Strawberry Lemonade Cake

Cakes

Ingredients:

Cake

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 large eggs, separated
  • 2 cup sugar
  • 12 oz cake flour (3 cups)
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp lemon zest
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice

Strawberry Lemonade Jam

  • 2.5 cups coarsely chopped strawberries
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 3 tbsp corn starch

Strawberry Frosting:

  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2/3 cup chopped strawberries
  • Pink or red food coloring
  • 1.5 cups heavy cream
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

To make cake –

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two cake pans (8 or 9 inch circular).
  2. Beat butter at medium speed with mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time beating until well blended.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flower and next two ingredients.
  4. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Set aside.
  5. Beat egg whites with mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form.
  6. Gently fold 1/3 of egg white mixture into batter; fold in remaining egg whites. Spoon batter into 2 greased cake pans.
  7. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted into the batter comes out clean. Cool pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Then remove cake from pans and cool completely.

To make jam –

  1. Process strawberries in a blender until smooth. Pour into a 3 quart saucepan. Stir in sugar.
  2. Whisk cornstarch and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Gradually whisk cornstarch mixture into strawberry mixture.
  3. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook whisking constantly for 1 minutes.
  4. Remove from heat. Pour into a bowl; cover tightly with plastic wrap directly on jam and chill for 2 hours or until cold. Maybe refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a week.

To make frosting –

  1. Beat cream cheese and 1/3 cup sugar with mixer until smooth. Add strawberries and food coloring.
  2. Beat heavy cream and lemon juice at medium speed until frothy. Increase speed until to medium high. Gradually add remaining 1/3 cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.

Assemble the cake –

  1. With a serrated knife, slice each cake horizontally into two layers,
  2. Place first layer on serving plate. Spoon about 1/2 cup of jam mixture, leaving approximately 1/2 inch border.
  3. Prepare a frosting bag with sniped corner to make a small hole. Pipe frosting around the outside cake layer.
  4. Top with second and third cake layers, repeating process.
  5. Top with last cake layer and frost top and sides with remaining frosting.