Strawberry Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small baking dish, combine the strawberries, sugar and salt. Transfer to the oven to roast for 15 minutes. Remove it from the oven and transfer it to a food processor. Blend until completely smooth. Measure out 1/2 cup and set aside. (Any extra can be added to cocktails, milk for drinking, etc.)

Keep the oven at 350 degrees F (as it was for roasting the strawberries). And grease and line three 8-inch round baking pans.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment (alternatively, you can do this in a large bowl with an electric mixer), add the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. In a measuring cup, pour in the milk, egg whites, and the reserved 1/2 cup strawberry puree and whisk until combined.

Turn the mixer to low speed and, alternating between the dry ingredients and the liquid ingredients (the strawberry/egg white mixture), add the butter/sugar mixture until the batter is relatively smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth it out until it reaches the sides. Transfer to the oven to bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack and cool to room temperature. It’ll probably take a good hour.

Using a food processor OR a spice grinder, add the 1/2 cup freeze-dried strawberries. Pulse for about 1 minute until it resembles a powder. Measure out 2 tablespoons.

In the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment (or a medium bowl using an electric hand mixer), add the cream cheese and beat it until smooth. I like to do this or else the cream cheese frosting will have little clumps of cream cheese. Next, add the butter and beat it until smooth, about 15 seconds.

Add the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and heavy cream. Beat for a full 2 minutes to ensure fluffy, delicious frosting.

If you want to make little strawberries, here’s what you need to do: add about 1/3 cup of frosting to one bowl. And then add a few tablespoons to a second bowl. We’re going to add food coloring to both of those frostings.

Then, add the reserved strawberry powder to the frosting and beat it one last time until combined. Add red food coloring if you want it to be more pink. I added a small drop.

If you don’t want to make the strawberries, you can obviously skip removing some of the frosting and just proceed with adding the strawberry powder, etc.

Add a drop or two of red food coloring to the 1/3 cup of frosting. This is going to be for our strawberries. Mix it together until smooth. Transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a #3 round piping tip.

Add a drop of green food coloring to the 2 tablespoons of frosting. This is going to be our strawberry tops. Mix it together until smooth. Transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a #1 round piping tip.

Place one cooled cake layer on a cake board. Add about ⅓ cup of the frosting to the top of the first layer and smooth out into a thin, even layer. Place the second cake layer on top. Repeat with the third layer. Add a thin crumb coat of frosting to the cake and smooth the top and sides. Transfer the cake to the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes. Then add the final layer of frosting to the cake.

If you don’t want to do the strawberries above, no biggie. Top the cake with some sprinkles OR leave it as is.

To add the strawberries, pipe on hearts; they’ll end up looking like strawberries once we add the tops. Add as many as you like. Make them any size you like, too.

Pipe on two little dots at the top of the hearts to transform them from hearts to strawberries.