From-Scratch Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

A few years ago, I wanted to make a strawberry cake with some of the strawberries we picked at Landess Farm.  I had a very hard time finding a completely from-scratch strawberry cake recipe anywhere.  All the recipes I found involved adding strawberries to a cake mix or using strawberry Jello for the strawberry flavor.  Those were not the type of recipes I was interested in making with my precious fresh local strawberries!

This round two layer cake is what I finally came up with and boy is it delicious!  It has plenty of strawberry flavor in both the cake and the cream cheese frosting.  It is moist and fabulous and the family now demands I make it annually.

Strawberry cake with a side of chemistry test grading.

From-Scratch Strawberry Cake

Ingredients

1 pound fresh strawberries, sliced

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup milk, room temperature

6 large egg whites, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 ¼ cup all purpose flour

1 2/3 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (12 tablespoons)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour two 9 inch round cake pans and set aside.

Mix the sliced strawberries in a small bowl with the 2 tablespoons of sugar and set aside to let the juices come out while you prepare the rest of the cake.

In a glass measuring cup, whisk milk, eggs and vanilla. 

In a large bowl fit for a stand mixer, add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and whisk to combine.  Put the bowl on the mixer and add the butter.  Beat on low until the mixture is moist and crumbs form.  Add the wet ingredients and mix until fully combined.  Be careful not to over mix.  Add the strawberries, with the juices, and beat for about a minute until the batter turns a faint shade of pink and the berries start to break up (do not beat over a minute).

Evenly divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a spatula.  Bake for about 25-28 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  Run a knife around the outside of the pans, let the cakes cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

¼ cup butter, softened

3 to 3 ½ cups powdered sugar

½ cup mashed drained fresh strawberries

Mash the strawberries in a small bowl with a fork.  Then, use a fine mesh strainer to drain the juice off.  Save the juice to drink or for another use.  Blend together the cream cheese and butter using an electric mixer on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add 3 cups powdered sugar, gradually, and the mashed strawberries; blend frosting again on low speed until the sugar is incorporated. Increase mixer speed to medium and blend frosting until fluffy, adding up to 1/2 cup more sugar to make desired spreading consistency.