Gas Station Strawberry Layer Cake

I can't make a strawberry layer cake without thinking of the strawberry cake I saw at a gas station bakery in Texas. For some reason it's burned into my brain. I wish something else were there, but instead it's this really thick sheet cake with a layer of pink icing. I have no idea how it tasted because we bought kolaches and left, but I regret not getting a slice of that cake. Maybe all these years I've been trying to make up for it by searching for the perfect strawberry cake recipe.

Artificial Strawberry Flavoring in Cake

The problem with strawberry cake is the artificial flavoring. Or is it? Over time I've come to realize I like the flavor boost that comes from artificial strawberry flavoring, especially when it's paired with real strawberries. It may not be quite the "master baker" approach, but it's the flavor combination that reminds me of the strawberry cakes I grew up. So my ideal hot pink strawberry layer cakes are made with enhanced boxed cake mix and real strawberry frosting.

Freeze Dried Strawberries

I wish I could say the "real strawberries" were the fresh kind, but having made so many batches of strawberry frosting the freeze dried fresh strawberries win. It took me a while to warm up to them. My first attempt at grinding dried berries didn't go so well. That, plus the flavor was almost too citrus-y and seemed less like strawberries even though they were actual dried strawberries. What changed things for me was discovering freeze dried strawberry powder. It's so versatile and much easier to work with, plus it absorbs right into the frosting. I've been using this brand in cakes, cookies, yogurt, smoothies and ice cream and will most likely order more.

Strawberry Cake Mix

Adding strawberry gelatin to white cake mix is a longstanding tradition, especially in Texas. I don't know why that it is, but that's how my friends' moms made it and how I have been making it as well. However, I recently picked up a box of Pillsbury Moist Supreme strawberry flavored cake mix and really liked the flavor! It didn't smell so great as batter, but the chemical odor baked off leaving warmer more natural flavor notes. The cake mix strawberry flavor paired very well with the punchy real strawberries in the frosting, without either overwhelming the other.

I went on to experiment with a few different ways to doctor up the strawberry cake mix and found I liked almost all. Replacing water with whole milk and adding an egg yolk gave the cake a light, tender, crumb, while using buttermilk plus sour cream made the cake moister. There's all kinds of room for experimentation when you enhance the box mix. In my opinion, if you nail the fresh strawberry frosting, you're just fine with an enhanced cake mix cake.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

So back to the frosting. This is where the real strawberry flavor comes in. The freeze dried strawberries are the hero. As mentioned, the first time I made frosting with freeze dried strawberries I was not impressed. It took a few different tries to get just the right level of strawberry-ness in the frosting. I also found I liked it much better with cream cheese. In this recipe there's a full block of cream cheese and just enough butter to keep the icing stable while allowing the strawberry flavor to come through. And you can still incorporate fresh strawberries! Just serve them on the side, add them as garnish or maybe put some in the middle. Or spread preserves in the middle and add a few chopped strawberries between layers.

6-Inch Strawberry Layer Cake

The recipe is for an 8-inch round cake, but I've tested this cake a few times using half the ingredients and making it as a 6-inch strawberry layer. It works so well with 6-inch pans, and the 6-inch cakes are always larger than I expect. To halve 3 eggs and a yolk, just us 2 eggs, but casually discard a little of the white when cracking the second egg. You don't have to be precise. All of the other ingredients can be weighed. To store the leftover cake mix, put it in a zipper bag and push the zipper bag back down into the box. At some point I ran out of strawberry frosting and had to fill the center with another favorite. It's the white chocolate pudding mix frosting.

Recipe