Strawberry Buttercream Cake

So it was my birthday this week and my mom made me this cake. She always baked our birthday cakes at home as we grew up, and this time, she just didn't like the thought of buying a cake (I had just ordered a new piping set so we were both excited to try it out as well, so what better excuse did we need right?😛). And since I am a fan of pink, she decided to make it strawberry flavored.

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 cups flour
2 cups butter
2 cups caster sugar
8 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp strawberry essence
food coloring

1/2 cup strawberry juice

Buttercream Sandwich:

1/2 cup butter
2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup milk powder
1/2 cup minced strawberries
few drops strawberry essence

Buttercream Icing:

1/2 cup butter
2 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp milk powder
few drops strawberry essence
food coloring

Method:

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the strawberry essence until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter and caster sugar. Sift the caster sugar first to ensure there are no lumps.

Add the butter-cream mixture to the fluffy eggs and beat until just mixed.

Sift the flour and baking powder. Fold into the egg-butter-sugar mixture until fully mixed. 

Add the food coloring and mix till even. Do not over-mix.

Pour into a baking pan and bake at 360 degrees F or gas mark 4 for 35-45 min. A wooden pick inserted into the cake would come out clean when it is ready.

Allow the cake to cool completely before beginning work on the icing.

Once the cake has completely cooled, slice it horizontally and place the two halves with their inner sides facing up.

Evenly spoon the strawberry juice over both halves. This will keep the cake moist.

To make the sandwich cream, cream the butter until light and creamy. 

Add the icing sugar and beat till the icing sugar has mixed with the butter. 

Add the milk powder and beat till the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Add the strawberries and mix.

Spoon the sandwich cream onto both halves of the cake and spread out into an even layer.

Stack the top half on top of the bottom half of the cake, ensuring that the edges of both halves align well.

To make the buttercream icing, cream the butter until light and creamy. 

Add the icing sugar and beat till the icing sugar has mixed with the butter. 

Add the milk powder and food coloring, and beat till the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Spread some icing over the entire cake in a very thin layer. This covers up most of the cake so that no gaps are seen between the flowers we pipe on top.

Fix the desired nozzle onto a piping bag, fill with the buttercream and decorate to your heart's desire. I added some silver sugar balls to make it look more glam. 😍

Tip: If you don't have any strawberry juice on hand, just blitz some strawberry jam with some sugar and water in a blender ensuring a runny consistency. If that's not an option, blitz some sugar, strawberry essence and water together and use that to soak the cake.