strawberries and cream cake

Ingredients

for the strawberry and vanilla cake

438 grams (3 1/3 cups) all-purpose flour

3 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

400 grams (2 cups) granulated sugar

227 grams (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon (20 mL) vanilla

320 mL (1 1/3 cup) kefir (or substitute buttermilk), room temperature

454 grams (16 ounces) strawberries, diced

Plus, for strawberries: an additional 2 tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons sugar

for the strawberry rose buttercream

for strawberry reduction

340 grams (12 ounces) strawberries

1/4 teaspoon rose water

for buttercream

300 grams (1 1/2 cup) granulated sugar

60 grams (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

480 mL (2 cups) whole milk (I use lactose free)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

340 grams (1 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

Instructions

part 1: make the strawberry and vanilla cake

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.

2. Grease two 9-inch cake pans with shortening, line them with parchment circles, and grease and flour the sides and bottoms of the pans.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.

4. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

5. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition.

6. Add vanilla and beat until well incorporated.

7. Add about one third of the flour mixture, and mix until just combined. Follow that with about one half of the kefir, mixing until just combined. Repeat, then add final portion of flour. Mix until just combined—do not over mix!

8. In a separate bowl, toss strawberries in 1 tablespoon sugar, followed by 1 tablespoon flour. Fold strawberries into batter.

9. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cake pans and bake for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

10. Let cakes cool for 20 minutes in pans before turning out onto a cooling rack.

11. Wait until cakes have fully cooled before assembling and frosting cake.

part 2: make the strawberry rose buttercream

make the strawberry reduction (you can make this a day ahead)

1. Core the strawberries to remove the white centers.

2. Place the berries in a food processor or blender and pulse until smooth.

3. Then put the puree through a sieve to remove the seeds - I do about ⅓ of the mixture at a time. Push it through the sieve using the back of a spoon.

4. Pour the strained strawberry puree into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. The higher heat you use, the faster it will reduce, but you also will need to stir it more frequently.

5. Continue simmering until it reduces to a dark red and very thick, similar to tomato paste. On my stove at medium low heat, this takes about an hour.

6. Remove from heat and stir in rose water. Cool fully.

make the buttercream

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar and flour.

2. Add the milk and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil and has thickened to a pudding-like consistency.

3. A couple minutes after the mixture has thickened, remove from heat.

4. Remove the pot from the heat and whisk in vanilla and salt.

5. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature, whisking every five minutes or so to prevent a film from forming on the surface.

6. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.

7. While continuing to beat the butter, add the cooled flour mixture a little bit at a time.

8. Once flour mixture is fully incorporated, add strawberry reduction a little at a time, continuing to beat until the mixture becomes light and fluffy.

part 3: assemble cake!

I don’t have enough experience with frosting cakes to provide step-by-step instructions, but there are lots of helpful websites that explain how to do so!

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About this recipe

Strawberries. Cream. It’s a heavenly flavor combination. I made this cake for a friend’s birthday and now I want to eat it every day for the rest of my life!

The cake itself has a moist, tender crumb and has a clean, smooth vanilla and strawberry flavor. The buttercream frosting is a style called ermine frosting. If you haven’t made it before, it might feel a little weird to use flour in frosting, but I promise it’s worth it! The final product is fluffy and smooth and not too sweet, reminiscent of cream cheese frosting.