Strawberry Cake

When I was coming up with concepts/options for the baby carriage cake, I remembered that I had seen this delicious-looking strawberry cake on Good Things Catered. I offered it up as a choice for Nicole, and she chose it! We decided to put a thin layer of vanilla buttercream in the middle, along with fresh sliced strawberries.

Let me tell you... this cake is perfect! Now that the weather is warming up, it's also really appropriate for the season. The strawberry puree gives the cake a subtle, fruity flavor. The strawberries in the middle added a lot to the flavor, too. This is a great cake for any occasion, so give it a try!

When I baked the cakes for the carriage cake, I also baked an extra 6" two-layer cake to take to a family dinner at my mom's to celebrate my grandma's birthday. I used leftover frosting from the baby carriage cake, too--the pink and blue mixed together made a lovely shade of lilac purple! (Aren't I resourceful? Ha!)

Strawberry Layer Cake
(Source: Good Things Catered)

Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 3/4 cup strawberry puree, room temperature (homemade or you can find store bought in form of a good quality strawberry daiquiri mix as well)
- 1/4 cup milk, at room temperature
- 6 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 4 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 12 tbsp. unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened (not melted)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 8 in pans: line outside with heavy duty foil (I used bake-even strips instead) and spray inside with baking spray with flour. (Or spray with baking spray, then dust well with flour.)

2. In small bowl, combine puree, milk, egg, vanilla and mix with fork until well blended.

3. In bowl of stand mixer, add sifted flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix to combine.

4. Continue beating at slow speed and add butter. Mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs.

5. Add liquids and beat at medium speed for about 1 minute or until full and evenly combined. Stop mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl and hand beat for 30 more seconds.

6. Divide the batter evenly among the pans and smooth tops.

7. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (time will vary).

8. Let cakes rest in pan for about 10 minutes and turn out onto wire racks. Let cakes cool completely before frosting (about 2 hours).