Strawberry Cake recipe
This Strawberry Cake recipe is a light and fluffy strawberry cake made from scratch with simple ingredients, filled with fresh strawberries and topped with a fresh whipped cream cheese frosting with strawberries and a touch of lemon. A great recipe for a crowd and the perfect cake for strawberry season.
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups cake flour, see notes for substitute
- 2 tablespoons instant strawberry-flavored gelatin mix, (JELLO)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk, see notes for substitute
- 2/3 cup diced fresh strawberries
Frosting:
- 1 8- oz. package cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon instant strawberry flavored gelatin mix, (JELLO)
- 2/3 cup diced fresh strawberries
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 13- x 9-inch baking dish generously or line with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer for 4 to 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, until well blended. Beat in the lemon juice and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, strawberry-flavored gelatin, baking soda, and salt; Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until ingredients are just barely combined. Stir in the strawberries. Pour batter in prepared pan. Batter will be thick.
- Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and cake springs back to the touch. You may need to cover the cake after 30 minutes with foil to make sure it doesn't brown too much. Cool in pan on a wire rack 30 minutes. Cool completely. Spread frosting on top.
- For the frosting: Make sure your cream cheese is really soft. Stir the jello into the cream cheese. Add the strawberries and beat until blended.
- In a separate bowl, beat whipping cream and lemon juice at medium speed until foamy; add 3/4 cup powdered sugar, beat at high speed until soft peaks form. Fold half of cream mixture into cheese mixture; fold in remaining cream mixture. Frost cooled cake immediately. Keep cake refrigerated until serving. Cut with a serrated knife to serve.
Notes
Buttermilk Substitute: Add 1 tablespoon vinegar to a measuring cup. Fill the measuring cup up with milk until it reaches the 1 cup line. Let sit 5 minutes or until mixture looks slightly curdled. You can also use lemon juice but vinegar is better.
Cake Flour Substitute: For every cup of flour you need to substitute do this:
Measure out 1 cup of all-purpose flour. Remove 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and return to your flour bag. Replace the removed flour with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Sift the flour several times to incorporate the mixture completely.
Measure out 1 cup of all-purpose flour. Remove 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and return to your flour bag. Replace the removed flour with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Sift the flour several times to incorporate the mixture completely.
Serving: 1/15 of the recipe