STRAWBERRY CAKE WITH A CREAM ICING

My daughter Mila's own recipe - she found the wonderful Butter cake recipe and had the idea to double it, add pureed strawberries and turn it into the best strawberry cake we have ever tasted!

A simple cream icing brings it all together as a wonderful, smooth velvet cake.

Pictured: Strawberry cake with a cream icing

250g unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups caster sugar

4 eggs

3 cups self-raising flour

1 cup milk

2 x 250g punnets strawberries, hulled and blitzed to a puree

Cream Icing for Cake -

1/3 cup butter, softened

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract, preferably the paste with the lovely flecks of vanilla bean

1 pound (3 1/2 cups) sifted confectioners/icing sugar- must remove lumps

3 to 4 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 180 °C

Grease and line a 23cm round cake tin with baking paper.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar til light and fluffy. 

Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each until all combined.

Add half the flour and half the milk, mix carefully on a low speed.

Then add the other half as well as the strawberry puree and mix carefully again to not overwork the batter. Stop as soon as it is incorporated.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth the top.

Bake at least 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean when you test the middle. Check it after 40 minutes as the top may be browning too much and need to be covered loosely with a piece of foil while the middle requires further cooking.

Allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool.

Once cool you can add the cream icing and decorate as you like!

To make cream icing :– Cream butter, salt, and vanilla, beating until light and fluffy. 

Add sugar gradually, beating after each addition.

Add 3 tablespoons milk, beating until smooth. 

Beat in more milk until desired spreading consistency is reached. You can spread it as you like or place in a piping bag to decorate as pictured

Serves 10 - 12