Easy Strawberry Birthday Cake, Homemade

My recipe posting hasn’t been as frequent as usual. It’s been a whole week since I posted this strawberry frosting that’s thick enough to pipe and full of strawberry flavor. Now I’m finally back with the cake to go with it.

I have excuses.

Excuse Number 1: My husband was in a car accident out of town, rear-ended by a drunk driver at a little past 12 NOON. Yes daylight. They were about to get on the highway and the guy was intoxicated three times over the legal limit and incoherent. Doug probably saved lives, because that driver on the highway very likely could have caused fatalities. Doug has been in a lot of pain, but is alive, and we’re thanking God it wasn’t worse.

You want to know the really weird thing? His brother was hit by a car on his bike just ten days before this and ended up in the hospital in pretty bad shape, but will recover. (I’m not quite sure of all the medical conditions he sustained, but there were cracked ribs). How bizarre and scary.

Excuse Number 2: I have been working under contract for a company developing recipes and doing the styling and photography. Fifteen recipes in 15 days and yes, that’s crazy considering our kitchen remodel or considering anything really.

Excuse Number 3: My kitchen is torn apart. We are redecorating almost every room in our house,  and I can’t wait to show you how we updated a 15 year old kitchen, the room I spend hours in every single day.

We have taken all the cabinet doors off in the kitchen and are doing our own spray painting. I’ve chosen two cabinet colors and the coolest, really coolest,  cabinet pulls on the market.

Back to the Cake

This year I was sent a baking book, Bake Happy, by Judith Fertig. Not only do I love this book for the type of dessert recipes such as Italian Meringue and Chocolate Soufléss, Judith covers the basics with elegance, using flavored syrups and herbs, bringing excitement with approachable recipes.

I will be quite honest. I get a lot of cookbooks sent to me, and I don’t always get around to sharing them. They go on a shelf and get forgotten, but this particular book held the first place spot in my kitchen for several months.

The cover is gorgeous with an approachable, homemade strawberry birthday cake that I made four times for two different birthdays. I changed things up a bit and added strawberry flavor into the cake, but I did get my inspiration from the beautiful cover, showing a triple layer cake with pink strawberry frosting and sprinkles.

Instead of making triple layers, I used the extra batter for cupcakes just to heighten the drama. It was a show stopper in looks, moist, with each mouthful giving a big strawberry taste.

If you want a truly homemade strawberry cake that doesn’t use the gelatin box, this is the cake for you. I promise, there won’t be a bite left.

Italian Lemon Olive Oil Cake

More Homemade Cakes from Spinach Tiger

Spinach Tiger also has Gluten Free Baking

More Strawberry Recipes

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Easy Strawberry Birthday Cake, Homemade

A truly homemade strawberry birthday cake using fresh ingredients and a frosting that you can pipe adapted from the Bake Happy Book by Judith Fertig.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 10

Author: Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• Baking spray for pans
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup strawberry sauce see notes
• 3 large eggs
• 1 recipe for Strawberry Buttercream Frosting found here
• 12 strawberries sliced
• 1/4 cup sprinkles

Instructions

• Spray pans with baking spray. You can use 2 pans and make cupcakes or 3 (8 inch 20-CM) pans
• Prepare strawberry sauce.
• Mix sauce with milk for a total of 1 1/2 cups liquid.
• Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
• Add eggs, one at a time, mixing for one minute each.
• Sift together flour, salt, baking powder.
• Add to butter/sugar mixture the dry ingredients and milk mixture alternating and ending with dry mixture.
• Mix for three minutes on medium speed.
• Bake 8 inch cakes for 25 to 28 minutes for cakes at 350 degrees F (180 C).
• Bake cupcakes for 15-20 minutes.
• Remove from oven when toothpick comes clean.
• Cool completely.
• Freeze cakes for 15 minutes before frosting.
• Place first layer on cake dish. Add enough frosting be one inch high. Add sliced strawberries.
• Place second layer on top. Frost top.
• Top with Frosted Cupcakes.

Notes

You will need almost 2 cups of the strawberry sauce for this cake and frosting combined, which will require 8 cups of strawberries. Keep in mind you will need 12 strawberries for center of the cake.

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