Strawberry Cream Cheese Cake

Last week for my mom’s birthday, I used my vanilla cake recipe, added some macerated strawberries and a whipped cream cheese frosting, and turned it into this cake I will be showing you today. This cake uses a fluffy vanilla cake as the base, then a strawberry and cream layer. I made this cake 3 layers, but you can do two if you want thicker layers.

The three components to this cake are:

• The cake. I used my vanilla cake recipe. I was super close to using white cake instead, but I figured vanilla tasted better, and looks a bit better too.
• Fresh strawberries. To prepare these, you will mix 2 1/2 cups of quartered strawberries, with 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar. You will mix them together, and let sit for 15 minutes. This process is called macerating, it makes the strawberries juicier, softer, and sweeter.
• Cream cheese frosting. I made a cream cheese frosting, then folded in fresh whipped cream. It was a smooth and creamy texture, without an overpowering tang. It honestly tasted like whipped cream, with the consistency of cream cheese frosting.

Substitutions and Tips:

• Instead of buttermilk in this cake, you can use a buttermilk substitute. See my post for more information about it. Simply mix 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice, with 1 cup of milk. This cake is best stored in the fridge, for one week at max.
• I added a strawberry compote to the top of this cake, you can certainly add one if you’d like!
• This cake should be stored in the fridge, because of the strawberries and the whipped topping. It also tastes better cold.
• You can also use the base cake recipe for any other type of cake! You can also half it to make 12 cupcakes.

I hope you love this cake! I just reached 30 subscribers, thank you everyone!

Ingredients:

• One cup of unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons of sugar
• Four eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder (seems like a lot, it isn’t, I promise!)
• 1/2 teaspoon of fine salt
• 1 cup + two tablespoons of buttermilk, room temperature.
• 2 1/2 cups of fresh strawberries, quartered
• 2 tablespoons of sugar for the strawberries

For the frosting:

• One 8 oz block of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter
• 1/2 of cold heavy cream
• 3 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon of fine salt.

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 8-inch pans and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, or in a bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and paler in colors, about one minute on medium-high speed. Add the eggs, one at a time beating for 30 seconds after each addition. Add the vanilla and stir until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. On low speed, slowly add a third of the dry ingredients. Slowly mix, then add half of the buttermilk. After that is combined, add another third of the flour mixture. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, and with a rubber spatula, add in the rest of the flour and buttermilk, being very careful not to over mix.
5. Pour evenly between the 3 pans and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until set.
6. While the cakes are cooling, mix together the quartered strawberries and sugar. Set aside. In a stand mixer cream together the butter and cream cheese. Slowly add the powdered sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Slowly fold it into the cream cheese and butter mixture. Beat on high for about 30 seconds.
7. Frost the cooled cake, with a layer of the macerated strawberries and enjoy!

Enjoy!