My husband loves strawberry cake, but he grew up on the cake with vegetable oil and box strawberry jello flavoring. For most of our marriage I have tried to make fresh strawberry cakes for him and they never quite hit the spot like the others do. But I made this on his birthday and he loved it. And because we spent the entire day in doctors offices, getting an MRI, and ultimately with a trauma surgeon and scheduling a surgery from a very gnarly torn hamstring, it felt good to give him some comfort on his birthday. So we used real sugar this time and said the hell with it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!
Real Strawberry Cake
Strawberry Syrup:
1 pound of strawberries
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup water
makes 2 cups of syrup
Strawberry Cake:
1 1/2 cups of fresh milled soft wheat flour
1/4 cup melted butter
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup raw sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 cup of strawberry syrup
1 tsp strawberry extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
Icing:
1/2 cup salted butter (softened)
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbs heavy cream
2 tbs strawberry syrup
Directions:
Cut the tops off of the strawberries, and add them to a small sauce pan with the sugar and water. Turn heat on to medium and allow the strawberries to begin to cook down. Bring to a boil and mash down. Once you have a syrup consistency (maybe 5 minutes), you can throw it in a blender and make it smooth, or use an immersion blender. It will make about 2 cups of syrup. Set aside and allow to cool.
Mill your grain on finest setting. Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl. Add your wet ingredients, butter and strawberry syrup last. Grease your cake pan. I love these cake pans because I don't have to and my cakes slide right out. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Allow cake to completely cool before flipping out of the pan.
Make the butter cream. Whip together butter, sugar, and cream. Be patient, it will take a a few minutes to get nice and fluffy. Add 2 tbs of cooled strawberry syrup and whip together.
Once cake is completely cooled, frost the cake. Slice and eat! Makes a single layer cake!
Optional : This recipe can easily be made into muffins or cup cakes. Just scoop the batter into your muffin tin and bake for 10-12 minutes.
Enjoy!
- Michal