely to be true)
2. Generously butter pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess flour. (I just super baker joyed)
3. Sift together sifted flour (3 cups) and salt into a bowl. Repeat sifting into another bowl (flour will have been sifted 3 times total).
4. Beat together butter (2 sticks) and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or 6 to 8 minutes with a handheld mixer. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add half of flour, then all of cream, then remaining flour, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down side of bowl, then beat at medium-high speed 5 minutes. Batter will become creamier and satiny.
5. Spoon batter into pan and rap pan against work surface once or twice to eliminate air bubbles. Place pan in (cold) oven and turn oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in middle of cake comes out with a few crumbs adhering, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cool cake in pan on a rack 30 minutes. Run a thin knife around inner and outer edges of cake, then invert rack over pan and invert cake onto rack to cool completely. (Mine took about this amount of time)

Sorry for the camera phone pics, my camera bit the dust =(

Whipping

 The point where i should have just made a second cake in a loaf pan, but I didn't...

Crusty yummy goodness.

This recipe is on the back of the Swan's Down Cake Flour Box

 Almond Cake (Altered from 1-2-3-4 Cake)

Cook Time: 25 to 30 minutes

The Ingredients:

•  1 cup butter or margarine (I used unsalted butter)
•  2 cups sugar
•  3 cups sifted Swans Down Cake Flour
•  3 teaspoons baking powder
•  1/2 teaspoon salt
•  4 eggs
•  1 cup milk
•  1  3/4 teaspoon vanilla (Basically just short this teaspoon a bit)
•  1   1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (1 1/2 teaspoons Almond)

Baking Instructions:

Cream butter. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Add eggs one at a time to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture alternately with milk and flavorings, beating after each addition until smooth. Baking: Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch layer pans, using about 2-1/3 cups batter in each pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove from pans and finish cooling on racks.

Visit the Swan's Down site for alternate pan directions.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (Altered from Swan's Down 'Simple Chocolate Cake)
Recipe amount isn't enough for a 3 layer cake, 1.5 batches should do it)

• 1 lb Powered Sugar
• 1 stick of Unsalted Butter, softened
• 3 tbsps milk' (+1 tbsp if needed)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cool (Two Nestle ready go packets)

1. Sift Powered Sugar
2. Cream butter, vanilla, milk.
3. Gradually add powered sugar blending well in between.
4. Add more milk 1 tbsp at a time if needed to get consistency right.
5. Beat in chocolate.
6. Beat on high to fluff.

The Cake

Fluffing the butter. Note if you scrape while trying to mix your poor whisk will look like that =(

 The fastest and best way to soften butter, plus it mixes better.

 You've gotta sift your cake flour since it's even finer than all purpose.

 Slowly adding flour the butter, egg, flavoring mix.

Frosting

I'm a total chocolate dunce, so this is my foolproof method of making chocolate butter-cream. 

 Adding the chocolate.

 mmm so good.

 This is a sloppy cake, so I didn't level it, I'm also a frosting dunce most of the time so the caramelized 'crust' helps me a lot!

 mmmm

Be sure to Baker's Joy your pans well and run a knife around your pan or else this will happen.

 I immediately cut it in half and sent it home with A's Dad, temptation ousted!

 I would double or do 1 1/2 batches of frosting, the filling was a little weak and it was barely a crumb coat.

It still tasted amazing though! Almond and butter-cream chocolate, a perfect pair!

This recipe is on the back of the Swan's Down Cake Flour Box

 1-2-3-4 Cake

Cook Time: 25 to 30 minutes
The Ingredients:

•  1 cup butter or margarine (I used unsalted butter)
•  2 cups sugar
•  3 cups sifted Swans Down Cake Flour
•  3 teaspoons baking powder
•  1/2 teaspoon salt
•  4 eggs
•  1 cup milk
•  1 teaspoon vanilla
•  1/2 teaspoon almond extract (makes it taste sooo good!)

Baking Instructions:
Cream butter. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Add eggs one at a time to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture alternately with milk and flavorings, beating after each addition until smooth. Baking: Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch layer pans, using about 2-1/3 cups batter in each pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove from pans and finish cooling on racks.
Visit the Swan's Down site for alternate pan directions.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting - from Betty Crocker

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 to 2 tablespoons milk

In medium bowl, mix powdered sugar and butter with spoon or electric mixer on low speed. Stir in vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the milk. Gradually beat in just enough remaining milk to make frosting smooth and spreadable. If frosting is too thick, beat in more milk, a few drops at a time. If frosting becomes too thin, beat in a small amount of powdered sugar. Frosts 13x9-inch cake generously, or fills and frosts an 8- or 9-inch two-layer cake. Makes 12 servings, about 1 3/4 cups frosting (I needed a double batch to frost my 13x9 cake well, i recommend adding the powdered sugar gradually.)

 Softened butter is important, you looks for an easy thumb print, I always slice my sticks and spread out on a plate so it softens faster and blends better.

