Every spring Philly and I celebrate our anniversary. I don’t bake. No, seriously, I don’t bake. But a few years ago, in a pinch, because the lady who made our wedding cake couldn’t make our annual anniversary one I found my own recipe. It is so easy! For all you non-bakers I promise even you can do this! I just made it for my friend Stacey’s birthday.
One secret – cut out wax paper and place in the bottom of your cake pans. Then, lightly crisco or oil them so they stay down. Then flour them lightly – This will make your cakes come out of the pan perfectly. Also, once you take them out of the oven, let them cool well before taking them out of the baking pans. Also, put layers in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to cool before icing. And don’t tell a soul that you used boxed cake mix! Because they will never know!
For the cake:
- 1 box vanilla cake mix (or white, yellow cake mix)
- 1 3 oz box strawberry gelatin mix (Jell-O)
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup water
- 1 pint fresh strawberries (or 1 cup crushed fresh strawberries)
For the frosting:
- ½ block cream cheese (4 oz) softened
- ⅓ cup butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp milk
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
- Spray 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Or if you want to make a layer cake use 2 round baking pans. My directions above are for a two tiered cake.
- Give the strawberries a good rinse then gently dry them with a paper towel. Remove the stems and dice.
- Put strawberries into a plastic Ziploc bag and start crushing them up using a rolling pin or other heavy object. This will probably take you a minute or two.
- In the bowl, combine cake mix with strawberry gelatin powder. Mix until combined.
- Then stir in oil, eggs and water.
- Once that is combined, add in 1 cup of the smushed strawberries. You will want to gently stir those in by hand.
- Then pour batter into prepared baking dish.
- Bake for about 30-33 minutes.
- Oven times do vary so to make sure it is done, stick a toothpick in the center, if it comes out clean, it is good to go.
- Allow cake to cool completely before adding frosting.
For the frosting:
- Using an electric mixer, mix together the softened butter and softened cream cheese.
- Mix until smooth and creamy and lump-free.
- Then mix in powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Mix until smooth and creamy.
- Slather frosting onto cooled cake. Slice and serve.
