After making the triple lemon cake for Laurel’s birthday, I have become intrigued with the idea of using jelly powder to flavour cakes. In fact, Kerri flavoured a cake with grape Jell-O and grape Kool-Aid. I was fortunate enough to taste the result of her experiment, and it was delicious. It was a perfect birthday cake for a child’s birthday party.

When I was approached a few weeks ago to make a dessert for a birthday celebration in the office, I knew that I wanted to play around with different flavour combinations. I have done a chocolate, vanilla and lemon cake now I wanted to play around with strawberry. You may think this is an odd choice to celebrate a milestone birthday for a male co-worker, but I can explain…

John is very health conscious (not so much that he doesn’t sample my cookies or treats when I bring them into the office). He recently got his black belt and listening to him talk about his training during coffee was what inspired me to try kickboxing (which I love!). I picked strawberry because I always see him with a container of fresh berries on his desk.

When I searched on-line for a strawberry cake it ended up turning up quite a few results. Looking through the hit list, I settled on this recipe as it actually starts with making a cake from scratch. The only pre-made food that I was adding was the jelly powder. I even used my home-made strawberry jam!

I made a couple of modifications. I used less sugar than was originally listed (jelly powder is already sweet) and I didn’t have my eggs or milk at room temperature. That would require planning ahead!

When I whipped up the cake batter, it looked like a soft, fluffy pink cloud. I am sure that you are not surprised that I had to sample the cake batter. Amazing! It tasted exactly like a strawberry milkshake! I used my cookie scoop to evenly distribute the cake batter into the muffin tins. I am pleased to let you know that this recipe makes 36 cupcakes. This is great, especially if you are making them for a party or a pot-luck.

While the cupcakes were baking I whipped up my go-to icing. I made this for the triple lemon cake and I just loved it. I have likely made it 3 or 4 times since then. It is so easy, and tastes so good! I omitted the lemon extract and just stuck with vanilla. Strawberries and vanilla are a natural together.

As I was finished decorating the cupcakes, I went to the pantry and found coloured sugar crystals. Everyone has these in their pantry, right? 😉 Nothing says celebration like coloured sugar!

Happy Birthday John!

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Adapted from:
allrecipes.com – Strawberry Cake from Scratch

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 package strawberry jelly powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups white flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup milk (I used 2%)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup strawberry jam

Icing

• 1 3/4 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 cups icing sugar, sifted
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp coffee cream (10%)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and dry strawberry gelatin until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the batter along with the milk. Blend in vanilla and strawberry jam.
3. Divide the batter evenly between the lined muffin tins.
4. Bake for 15-17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool in their pans over a wire rack for at least 10 minutes, before tapping out to cool completely.

Icing

1. Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whip on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute.
2. Add the icing sugar to the bowl and mix on medium-low speed just until incorporated, add in the salt.  Continue to beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
3. Mix in the heavy cream and vanilla extract on low speed just until incorporated.  Increase the mixer speed and whip on high speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed, about 4-5 minutes.