Strawberry Cake

I wasn't planning on making a pink cake for my son's 2nd birthday, but when thinking about all the flavors he likes, strawberry was on the top of the list. I swear, he exists on berries and cheese these days! Nevermind that he didn't take a bite, it was delicious for the rest of us, so I thought I'd share the recipe. I did a homemade cream cheese frosting, figuring pink frosting was a bit much for a little boy. It was a great combination, but I do think the Strawberry Buttercream that is included with the cake recipe would be even better. The recipe is one I'd saved from an old issue of Southern Living.

Triple-Decker Strawberry Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix

1 (3 ounce) package strawberry jello

4 large eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup milk

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Garnish: whole strawberries

Beat cake mix and next 7 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer 1 minute. Scrape down sides, and beat at medium speed 2 more minutes, stopping to scrape down sides if needed. Do not over beat, but ensure strawberries are well blended in the batter.
Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch cake pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 23 minutes or until cakes spring back when lightly pressed with a finger.
Cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.
Frost with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting (below).

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter, softened

2 (16 oz) packages powdered sugar, sifted

1 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries

Beat butter at medium speed with mixer 20 seconds or until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and chopped strawberries, beating at a low speed until creamy. (Add more sugar of frstong is too thin, or add strawberries if too thick).

Here's a photo I found online that looks like the frosting shown in the recipe. I wish mine were this pretty!

Note: I only had 2 cake pans, so I did a two layer cake. It took about 35 minutes for those to bake, since there was more batter in each pan. As a result, the outside got a little more brown that I would have liked in order to get the inside cooked. Next time, I think I'd try and do 3 layers.