Fresh Strawberry Cake

I had the fondant itch again and this time round I wanted to create some mini cakes. I find mini cakes to be particular cute as I could make each one a different design. I decided that I would make a fresh strawberry cake as Korean strawberries are aplenty at the moment. To make sure that the cake would really stand out once cut, I added some Wilton deep pink colour to enhance it's colour. (Unfortunately I do not have any photos to show off the cool pink colour.) The batter was baked it in a 10" by 10" cake pan. Once the cake was completed cooled, I used 3" cake rings to cut out the shapes. I ended up with three mini cakes made up of 3 layers sandwiched with white chocolate buttercream. The decorations which consisted of flowers and butterfly were made a few days earlier, all done in front of the telly whilst watching my favourite programs. I definitely believe in multi-tasking.





Fresh Strawberry Cake
Recipe Adapted from RecipeZaar
Makes 16 servings

Ingredients for the Cake:

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 strawberry essence
3/4 cup fresh crushed strawberry, unsweetened

Ingredients for the Strawberry Glaze:

1/2 to 3/4 cup crushed strawberry
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the Cake:

1) Preheat oven to 180C.

2) Sift together: flour, salt, and baking powder.

3) In a separate bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat for a total of 3 minutes, scrapping the sides of the bowl.

4) Then add flour mixture to creamed mixture, alternating with the strawberry puree. Beat for two minutes.

4) Pour batter into two 8-inch round greased and floured cake pans. Bake in pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until cake tests done. Turn out on to wire cooling racks to cool.

5) When cool, top with Strawberry Glaze.

For the Strawberry Glaze:

Mix together all ingredients. Use enough strawberries to thin mixture.