strawberry cake and icing

Have you heard of Christy Jordan over at southernplate.com?  She has some great recipes!!  I cannot tell you how many of her recipes I have used in the last few years.  My friend, Lori, told me about her after I tasted Lori's amazing King Cake.  Lori said, "Have you heard of Southern Plate?"  Well, I had not so Lori sent me this recipe for King Cake.  It is delicious!!  On that very day, I subscribed to Christy Jordan's site and have been following her ever since then. I like her recipes but I also like her "southern-ness" and her sense of what is important - things like family!!

I wanted to make a strawberry cake similar to one that a local restaurant serves so I searched for copy cat recipes for Ashley Mac's Strawberry Cake.  I think Ashley Mac's makes the best in town - better than anyone else!  BUT I don't always want to spend a minimum of $30 for a cake.  She does sell cupcakes so you can get a few for less than $30.  I wanted to make a cake for work for Amy's birthday.  So I kept searching for recipes.  Finally I thought to myself, "I wonder if Southern Plate has a recipe for Strawberry Cake?"  Well, of course, she does!!!  I printed off the recipe and stopped at the Piggly Wiggly on the way home to purchase the ingredients that I didn't already have in the pantry or fridge.

I made the cake by her recipe but I changed up the icing. The cake recipe by Christy Jordan at Southern Plate is this:
1 package plain white cake mix
1 cup chopped strawberries (I used fresh - chopped them - put them in a baggie - smushed them around (rolled over them with rolling pin) to get out all the juice - you need to use the juice also)
3/4 cup milk
1 package strawberry jello (3 ounce) - I used the real kind - not sugar free
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I only have canola)
3 eggs (I always have jumbo)
Grease and flour (and I cut out wax paper circles) two 8 inch round baking pans.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place cake mix, milk, jello, oil and eggs in mixing bowl.
Beat with mixer until smooth and creamy - about two minutes or so.
Add in strawberries and juice, mix again until well combined.
Pour into pans.
Tap pans on smooth surface to get bubbles out.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Do not overbake.
Cool in pans on rack for 10 minutes.
Then take cake layers out of pans and cool COMPLETELY.
Frosting recipe:
2 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese - I did use light - might use full fat next time
1 stick land o lakes butter softened
1 box confectioner's sugar
about 1/3 cup of chopped fresh strawberries -  chopped very, very fine
one to two drops of red food coloring
Mix all ingredients together.
Put icing between layers and ice outside of cake.
My icing was soft (possibly because of strawberries . . possibly because of two drops of food coloring . . .possibly because of low fat cream cheese) After icing cake, I stored in refrigerator over night. The next morning, I scooped the icing from the cake plate back up onto the cake and "cleaned" the cake plate with a damp paper towel. I stored in the fridge at work until lunch time. The frosting was soft but did not "run" off the cake anymore. It was a very moist and yummy cake. I poked some holes in the cake layers as I was icing the cake so some of that soft icing could penetrate down through the layers.

It was a pretty tasty way to celebrate a birthday at work!!!