Name: Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 1 white cake mix; 3 ounce box strawberry flavored instant gelatin; 10 ounce package frozen strawberries in syrup, (thawed and pureed (or 1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries pureed if you want less sugar)); 4 large eggs; 1/2 cup vegetable oil; 1/4 cup water; 1/4 cup butter, (softened); 8 oz. package cream cheese, (softened); 1/4 cup frozen strawberries in syrup, (thawed and pureed (or 1/4 cup fresh strawberries pureed for less sugar)); 1/2 tsp vanilla extract; 7 cups powdered sugar

Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake is one of the best cakes I’ve ever had!

Miss Magoo turned 4 this last week. I can’t believe she’s getting so big! I just love this little girl with my whole heart! She’s sweet and really smart, funny, a great snuggler, and she always has a hug. Miss Magoo is wise beyond her years, and having her as my daughter is truly an amazing blessing!

This birthday was probably the most fun so far, because she was involved in the planning and had such big opinions. One of those big opinions was that she needed to have a strawberry cake.

I looked all over Pinterest trying to find a good recipe for a strawberry cake that didn’t use jello or a cake mix, but I think that might be impossible to find- especially if you want the cake to be pink, which was obviously a very important factor for my pink-loving little girl! So I finally decided on this recipe for Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake from Paula Deen. (If you have a recipe for a strawberry cake from scratch that turns out pink, please let me know!)

It was so funny, when we went to the grocery store to pick up everything for dinner and the cake, I grabbed a box of white cake mix. Miss Magoo piped up (very sweet and respectful), “Um, Mom? Did you forget that I wanted a strawberry cake?” I had to try hard not to laugh.

Besides the strawberry cake, we had homemade pizza for Miss Magoo’s birthday. She really wanted hotdogs, but said that pizza would be fine, too. So we settled for hotdogs for lunch and homemade pizza for her birthday dinner. I made a supreme pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, green peppers and mozzarella as well as Stuffed Crust BBQ Chicken Pizza.

So here’s the recipe for Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake. It really was amazingly delicious and moist. It would be really good with chocolate frosting, but of course that wouldn’t make for the important pink part of the cake!

I made the frosting following the directions which are also included, and it was really tasty! I used a piping bag to make little circle-shaped thingys (for lack of a better description) on the top and tried to make them on the sides, too, but the frosting was a bit too runny for them to stay on, so I ended up scraping off the side frosting and adding a little bit of red food coloring to it, so that the side was a bit of a darker pink, and the cake was two-toned.

Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

25 mins

Course: Dessert

Ingredients

1 white cake mix
3 ounce box strawberry flavored instant gelatin
10 ounce package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed (or 1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries pureed if you want less sugar)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water

For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup butter, softened
8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed (or 1/4 cup fresh strawberries pureed for less sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
7 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour 2 round 9-inch cake pans.
In a large bowl, combine cake mix and gelatin. Add pureed strawberries, eggs, oil, and water; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into prepared pans, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans, and cool completely on wire racks.
Spread Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting in between layers and on top and sides of cake.

For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
Beat in strawberry puree. Beat in extract.
Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth.

Recipe Notes

For pinker frosting, add 2 to 3 drops of red food coloring to frosting.

Miss Magoo just loved her cake! And so did we! I keep sneaking bites of the leftovers when the kids aren’t watching! And you know what? My mom, who hates cakes made from cake mixes said it was amazing!