Strawberry Cake W/Creamy Strawberry Icing

Submitted by Jeff's Girl Way Out West

"This cake is moist and creamy, and it demands to be paired with fresh, sliced strawberries COVERING the top!!! The cake can be baked in 3 8" layers (28-30 mins) OR in a 9X13 pan as directed below. The color of this cake and its frosting is the most gorgeous blushing pink. Irresistable and tastes like summer! (Adapted from the Cake Mix Doctor cookbook.)"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 20mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Yields: 1 9X13 cake
• Serves: 12-16

ingredients

• Cake

• 1 (18 ounce) box white cake mix
• 1 (3 ounce) package strawberry gelatin
• 1 1⁄2 cups fresh strawberries, mashed (with juice)
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1⁄2 cup 2% low-fat milk
• 4 eggs
• 1⁄2 cup chopped pecans
• additional strawberry, sliced for garnishing individual servings (at least 2 C for us)

• Icing

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1⁄2 cup butter, softened
• 3 1⁄2 cups powdered sugar
• 3⁄4 cup fresh strawberries, mashed (with juice)
• 1 -3 tablespoon milk
• 1⁄2 cup chopped pecans

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, gelatin mix, mashed fresh strawberries and juice, oil, milk and eggs.
3. Mix well; stir in pecans.
4. Bake in greased and floured 9X13 pan for 35-40 minutes or until light brown.
5. Cool cake on wire rack for 15 minutes and pour frosting over semi-cooled cake.
6. To prepare icing, combine cream cheese and butter on low speed for 30 seconds.
7. Gradually mix in sugar.
8. Mix in mashed berries.
9. Raise speed to medium and continue to mix until light and well-combined adding milk to acheive desired consistency.
10. Fold in pecans.
11. If using 3 8" layers, put a small amount of frosting between each of the layers, the pour remaining frosting over top and allow to run down sides of cake.
12. Garnish individual slices of cake completely "smothered" with fresh, sliced strawberries.
13. Serve freshly frosted or refrigerated; refrigerate leftovers.

Reviews

[LonghornMama]

Yummy! Made a few changes and used the recipe to make cupcakes for my son's preschool class. Omitted the nuts in both the cake and icing. I've made a similar cake for years so knew what to expect. The cake itself is wonderful, and for cupcakes I baked about 18 minutes. This icing is more of a glaze but I thought with cream cheese in this version it would be a bit thicker. What I should have done was drain the mashed strawberries then add more powdered sugar for cupcake frosting. Forgot to drain the strawberries so ended up adding way too much powdered sugar to thicken it enough to spread. Still very yummy, and it made wonderful Valentine's Day treats. Just mentioning in case anyone else has the same idea.:) Thanks for sharing the recipe!

 

[trick]

I found the cake alright. The icing never firmed up...To me, it wasn't worth the waste of the calories. My husband thought it was pretty good but not the icing. Will not make again.