Real Strawberry Cake

This amazing Strawberry Scratch cake is from the book Sky High by Alisa Huntsman. This recipe adds strawberry puree to butter cake to give it a subtle berry flavor and pale pink color. I like to use a touch of pink decorator's coloring to highlight the color a bit, but it's up to you. The original recipe calls for a Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream, but everyone raves about my Fresh Strawberry Buttercream so that is what I use. This would be wonderful for a pretty princess birthday cake, but equally as lovely for an adult occasion.

Real Strawberry Cake

4 1/2 cups cake flour
3 cups sugar
5 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups pureed frozen strawberries*
8 egg whites
2/3 cup milk
Optional - 1 to 2 drops red food dye, if using (to make the pink color pop more)

1. Preheat the oven to 350»F. Butter three 9-inch round or 8-inch square cake pans. Line with parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the electric mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and strawberry puree and mix to blend the ingredients. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes; the batter will resemble strawberry ice cream at this point.

3. In another large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, milk and red food dye, if using, to blend. Add the whites to the batter in two or three additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl well and mixing only to incorporate after each addition. Divide the batter among the three prepared pans.

4. Bake the cakes for 30 to 34 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool in the pans for 10 to 15 minutes. Invert and turn out onto wire racks and peel off the paper liners. Let stand until completely cooled before assembling the cake, at least an hour

*When fresh strawberries are truly in season, by all means use them instead of frozen.