I have been searching for a good Strawberry Cake recipe and really would like it to be made from scratch; no jello, box mix, strawberry extract, etc, but if a recipe is HIGHLY suggested using the above ingredients over a made from scratch...then I will take that into consideration. I am planning to do my daughters baby shower cake of 2 tiers (12" & 8") and want a moist, medium density cake with noticeable strawberry flavor. Along side of seeing the Strawberry Cake recipes on this site, I found the recipe listed below (or you can go to http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/archives/108 and would really appreciate your experienced and professional input. Again, if you have a HIGHLY suggested Strawberry Cake recipe, please send it my way


Fresh Strawberry Cake

Ingredients
For the strawberry puree:◦24 oz very ripe strawberries, hulled (or no-sugar-added frozen strawberries)
◦1-2 tsp sugar (optional)
◦(see Cooked Puree below for alternate strawberry puree method)


For the cake:◦1/4-1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
◦6 large egg whites, room temperature (4 whole eggs can be substituted))
◦2 tsp vanilla extract
◦2 1/4 cup cake flour, sifted
◦1 3/4 cup sugar
◦4 tsp baking powder
◦1 tsp salt
◦12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temp

Instructions
1.If frozen strawberries in whatever form (sliced, whole, etc) and in whatever container/bag you have them in. Pour into a fine strainer placed over a bowl and let sit. Lightly toss the strawberries occasionally to remove any pockets of excess liquid. Reserve the liquid for another use or discard (see Cooked Puree method below for alternate use of the liquid).
2.If using fresh strawberries, just hull, slice and toss with a teaspoon or two of sugar and cover. Let them sit at room temperature for a couple of hours, until nice and juicy.
3.Place strawberries in a food processor or blender and puree.
4.Reserve 3/4 cup puree for the cake. (If you are using the cooked puree method from below, you will only use 1/2 cup puree.)
5.Use leftover puree to fill the cake or fold into the frosting, if desired (you will not have leftover puree if you use the cooked puree method). It's also fabulous spooned over ice cream... and eaten straight with a spoon.
6.Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 8- or 9-inch pans: spray inside with baking spray with flour (or use some sort of grease/flour combination).
7.In small bowl, combine puree, milk (if you used the cooked puree method in the FAQ above, you'll use 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of puree; if you did not cook your puree, use 1/4 cup of milk and 3/4 cup of puree), egg, vanilla and mix with fork until well blended. In bowl of stand mixer, add sifted flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix to combine. Continue beating at slow speed and add butter. Mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs.
8.Add wet ingredients and beat at medium speed for about 1 minute or until full and evenly combined. Stop mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl and hand beat for 30 more seconds.
9.Note: The batter will not get any pinker in the oven so if you're disappointed in the color from your berries, maybe consider adding a drop or two of pink or red food coloring.
10.Divide the batter evenly among the pans and smooth tops.
11.Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (time will vary). Let cakes rest in pan for about 10 minutes and turn out onto wire racks. Let cakes cool completely (about 2 hours).
Notes
Yields: 1 2-layer cake (8 or 9 inches) or 24 cupcakes


Cooked Puree
For the strawberry puree, Ive found that cooking the strawberries down gives the cake a more vibrant color (see the cupcake picture above) and a stronger strawberry flavor. To do this using fresh strawberries, rough chop the strawberries, toss with sugar, and let sit for an hour or so until nice and juicy. Add 1/4 cup water and then simmer in a small sauce pan for 15-20 minutes, until the berries are very soft.

To do this using frozen strawberries, place the thawed berries and any accumulated juices into a small sauce pan and then simmer 15-20 minutes, until the berries are very soft.

Pour into a fine strainer set over a bowl. With a rubber spatula or spoon, scrape and press the strawberries through the strainer until all of the juice is in the bowl and youre only left with the juiceless pulp (dont rush this step its important). Discard the pulp and transfer the juice back to the sauce pan. Reduce the liquid down to 1/2 cup and cool. Proceed with the recipe, using 1/2 cup of milk.

That is an exceptionally good recipe but needs tweaks. I'll give them in a pm. It has rave reviews and is good as is, but it has some technical issues that make the crumb less than normal... a little gummy and it seems that some of the sugar gets clumped. I think people are just so excited to find a recipe that doesn't have jello, koolaid, and any other artificial strawberry ingredient, it is great.

If you want to intensify the strawberry flavour without using extracts (even all-natural ones like your vanilla) then you should use some freeze dried strawberries. Get an ounce per recipe and use your food processor to blend them up with the flour into a very fine powder. No adjustment of other ingredients is required.

