Strawberry Cake

I love making birthday cakes.  They're so much fun.  So when B's birthday rolled around again, I volunteered once more.  She loves strawberries (the strawberry and cream cake was for her), so I decided to find a recipe for a strawberry cake.  That was surprisingly easy to do (apparently there are really only two recipes, and one contains *gasp* jello...no fake flavors allowed for this!).  The less easy part was deciding how to decorate it.  I first wanted to just do a simply stabilized whipped cream, topped with fresh berries.  However, 1) I had to work that day, 2) I have no room in the fridge for an entire cake carrier, and 3) fresh berries (even uncut) will bleed if left too long on a cake.  So that just wasn't going to work.

Next thought was butter cream.  But not just any butter cream would do, so I made a white chocolate butter cream.  Of course, this was going to not be white.  And while I could have tinted it, red would have really been the only appropriate color, and there is no way I was going to use that much dye.  So I decided to go with rolled fondant.  Since I still wanted berries on it, I made some from gum paste (which also takes a shocking amount of dye, but at least people don't eat as much of it).  I also pulled out my favorite gum paste mold to make some decorations for the side (to hide my less-than-perfect fondant job).  The result:

The red candles went in the centers of the strawberry leaves

Difficulty: Easy cake, medium decorations.  Rating: Tastes like fresh strawberries

Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
18 oz frozen strawberries, thawed
1/4 cup milk
6 large egg whites, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup flour
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature


Place thawed strawberries in a fine mesh sieve and press to remove excess liquid.  Discard liquid, or save for another use.  Transfer strawberries to a blender or food processor, and puree until smooth.

Preheat oven to 350.  Butter and flour two 8" round baking pans, lining the bottoms with parchment paper.


In a medium bowl, whisk together strawberry puree, milk, egg whites, and vanilla.  In another small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Blend in the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the strawberry/egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.  Pour into prepared pans.  Bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
2 sticks butter, room temperature
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Melt the white chocolate in the microwave, beginning with 30 seconds, then in 15 second intervals, stirring in between.  Beat the butter and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixture until fluffy.  Add in the melted white chocolate.  Add in the powdered sugar until you reach the desired consistency.  Thin out with a tablespoon of milk if it becomes too stiff.