Strawberry cake

Around the time that my daughter was born (almost 11 months ago, eek!), I started social networking with a lot of other expectant moms and new moms. The connections you can make via blogs, Twitter and Facebook are astounding, and I love the virtual community/sounding board/friendships I've had access to - these people are truly amazing.

One of my favorite new mamas (her absolutely adorable son was born a few short weeks ago) is an extremely crafty lady who Tweeted a few months ago about making her husband a strawberry cake. Elizabeth has an amazing sense of humor, is a great writer and is insanely creative and stylish. She and her husband have an amazingly sweet love story, and I relate to their May-December pairing. I've followed her pregnancy via her blog and Tweets, and I was instantly intrigued by her mentioning of the cake, as *my* husband is a big strawberry fan.

She e-mailed me the recipe, which looked easier and yummier than I had initially imagined. I worried only that I might not be able to find the strawberry nectar, but lo and behold, it was super easy to find in my grocery store - it came in a soda can-type container and came in many other flavors.

Having secured the necessary ingredietns, I vowed to make it soon. 

Soon came when I co-hosted a bridal shower for a friend (and Tim was promised the leftover cake). It was the perfect cake for the occasion, and it was absolutely delicious. It was simple, flavorful and moist - all winners in my book. And after Elizabeth pointed out the candy-like flavor, it totally jumped out at me, and I've started mixing all of the fruit-y flavored frostings that I buy with a vanilla or cream cheese frosting. This is a cake that isn't drastically complicated or crazy different, but it tastes great and has the amazing touches of the preserves and the strawberry nectar.

The recipe, from Elizabeth:

Use a boxed strawberry cake mix and add strawberry nectar in place of the called for water (like Jumex strawberry nectar - you can usually find it in the Hispanic section of the grocery store).

Instead of icing between the layers, use strawberry preserves.

To ice the outside, mix a container of strawberry icing with vanilla or cream cheese icing so it doesn't taste like candy. The vanilla seems to drown out the fake strawberry flavor in pre-made icings.

Then cut up fresh strawberries and arrange them on top.

Source: E Tells Tales

Light and refreshing

Every year around this time, tons of strawberries descend upon our grocery store and suddenly become dirt cheap. Now, we normally eat organic produce of nearly everything in which we consume the skins (apples, tomatoes, etc).

But I just can't pass up 88 cent strawberries, so I wash them reeeeeaaallyyyy good, and tell myself it's worth it. And oh, is it. They. Are. So. Good.

Whenever I see strawberries, I immediately think how good they are with those little shortcake dessert cups you usually find hanging out near the strawberries. Combine that with the fact that I had a coupon for whipped cream, and Mike and I had a low-calorie and refreshing dessert for three nights in a row!

I made them last year, too. And that post reminded me that if you threw some blueberries on there, it would make a cute little patriotic dessert for Memorial Day or July 4th.

Oh, and once we used up all the dessert cups, I still had whipped cream left over. I canNOT let whipped cream go to waste. So this week, we bought some more strawberries, and a pre-made angel food cake caught my eye. A slightly different version of the same dessert was born:

Mike loves these. Every time I make him one, he sighs happily and says, "So refreshing!!" It is in the 90s out here after all - and possibly hitting 100 this week?! Boooooo.

Neapolitan Bundt Cake

I was originally going to make this cake a few weeks before I actually made it ... but I realized that although I had everything else to make it, I lacked the white cake mix. And I didn't think yellow would be a good substitute.

So I got the white cake mix and made it for a holiday potluck at my husband's office. It was quite unusual, very moist and delicious.

I made a few modifications based on the comments on allrecipes.com. I used 1 1/2 teaspoons of strawberry extract instead 1 teaspoon, added 1/8 cup strawberry preserves to the strawberry mixture, and increased the chocolate syrup to 1/3 cup.

I wasn't all that impressed with the chocolate glaze, either. It was very runny, and I think if I made this cake again, I'll melt some chocolate chips to drizzle over the cake or even just dust it with powdered sugar.

Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
1 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon strawberry extract (I used 1 1/2 teaspoons)
(I added 1/8 cup strawberry preserves)
1/4 cup chocolate syrup (I used 1/3 cup)
3 drops red food coloring
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons chocolate syrup

Directions

1. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).


2. Blend the cake mix, water, oil, and eggs on low speed until moistened. Beat 3 minutes on medium speed. Pour 1/2 of the batter into the bundt pan.


3. Measure 1/2 of the remaining batter into a small bowl and stir in the strawberry extract and food color (as much as you want to make a pretty, dark pink color). This is when I also added the strawberry preserves. Carefully pour this into the pan.


4. Stir 1/4 (I used 1/3) cup chocolate syrup into the remaining batter and carefully pour this into the pan on top of the strawberry batter.

5. Bake for about 40 minutes in a 350 degree F (175 degrees C) oven. Cool 15 minutes.

6. Remove from pan and drizzle chocolate glaze over the top.


7. To make chocolate glaze: Mix together confectioners' sugar and 3 tablespoons chocolate syrup until smooth. If necessary, a few drops of water or a small amount of additional confectioners' sugar may be added until the desired consistency is obtained. Drizzle over top of the bundt cake.

Source: allrecipes.com