June Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

One of my unofficial hobbies is creating new recipes from old ones. I do this by thinking of a recipe idea, going online and searching for a recipe similar to what I want to make, then removing and adding ingredients. It's fun because each one is a new discovery. I have never been considered a cook but I love the creativity of this. My husband is a picky eater so it's nice when he actually loves what I bake or cook. My mother-in-law grows delicious strawberries in her garden and she gave us almost three gallons of them. I had to find inventive ways to use them. Here's my most recent recipe.


June Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter or margarine softened
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups (1 1/4 pound) pureed strawberries (puree in blender)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch cake pan. (Or two 9" round pans.)

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the strawberries. Mix well. Pour batter into pan. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean or almost clean. (Don't overbake.) Let cool completely, then frost.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese softened (1/3 less fat okay)
10 tablespoons brown sugar
10 teaspoons strawberry puree

Blend with mixer until smooth.

Please notice in the above recipe one says tablespoons and one says teaspoons. Why this wacky way of measuring? :-) Because I started out with 2 tbls. sugar, which was not sweet enough and I kept adding until it was. Another reason for this recipe, I love brown sugar but I hate confectionary sugar which is most often used for frosting. Brown sugar leaves no grainy feeling in the frosting and the flavor is great. It was very smooth and delicious. The frosting is pinkish in color. This recipe seems to make too much frosting for a sheet cake but you can pile it on thick. Or if you decide to make a two layer cake, you'll need this extra frosting for the sides. The cake is dense and hearty (and a rich brown color) because of all the strawberries. Also it isn't too sweet which means you can eat more of it. Always a good thing right? At least until we step on the scales. LOL Hope you enjoy!