Strawberry Cake!

Happy birthday to me! Well about 2 weeks ago or so. So, as I'm on a baking kick, and having just baked cupcakes not that long ago, I knew I had to try baking my own cake from scratch. Why? Because I've never done it and I've always wanted to try. And it just seem more justifiable when you have an occasion to bake a cake for.

Many birthdays ago my mom used to buy me this strawberry cake for my birthday.  It was light, fluffy, not too sweet and used whip cream instead of frosting. All I know is she used to get it at an asian bakery.  I wanted to replicate this cake.


My cake turned out alright, but perhaps a little dense. I used the exact same recipe as I did for making lemon cupcakes, but I omitted the lemon and added more vanilla and doubled the recipe for my 2 layered cake. It's strange because the lemon cupcakes were light and fluffy. Perhaps I will need to investigate cake recipes into more detail.

Anyhow, after my cakes were cooled, I chopped up some fresh strawberries from the farmers market, added a bit of sugar and layered them onto 1 of the cakes. I then whipped up some whipping cream &vanilla to use as frosting.

My family came over for my birthday dinner and we all ate this cake. I think it went over quite well and I surely will be experimenting again to create fluffy light tasty cake. Who's birthday is next?? ;)

Recipe follows:

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup white sugar
6 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups cake flour
3 tsp of baking powder
1/2  cup milk
1 pint of strawberries, sliced
2-3 tbsp of sugar, reserved for berries
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp vanilla


Steps:
* Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Mix butter and sugar until well combined
2. Beat in eggs, one at a time
3. Add vanilla extract
4. In a separate bowl, combine cake flour and baking powder
5. Mix half the flour into the batter
6. Add in half of the milk into the batter
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6
8. Bake 30-45 minutes until cake is golden brown (or when sticking a toothpick into the middle of the cake, the results are no batter on the toothpick)


Preparing the Cake
1. Toss sliced strawberries and sugar into a bowl and mix. Set inside the fridge.
2. Allow cake to cool completely, remove from cake pans
3. Whip whipping cream and vanilla in a bowl with a mixer until soft peaks form
4. Lay down 1 cake, top with strawberries
5. Place the second layer of cake on top
6. Frost with whip cream
7. Enjoy! Happy birthday to you!

Mar Vista Farmer's Market Strawberries

Cakes cooling

Strawberries Added

Yum!