 Cake flour and other dry ingredients all sifted, this helps make the cake fluffier

 A unique ingredient to the 1-2-4-5  is milk, I used 2% and it worked out well.

 Be sure to Baker's Joy your pan well.

 Tasty Batter

 All golden and out of the oven, took mine about 35 minutes since it wasn't the 3 rounds like the recipe.

 I don't have a cake board but heavy duty foiling a cookie sheet actually looked pretty good and fit the theme.

 Betty Crocker cookbook classic buttercream. Awesome green achieved by adding gel food coloring with an egg spoon rather than a tooth pick, much faster!

 After I frosted it I stippled the top to look like grass with a silicone basting brush, this had to be done very carefully or else it would peel up the frosting.

 The end product, the lines are fondant, the football is a specialty tooth pick, I made the field goals with yellow straws and some hot glue.

It tasted great too! Buttercream with a lite almond flavored cake.

We got plain cheese pizzas from Costco and added lots of toppings to fit our guests' tastes 

 Andrew topping some pizzas.

 Some of our toppings.

Some more toppings.

Doing the Costco pizzas worked out great since we have a few left over and were able to cut them up and freeze them for later, two pieces toaster oven great!

So when I made Best Ever Chocolate Cake it was only fitting to find "That’s the Best Frosting I’ve Ever Had" to go with it, Pioneer Women and her Tasty Kitchen gals had the perfect combo.
I'll warn ya though, this is an out there recipe that works. It however tastes great! It's best the first day due to the odd combo, if you refrigerate it let your piece sit on the counter a bit (I know it's HARD) to warm back up otherwise the frosting has a weird texture due to the flour.

This recipe is from MissyDew of Tasty Kitchen, Pioneer Woman documented making it in this blog post. 

Ingredients:

• 5 Tablespoons Flour (Be smart and measure and sift this out ahead of time)
• 1 cup Milk (I used 2% since that's what I had, I bet whole would be tastier, darn fat)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 cup Butter 
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar!) (Perhaps my favorite part of this recipe, who else considers powdered sugar a complete messy pain?!)
  

Directions:

1. Bake your favorite chocolate cake and let it cool.
2. In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) Stir in vanilla.
3. While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add the cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.
4. Grab a spoon and taste this wonderful goodness. If there is any left after your taste test, spread it on a cooled chocolate cake.
5. Cut yourself a piece and put it on a pretty plate. Grab a fork and prepare to experience the most divine pairing you can imagine. This frosting on chocolate cake is to die for. Sure, the recipe sounds strange — it has flour in it — but it’s sublime. Try it, you’ll see. You’ll love it so much you won’t go back.

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) Stir in vanilla.If you don't prepare your flour and just dump from your packed table spoon it will look like the sad icky gravy to the left, if you prepare you will make the lovely gravy on the right. I let mine cool naturally since my butter was still rock hard.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add the cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.(Other benefit of this type of frosting, you get to dump the whole gravy mix into the blender, no slowly adding powdered sugar creating a sugar storm)

It looks super gross at the beginning but just let your mixer do it's thing, and it will transform into a beautiful butterfly. 

Add your color into the mixer to save yourself that annoying mixing step.

Here's PacMan in all his icing glory, look at that 3-d eyeball, sadly this is probably the smoothest icing job I've ever done, I dunno what's wrong with me, hehe

So go make yourself some icing.

In keeping with the theme I created a PacMan cake for the 80's party.

The cake was Pioneer Women's Best Ever Chocolate Sheet Cake, the frosting is from her other site Tasty Kitchen and is called Best I've Ever Tasted Frosting,  sounded like a match made in heaven to me!
The Cake:

• 2 cups Flour (250g)
• 2 cups Sugar (450g)
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa 
• 2 sticks Butter 
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• ½ cups Buttermilk 
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs 
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
2. In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together. I used VERY heaping tablespoons and it turned out well.
3. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool. This part isn't as bad as it sounds.
4. In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes. Grease your pan, my two 9 inch rounds took longer than 20 minutes.

I used plain old Nestle cocoa, and LOTS of it.
  
Added to the butter.

Boiling for 30 seconds 

Adding to the flour mixture that didn't have to be sifted, woot!
Putting together the buttermilk mixture... You can make Loveless Cafe biscuits with the left over buttermilk... at least that's what I did ;-)
Now mix that in too.
See pretty easy for a chocolate cake, no double boiler complication.

I was pretty distraught though... Pioneer Woman LIED to me! She said I didn't need to grease the pan... but see I did...
Luckily I frosted it back together enough for it to be the bottom layer, but I suppose I can forgive her since this was suppose to be a sheet cake, I learned for you though, SPRAY your pan!
I cut out a piece to act as Pacman's mouth / to be able to shove a turner under there to help release the cake from the pan.
Pepper even helped out in the kitchen, see she's opening the drawer for me, silly girl!

See the rest in the upcoming frosting post!