Paula Deen's Strawbery Cake

I first had this cake at a bridal shower back in June. It was absolutely delicious. My coworker, Sue, was also at the shower and she requested that I make this cake for her birthday. So I did.

Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake.

1 (18.25 oz) box white cake mix
1 (3 oz) box strawberry-flavored instant gelatin (I used wild strawberry flavor)
1 (15 oz) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed & pureed (My grocery did not carry any frozen strawberries in syrup so I purchased 2 20-oz bags of whole strawberries to use for cake and frosting)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 (10 oz) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed & pureed (see my note above)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
7 cups confectioners' sugar (I used only 2 1/2 cups, I thought it was plenty sweet)
Freshly sliced strawberries, for garnish, optional

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and gelatin. Add pureed strawberries, eggs, oil and water; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into prepared pans, and bake for 20 minutes (mine took 30 minutes), or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

For the frosting:
In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electirc mixer until creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup of the strawberry puree and the vanilla extract. (The rest of the puree is leftover but can be used in smoothies or on ice cream for a delicious treat). Gradually add confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth.

Spread frosting in between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with sliced fresh berries, if desired.



Source: Paula Deen

NOTE: I wasn't sure how much this frosting would make so I made a double batch of it. Since I had only bought 20 oz total of frozen strawberries I just pureed them all together and then removed 1/2 cup of strawberries for the frosting and used the rest of the puree in the cake. I thought this worked out just about right. And it make A LOT of frosting. I would not have needed to double the recipe. But since I did I decided to make cupcakes!

I used the same general recipe as the cake recipe, however instead of doing strawberries again I used a 12 oz bag of frozen mixed berries, and berry blue gelatin instead of the strawberry stuff. I lined 24 standard muffin cups and baked them for 20 minutes. Let cool and frosted with the leftover strawberry cream cheese frosting. I honestly thought the mixed berry ones tasted phenomenal!