STRAWBERRY CAKE RECIPE

Strawberry Cake Recipe image

Strawberry cake is one of those flavors that eludes a lot of bakers. I myself was shocked to see that most recipes involved the use of flavored Jell-O. Not really the flavor profile I was going for. So I began experimenting with some alternate ways to get that yummy strawberry cakes. Some things I discovered that did not work.

Provided by @MakeItYours

Number Of Ingredients 13

Ingredients

Ingredients
2 3/4 cups fine granulated sugar 1 lb, 4oz
3 large eggs
2 sticks unsalted butter bring to room temperature, 2 sticks is 8oz
2 tbsp high-quality vanilla bean paste
2 tbsp Amoretti wild strawberry
1 tsp strawberry extract
1 cup whole milk 1 cup is 8oz
3/4 cup half & half 3/4 cup is 6oz
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
2 cups King Arthur unbleached AP flour 2 cups is 10oz
1 1/2 cups King Arthur unbleached cake flour 1 1/2 cups is 8oz
2 tsp baking powder

Steps:

Preheat oven to 335º.Lightly grease 2 8" cake pans with vegetable shortening and dust with cake flour. Tap out excess flour.
Sift together your flours and baking powder in bowl and set aside.
Gently beat your eggs to break them up and set aside.
Combine your milk and half & half, vanilla bean paste and set aside.
Place your butter into a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and cream for 1 minute.
Sprinkle in your sugar and salt while your mixer is on low and then bump up to medium and whip until light in color and fluffy.Scrape bowl 2-3 times.
Turn back down to low and slowly add in your eggs, scraping the bowl frequently.
Add in 1/3 of your dry ingredients and then 1/2 of the wet, then dry, then wet, ending with dry.
Mix until just combined. Do not overmix. Place cake batter into pans, filling 1/2 way up.
I always start by baking for 20 minutes for 8" and smaller cakes and 30 minutes for 9" and larger cakes and then checking for doneness. If the cakes are still really jiggly, I add another 10 minutes. I check every 5 minutes after that until I'm close and then it's every 2 minutes. Cakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs.
Remove cakes from oven. If they are domed up, place a clean tea towel on top and using an oven mitt, lightly press down until flat. This does not harm the cakes at all and cuts down on waste.
After cakes have cooled for 10 minutes or the pans are cool enough to touch, flip the cakes over and remove from the pans onto the cooling racks to cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.
Once the cakes are chilled in the refrigerator (about an hour for this size, longer for larger cakes), tort, fill and crumb coat all at once. If you do not plan on crumb coating the same day, you can leave the wrapped cakes on the countertop. Chilling can dry out your cakes before they are iced, so avoid keeping them in the refrigerator longer than necessary. Cakes can be frozen in freezer bags for later use as well.