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I Love You Strawberry Cake

Recipe makes three 6 inch round cakes. And for the top tier, I cut it into a smaller round cake. *I highly recommend the cakes being really cold or even halfway frozen when frosting it. I always bake my cakes a day earlier, freeze them and then assemble the cake after the cakes have been out of the freezer for like 30 minutes. I feel that this helps when working with and frosting the cake.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Course: Dessert
Author: Hip Foodie Mom

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 ½ cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 ½ cups cake flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups fresh strawberries diced + more for decoration if desired

For the buttercream frosting:

  • 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt
  • 6 cups of powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup whole milk plus more if needed

Instructions

For the cake:

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prep your 6 inch cake pans by lining them with parchment paper on the bottom and spraying with non-stick baking spray.
  • Using your stand mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment, mix together the butter until smooth. Add in the sugar and mix again. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add in the milk and the vanilla and mix one more time.
  • In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the cake flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. With the stand mixer on a low setting, slowly pour in the dry flour mixture into the wet ingredients until just combined. Add in the fresh diced strawberries and mix together one more time.
  • Evenly distribute the cake batter into all three cake pans and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until a tester inserted comes out clean. Let the cakes cool completely before removing from the cake pans. *See my note above regarding freezing the cakes.

For the buttercream frosting:

  • Using your stand mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment, beat together the butter until smooth and add in the vanilla and salt and mix again. Add in the powdered sugar, about a cup at a time, while also alternating and pouring in the milk, just a little at a time until you have a buttercream that you are happy with. I'm usually good with about 6 cups of powdered sugar but feel free to use more or less depending on your taste preference.

To assemble:

  • At this point, you can cut one cake layer into a smaller round cake. I just eye balled it and cut. Frost the bottom cake layer with some buttercream frosting and top with the second cake layer. Frost the top of the second layer and top with the third layer. Frost the top of the third layer and using an offset spatula, apply some frosting (you can either use a lot or start with a little) all around the cake. If wanting to do the naked "rustic" cake look, use your offset spatula to then remove some of the frosting, exposing some of the cake. The frosting recipe makes enough frosting to frost the entire cake. So, if you do this rustic cake look, you will have leftover frosting.