Freeze dried strawberries really do pack a flavorful punch. My kids love to snack on them. I was going to add some to buttercream but I hadn't thought to put them in the batter! Awesome, I will try that!
It's probably much cheaper to order online, but recently, Walmart and Target have started to carry them. You can find them with the raisins and Craisins.



D.

That sounds like a real yummy recipe Carol, will have to put that on my list of things to try real soon. I just love strawberry cake

I'm in love with strawberry cake as well!

Living in strawberrycountry here I can choose from different varieties of strawberries. The difference in taste can be enormous, from just so-so to a real strawberry explosion in your mouth. Lambada is the best imo. How they are picked and distributed is also very important to the taste. The cheaper ones are sometimes picked too early to give more distribution time.

Adding some good strawberryliquer can help a long way too.

When I make a strawberrycake I put fresh strawberries between the layers of a cake and make simplesirop with strawberryliquer. IMBC with some strawberrypuree or liquer. Some stabilized whipped cream added. So good...
I make strawberrycrumble or pie, but that is not what you are looking for I suppose.

I found here another recipe that seems good to me, but I didn't make it myself: http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/05/strawberry-summer-cake/

Scp1127, would you pm me also with those tweaks that make this recipe better? I haven't had good luck with strawberry cake...seems too fluffy and not sturdy enough for fonfant. Thanks!!

scp1127, i also would love to know how you would tweak this recipe. I am experimenting all the time with fresh strawberry cake recipes. thank you when you have the time.

Scp1127 me 5. May u pm me the tweaks?

Sorry, I've been out with a funeral. Anyone wanting this adjustment, just pm me. I keep up that way. I have already shared it about 20 times so no problem.

I'll look for your pm's. Susan

BakingIrene, I have looked into freeze dried fruits to use in macarons and they seem rather expensive, even for my higher prices. Do you have a suggestion for a supplier? I have to get these items on the internet.

My prayers to you and your family during this difficult time.

Thank you so much Susan! I will make a test run this week some time with your changes as suggested. I greatly appreciate it!!

Carol, I hope you enjoy it. The extra puree with a little sugar really makes a big difference.

By the way wedding cake bakers... this cake bakes perfectly and is sturdy in a larger pan. I even did the puree on a wedding cake, wondering if the cake would slide. It didn't.

Thanks BakingIrene. I have a few sources bookmarked, but the cost will have to be a premium on the flavors I choose when I do the macarons. And at an already high price, I'm wondering about the freeze dried prices in a market that has not even been intruduced to macarons yet. I think I found them on Amazon and My Spice Sage and a few others.

Phew! Thank God I came back to check this thread before buying anything. I went to Target today and saw regular dried strawberries and freeze dried and I could not for the life of me remember which one was recommended.

I tried a slight modification of the Scratch WASC Strawberry cake. I wasn't too crazy about the crumb and the strawberry flavor was pretty mild without extract.

Well off to Target again lol.

If Target has them, I'm going today. I can't imagine them there. The ones I see are about $20 without shipping. I'm going to try it. But maybe vgcea is in a normal city, not WV, home of the mighty Dollar Store, and ours won't have it. Luckily civilization is just up the road in MD which is more likely to have it.

I have found them at Wal Mart in pouches and they are ungodly expensive for how much you get. Online is probably still a better deal.

H-Town in the hizzle! Yeah they're definitely expensive 1oz freeze dried was $3.99 I believe and the regular dried was 4oz at $3.69? Can't remember exact numbers. They were Archer Farms.

I figured they would be okay to use to test out a couple variations of the recipe before shelling out the money for buying in bulk online.

Speaking of variations scp1127 I'm going to pm you for the mods to the recipe posted here. Would like to compare it with the WASC version.

P.S. I might as well start paying rent in your inbox considering I've got a question almost every week LOL!

If it says ingredients: strawberries, unless they are inferior strawberries, they should be good.

I buy organic raw strawberry powder from nuts . com. They also sell powdered acai, pomegranate, and a lot of other fruits. It seems a bit expensive but it is already in the powdered form (thus saving time), is organic, and you don't really need to use so much.


(edited to add additional details)

I have looked there tigachu. But still, mine are for macarons. It's not the one flavor, it's five or six flavors. That gets expensive. The powders will blend in correctly.

Just looked at nuts . com and for smaller quantities, the prices are comparable to Target's. So for people wanting to get small amounts, the local stores should still be okay.

OP, I know you've probably already made your cake, but just in case...

This is the recipe I use. I too wanted a scratch strawberry cake that didn't use jello mix. This fit the biill and gets rave reviews.
http://cakecentral.com/recipe/summers-scratch-strawberry-cake