Happy Birthday Jamie!
Strawberry-Lime Layer Cake
OK, I've been getting grief for not having this up in a timely manner... here ya are. I hope someone out there is trying these recipes out because they're pretty good! So last week I did a new cake... the Strawberry-lime layer cake. It was definitely a little time consuming... it took me almost all day to do but most of that was just cooling, this all to say if you have to have a cake done in two hours this is not the cake you want to do. I'll tell you why; you want to let this cake cool so that it is easier to cut. For me it was not super easy to cut but I think that if I had the right knife that might have helped. Use a long bread knife. Oh and have a lot of confidence in yourself. I think that's what my problem was, the idea of cutting the cake kind of scared me... there's no room for wusses in baking folks! Other than the cutting (which turned out fine) the cake went together really easily and I was happy with the results. So now for the directions...Ingredients
CAKE
1 box betty crocker SuperMoist white cake mix water, veg oil, and egg whites called for on box
2 T grated fresh lime peel
FILING AND FROSTING
1 quart (4 cups) fresh strawberries 1/2 cup butter or the other stuff, softened
4 cups powdered sugar 1 1/3 cups whipping cream *
Directions
Heat oven to 325 degrees {Heather told me if you always heat your oven to 325 instead of 350 then your cake wont rise as fast in the middle and it will be more level... she told me this after I made my cake which looks a little bit like a dome...} Grease the bottoms and sides of two 9" round pans and coat with flour
Make cake as directed on the box and stir in your lime peel then divide evenly between the pans
Bake as directed on the box... {I kept mine in a little longer so that they were a bit golden on top}
Let cool for 10 mins then remove them from the pans and let cool for at least an hour. I let mine sit outside cooling for most of the afternoon.
While your cake is cooling take the time and slice your strawberries into thin slices. Finely chop enough of the sliced strawberries to fill 1/2 cup (these will be for your filling) Also reserve three strawberries to garnish the top of your cake.
In a bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer on low for about 30 sec to soften and then beat on high until fluffy. Add the chopped strawberries and powdered sugar. beat on low speed until the sugar has been incorporated. Increase the speed to medium; beat until frosting is fluffy. Divide into fourths.
With a long sharp knife {bread kife if you have one} split each cooled cake layer in half horizontally. Place on layer cut side up on the serving plate. Spread with 1/4 of the frosting; top with half the sliced strawberries. Add the second layer cut side down and spread with 1/4 of the frosting. as the third layer cut side up and spread with 1/4 the frosting then top with the rest of the sliced strawberries. Add the remaining layer, cut side down and frost the top with the remaining frosting.
In a bowl beat whipping cream {I used heavy whipping cream} with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Frost side of cake with whipped cream. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Garnish the top of the cake with strawberries.
* you also need 1/4 c sugar and a little vanilla for your whipped topping... i did not know this... it was really yucky whipping cream the first take
Ok again, it's a great cake and I really enjoyed making it because I had a pretty open day. Enjoy!
So, I've been thinking about what to put on my blog aside from a glorified Sam photo gallery... not that there is anything wrong with that. Anyway, I've had this little cake book I've been drooling over for a month or so. I've decided that I'm going to work my way through the book making a cake a week and posting my results. So enjoy!This is the first cake that I made. It's called Grasshopper Fudge Cake.
now what you can not see in the picture is that there is actually streaks of green in the actual cake part... I was just in a rush to photograph the cake before it got devoured and didn't capture that aspect of it.
So here is the recipe:
1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist White cake mix 1 1/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil 2 teaspoons mint extract
3 egg whites 12 drops of green food coloring
2 jars (16 oz each) Hot Fudge Topping 1 container 8 oz cool whip, thawed
5 drops yellow food coloring Andies Mints (yum)
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F spray bottom of 9x13 pan only and flour ( I just used crisco)
2. Make cake mix as directed on box and add 1 1/2 t of mint extract. Reserve one cup of batter and add 3 off the green drops into the reserved batter. Pour remaining batter in the pan.
3. Drop green batter by generous tablespoonfuls randomly in 12 to 14 mounds onto the batter in the pan. Make S-shaped cuts through the batter. Turn the pan 1/4 turn and repeat the swirling design. (this makes the pretty green stripes in your cake that you can't see in my picture)
4. Bake 28-33 minutes, mine was done at 28... Run knife around the edge and let cool for 1 hour. It needs to be completely cool.
5. Carefully spread your hot fudge topping on the top of the cake. {this is a lot of topping and I think that it might have been better at 1 1/2 jars because it made the cake very top heavy} In a medium bowl mix the cool whip, remaining 1/2 t of mint extract, 9 drops of green food color and the 5 drops of yellow until it is well blended. Spread the whipped topping evenly over the fudge. Garnish with the Andies {unwrapped and broken up} and store covered in the fridge.
This was a pretty easy recipe to follow and it turned out really well. I had a little food color incident along the way and my frosting was a little too green. You are shooting for the mint color in the Andies mints. The cake was a little top heavy so when I was cutting it and taking it out of the pan to display it was a little tricky. Overall I think it turned out great! I hope you try it {if you like mint}!! And stay tuned for a new cake this week. To be revealed later
