Strawberry Cake
It’s been awhile since I made a proper cake layered & frosted. I love strawberries and so does my one-year old daughter, so I thought why not make a strawberry cake and a homemade pink strawberry frosting to match.
I adapted a recipe for the cake and frosting from Sally’s Baking Addiction. Putting my own spin to it, I wanted to use Salus Organic Red Beet Crystals instead of red food coloring for the pink hue. I also was wanting to experiment with Freeze Dried Strawberries, crushing them into a powder to infuse extra flavor.
THE STRAWBERRY PUREE
The first part of making this cake is create the fresh strawberry sauce. It is VERY simple. You could also use this sauce to keep handy in the fridge or freezer for pancakes or a yogurt topping. Not extra sugar needed!
Take a pound of strawberries, wash, and cut all stems
Place all in a food processor, blend into purée
Cook strawberry purée on low for 30 minutes. It will cook down into a sauce amounting to about half a cup.
The sauce can be kept in the fridge until it is needed in the cake mix or overnight.
THE CAKE BATTER
Ingredients
2 and 1/2 cups-White flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 and 3/4 cups granulated sugar
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/3 cup greek yogurt, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1/2 cup reduced strawberry puree (see above)
Spoonful Salus Organic Red Beet Crystals
Directions
First things first, set all the ingredients out required to be room temperature. I set my butter, yogurt & milk next to a sunny window to reach room temp.
Preheat oven on 350 degrees and grease two 9-inch pans with butter.
Combine all dry ingredients (minus the sugar) into a bowl- Flour, Salt, Baking Soda, & Baking Powder.
Combine all the wet ingredients in a Kitchen Aid or a hand mix. First blend the Butter and Sugar together on high til smooth for 2 minutes. Add Egg Whites, and blend for 2 more minutes. Add in Greek Yogurt and Vanilla.
On a low speed, slowly add the Flour Mixture of dry ingredients. Then add the Milk.
Mix in the Puréed Fresh Strawberries.
I added Salus Organic Red Beet Crystals to add more pink color to the batter. Take a TBL of the crystals and a Tsp water to dissolve without adding too much more liquid to the batter. This create a beautiful color and keeps the cake ‘au natural’
Carefully pour evenly into each pan. Bake for 25 minutes. When a knife or toothpick comes out clean, the cake is ready.
And don’t even think about adding the icing until the cakes are completely cooled! :) I actually made the frosting while the cakes were cooling.
THE STRAWBERRY BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
This was super fun to make! And is super tasty and fluffy. I recently discovered freeze dried fruit, and not only is it a great snack, but can be blended into a powder and used in so many ways. I choose butter, but a cream cheese based frosting is also a great option.
Ingredients
1 Cup- Freeze Dried Strawberries
1-2 TBSP- Salus Organic Red Beet Crystals
1 Stick- Butter (at room temperature)
4 Cups- Confectioner Powder
1/4 Cup- Milk or Heavy Cream
1 TSP- Vanilla Extract
Salt- Just a pinch!
Directions
Blend the Freeze Dried Strawberries in a food processor. It will create a beautiful pink dust!
Drop Salus Organic Red Beet Crystals in a splash of water to dissolve.
Using a Kitchen Aid with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, combine the Confectioner Sugar & Butter until smooth.
Add all the remaining ingredients, Strawberries, Beet mixture, Milk, Vanilla, and Salt. Beat on low for 30 seconds, then 2 minutes on medium-high speed.
I immediately placed the frosting in a container and in the fridge until I was ready to use it. It can last a week in the refrigerator or 3 months in the freezer
Once the cake is cooled, you can use it decorate and stack your cake layers.
THE CAKE!!!
Thoughts
Next time I make this wonderful cake, I will definitely use more beetroot crystals to create a pinker hued cake. In the batter the color looked vibrant, but once baked it lost a lot of the color.
The Salus Organic Red Beet Crystals make amazing ‘sprinkles’ and great to decorate with as well as bake with!
I think I would add chopped strawberries in addition to the puréed strawberries, just to add some texture and chunks of fresh fruit to the cake batter.
The recipe calls for 4 cups of confectioner sugar, but I only had enough for 3 cups and it turned out great anyway. I had quite a bit left over frosting, but would be ideal for frosting for individual cupcakes instead. I think halved recipe would work just fine!
The texture and moisture of the cake turned out amazing! It was light and fluffy. I believe this is due to using egg whites. Using the whole egg with the egg yolks create a denser cake.
Overall, very addicting and delicious! I will be making this many many times!
Products I Recommend…
For 20% off, please use this discount code….ORTIZ20
You can purchase the Sales Organic Red Beet Crystals at Floradix.com
I have really been enjoying them for smoothies, on veggies, in soups, and of course replacing food dye in baked goods. It is perfect for adding additional nutrition and sweetness!