Easter is this weekend. It may not be a traditional Easter, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still celebrate.
Make a Strawberry Cake.
My go-to strawberry cake couldn’t be any easier to make – fresh strawberries, a box of cake mix, a jar of strawberry jam and whipped cream are the basic ingredients. All things you should be able to find right now despite the grocery shortages.
Now just coming in season, strawberries are currently available at the Cooper-Young farmers market and in grocery stores throughout town. I guarantee they will taste more sweet and delicious than a winter strawberry could ever dream of tasting!
There is no better way to enjoy strawberries than in a sweet dessert that lets them take center stage.
Top a doctored-up box cake mix with fresh whipped cream and just-picked strawberries – and voila! – you have a dessert so scrumptious that your guests will be asking for seconds.
Add 1 cup strawberry preserves to a classic white cake mix to give it just the right amount of strawberry flavor.
For this cake, and most desserts calling for whipped cream, I recommend you make your own fresh whipped cream rather than using whipped cream from a can or tub.
It is really simple to prepare. Just whip chilled heavy cream in an electric mixer for a minute or two and you are done. You can control the sweetness by how much sugar you add. Powdered sugar melts into the cream best, but you can always use granulated sugar in a pinch. Splenda also works if you are watching your sugar intake.
This is Jennifer Chandler with The Weekly Dish. Bon Appetit!
Strawberry Cake
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil, plus extra to grease the pan
- All-purpose flour, to flour the pan
- 1 box (18-ounce) white cake mix
- 1 cup water
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups strawberry preserves, divided
- 2 cups heavy cream, chilled
- 1/4 cup powdered or granulated sugar
- 2 pints strawberries, hulled and halved
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the white cake mix, water, 1/3 cup oil, eggs, and 1 cup strawberry preserves. Beat the mixture until smooth. Pour the batter, dividing it equally, into the prepared cake pans. Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
Remove the cakes from the oven and cool in the pans on wire racks until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans and place onto wire racks to cool completely.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the cream and sugar until soft peaks form.
Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Evenly spread 1/4 cup of preserves over the cake. Then spread half of the whipped cream over the preserves and top with a layer of strawberries. Place the second cake layer on top and evenly spread the remaining 1/4 cup preserves on top. Finish off with a layer each of whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Serves 8 to 10.
Cooking Tip: When topping a cake with whipped cream, assemble and refrigerate up to 4 hours in advance. If refrigerated longer, it will still be delicious but not as pretty. The whipped cream will start to wilt and soak into the cake layers.
Recipe reprinted with permission from Simply Grilling by Jennifer Chandler.
