Easy Strawberry Layer Cake

Course Cake, Dessert

Cuisine American, Southern

Keyword easy-strawberry-layer-cake, strawberry-cake

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 25

Chilling time 6

Total Time 6 45

Servings pieces

Calories 811kcal

Ingredients

Strawberry Layer Cake:
1 15.25 oz box strawberry cake mix
1/2 cup self-rising flour
1 3.0 oz box strawberry gelatin
1 cup buttermilk or whole milk
2/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
4 large eggs
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 8 oz blocks cream cheese softened
1 cup salted butter softened
1/2 cup mashed strawberries well drained
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 cups powdered sugar plus additional, as needed
few drops red or pink food coloring optional
whole strawberries for garnishing

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour three 9-inch round cake pans or spray with baking spray. Set aside.
Strawberry Cake: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together, cake mix, flour, gelatin mix, buttermilk, oil and eggs. Beat on medium speed until fully combined.
Divide batter evenly between pans. Bake for 23-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes back clean. Cool in the pans for 20 minutes then remove and cool completely on a cooling rack.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting: In a large bowl using an electric mixer, whip together cream cheese butter and vanilla for 2 minutes or until fluffy.
Lower the speed of the mixer and gradually add powdered sugar. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Add strawberries and food coloring, if using. Whip until fully combined. Add additional powdered sugar to stiffen frosting to your taste.
Frost between cake layers first, then top and sides. Decorate with whole strawberries.
Chill for 6 hours or overnight to allow icing to set. (You can wait until just before serving to garnish with berries)
Slice and enjoy. Store leftovers chilled for up to 4 days.

Notes

Follow the Recipe - For this strawberry cake recipe, don't follow the directions on the back of the cake mix box, follow the written recipe.
Why Add Flour to Cake Mix? Cake mixes have continued to dwindle in volume over time which results in smaller cakes. The addition of flour to this recipe increases the volume and does an excellent job masking or doctoring the obvious cake mix flavor.
Jell-O Intensifies the Flavor - The sweetened jello not only heightens the strawberry flavor, but it also adds enough sweetness for the extra flour added to the mix.
Strawberry Puree - Mashed strawberries release a fair amount of juice. If the berries aren't drained well, you may need extra powdered sugar to stiffen the frosting. This frosting is naturally smooth due to the fresh berries, not stiff like a buttercream.
Frosting Tip - It's very important to drain the mashed strawberries well before adding them to the frosting. You can expect this cream cheese frosting to be softer, not stiff like a classic buttercream, due to the fresh strawberries.
Use Wax Paper for Easy Clean-Up - Placing strips of wax paper under the bottom layer of the cake will keep the cake pedestal clean while frosting. Gently remove before chilling the cake.
Garnish - To keep things simple, I wanted to show you how arranging fresh berries on top sends the presentation of this cake into the stratosphere. Garnishes don't have to be fussy to be impressive.
Allow Ample Chill Time for the Fresh Strawberry Frosting to Firm - Due to the fresh strawberries in the frosting, allow enough chill time for the frosting to set. If some pools around the bottom, it makes it even more luxurious to eat and no one will ever believe this started with a cake mix.

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