I was looking for a nice spring dessert to bring to my family's Easter dinner and came across this on All Recipes. The frosting they suggested seemed very heavy (and labor intensive) for this type of cake so I tweaked the frosting from the Pina Colada Cupcakes below. The frosting was delicious, but the cake wasn't quite as flavorful as I hoped. I increased the amount of pureed strawberries when I wrote out the recipe, which I think will yield better results. Overall it was very good, I'd definitely make it again.
Strawberries 'n Cream Cake
2 3/4 cups cake flour*
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups sugar
1 - 3oz package strawberry jello mix
1 cup butter, softened
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup pureed strawberries
1 - 8oz container cool whip
1 - 3 oz package cheesecake flavored pudding mix
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 cups thinly sliced strawberries
Cake:
Preheat oven to 350, grease/flour 2 - 9" round pans. In a large bowl cream together butter, sugar, and jello mix. Beat in eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl, mix together flour and baking powder. Alternately beat flour mixture and 1 cup milk into butter/sugar mixture. Do not over mix. Fold in pureed strawberries and 1 tsp vanilla. Divide evenly into pans, bake for 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.
Frosting:
Wisk together 1 cup milk, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Gently fold in cool whip.
When assembling cake, arrange sliced strawberries between layers and on top of cake. I put my last layer of strawberries under the frosting so I could decorate the top.
*I don't have much storage space for ingredients, so I make my own cake flour. Here's how: http://frugalliving.about.com/od/makeyourowningredients/r/Cake_Flour_Sub.htm
Keeping with tradition, I made some tasty treats to thank my coworkers for covering for me when I was away. I'm pretty sure I subconsciously picked this recipe because I wished I was still on vacation! Sadly I made them before I decided to start the blog, and they were long gone before I could snap a picture.
Pina Colada Cupcakes
1 box Super Moist Yellow Cake Mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp dark rum
1 - 8oz can crushed pineapple (undrained)
3 eggs
1 - 3oz box coconut pudding mix
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
4oz Cool Whip
24 maraschino cherries
Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 375.
Beat first 6 ingredients in a large bowl for 2 minutes. Divide into 24 lined muffin cups.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely
Frosting:
Wisk together pudding mix, milk, and vanilla for 2 minutes. Gently fold in cool whip. Frost each cupcake and top with a cherry.
The original recipe called for 1 tsp rum extract, but I figured why buy extract when I have the real stuff? If these weren't destined for work I would have also considered substituting regular or coconut rum for the vanilla in the frosting.
Adapted from: Betty Crocker
