Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Last week was Brian's 26th birthday. He is so lucky to have such a young wife, like myself. What? He's five whole months older than me - that totally counts. Anyway, I made this Strawberry Cake for his birthday last year, and he decided that he wanted it to be designated as "Brian's Birthday Cake." It was my Grandma Diebold's recipe that I have tweaked a bit. (See her Peach Delight recipe here) The original recipe called for a whole cup of oil or something ridiculous like that. No wonder I remember it tasting so good. I promise you won't miss the extra fat. Believe me, there is still PLENTY of that in there. Something in this recipe makes this cake so incredibly moist. Maybe the package of jello or the crushed strawberries? Whatever it is, it's magical.




This old school pan belonged to my grandma. Maybe that's the secret to a perfect cake?!



I want this now.

Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Icing (Brian's Birthday Cake)

1 pkg. white cake mix
3T AP Flour
3 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1 cup water
1/2 cup frozen or fresh strawberries (crushed)
1 3oz. pkg strawberry gelatin

Cream Cheese Icing
1/4 cup butter at room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup crushed strawberries

Cake - Combine and blend all cake ingredients. Bake in greased 9x13 pan for 35-40 minutes. Poke holes in the cake as it cools. This allows the icing to drip down into the cake. (Yum.)

Icing - Whip together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Slowly add sugar until blended. Stir in strawberries and spread over cake.

Allow the cake to cool before spreading the icing. The consistency is on the thin side, which is how my grandma always made it. If you want to thicken it up, add more powdered sugar.