Recipe: Triple Decker Strawberry Cake

We had a very lovely, low key Valentine's Day dinner at our house as a family. We ate a home-cooked meal, rented two Redbox movies, and enjoyed this very sweet dessert. Ever since I saw this cover recipe on Southern Living last September (but it is an older magazine), it has been on my mind and I knew I just had to make it. It's easy to make and I love that it incorporates real strawberries both inside the cake and with the icing. But like I said, this cake is sweet. Very sweet. I have sweet teeth and yet I still had to scrape off most of the strawberry buttercream.

I love how the frosting turns into this lovely pink because of the fresh strawberries!

Adapted from Southern Living


Ingredients:

• Cake
• 1 (18.25 oz) package white cake mix
• 1 (3 oz) package strawberry-flavored gelatin mix
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
•  Strawberry Buttercream
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 (32 oz) package powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 cup fresh strawberries, finely chopped
• Extra strawberries for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. In a large bowl, combine all of the cake ingredients and beat until incorporated.

Equally divide batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans. Bake for 23 minutes or until toothpick test comes clean. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then remove cakes from pans and completely cool on a wire rack, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine all of the buttercream ingredients. Beat until fluffy. If icing is too thin, add more powdered powdered sugar. If icing is too thick, add more finely chopped strawberries.

Spread the strawberry buttercream between layers and throughout the cooled cake. Garnish with whole and sliced strawberries. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.