Strawberry Cake to DIE for...

I love to cook; we all know this.  I am not as much of a baker though.  This cake may change that.  I have never made an easier cake from scratch than this strawberry cake.  It is so incredibly easy to make, but tastes like a million dollars.  I won't lie - this cake is not one you want to count "points" for or calories for that matter.  It's worth it though.  One little sliver, and you will know you had a delicious homemade cake.  With this being said, this cake is intended to be a strawberry sheet cake, however, I wanted to only keep half of it for my husband and I and give the rest to my parents.  To do this, I decided to use two cake pans instead of a sheet cake pan.

A couple of interesting tidbits...

1)  I'm not sure why the middle of the cakes puffed up like they did.  It adds character, and I am okay with that!  I'm not a "perfect" cook.  There is a time and place to want to make food look perfect, and a homemade strawberry cake isn't one of those times for me.  Besides, after I iced it, you couldn't see the little domes in the middle of the cakes anyways.  :)

2)  My mom and I freeze fresh strawberries (and blueberries) every summer.  I used some of these frozen strawberries in the icing.  I just rinsed them a bit to warm them up, drained them, and didn't add sugar for "sweetened strawberries" as the recipe instructed.  There is enough powdered sugar in the icing recipe to sweeten them.

3)  Ever since I was a child, I prefer the icing portion of cake to the actual cake.  This cake breaks that rule.  The cake is just as good as the icing!  Old habits die hard though, so after the cakes had cooled, before icing them, I took the end of a handle of a wooden spoon and "poked" the cake with it to make little wells for the icing to pool.  I don't regret that decision one bit.  (As a side note, my preference for the icing over the cake is evident when more than a year after my wedding cake was created, the baker at the bakery made the comment to my mom when she ordered my birthday cake that, "Your daughter really likes big icing roses on the cake, right?"  I guess I left a sweet impression. Ha!)

You really do need to make this cake for whatever reason you can come up with THIS weekend.  It is amazingly delicious!

Happy cooking!
Olivia

Strawberry Cake to DIE for...

Ingredients

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 cup milk
• ¼ cup mashed sweetened strawberries
• 1 small box dry strawberry jello

Strawberry Icing:

• ½ stick softened butter or margarine
• 3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
• ¼ cup mashed sweetened strawberries
• 
  
• Instructions

1. Mix all ingredients and pour into greased 9x13 pan.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
3. While the cake is baking, make the icing.
4. Mix together all icing ingredients until smooth – may need to add more powdered sugar or strawberries for a spreading consistency. Mix well first before you add extra sugar or strawberries.
5. Once the cake is cool, spread the icing on the cake.
6. Store the cake in refrigerator; it's best when it's chilled for at least 2 hours!!!

Recipe From:  "Farm Flavor" Website

Cake batter:

Cooling the cakes:

Most delicious frosting:

Finished cake.... ready to dig into!