The idea of strawberry came in the first place as we were looking for ideas through my Primrose Bakery cupcake book. In there they have a recipe called Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes, which uses fresh strawberries in the cake mixture. I had to test the recipe first though, as it was for 12 muffin sized cupcakes, rather than to fit a 6 inch cake tin. So I tried, keeping the oven temperature the same but lengthening the cooking time to compensate for the much larger size. When the skewer finally came out clean, I removed it from the oven and let it cool (as you do), and then sliced it in half horizontally. The middle showed itself to be dense, stodgy and slightly soggy, while the outside was almost (but not quite) burnt.
Great.
Back to the drawing board then.
I did some research and discovered that there is more to cake flavouring than just vanilla extract. You can buy all sorts of flavourings, lemon, orange, coconut and many more, including strawberry! So off I toddled to Amazon and got myself some strawberry flavouring. I was a little dubious about the idea at first but once I tried it out my doubts left me as the cake did actually taste of strawberry! It was quite subtle though and I didn't want to overdo the flavouring so I needed something else.
For cake test number 3, I used a few more drops of the strawberry flavouring in the cake mixture than last time, then turned to the buttercream to add an extra strawberry hit. I took around 7 large fresh strawberries and crushed them until they were completely pulped, then added those to the made up buttercream which also had vanilla extract added. It seemed to curdle at first but then came together after a good mix. I had to add a lot of icing sugar to soak up the extra liquid and made up my mind that on the final cake I would drain the juice from the strawberries before adding to the buttercream! (Can't believe I hadn't already thought of that... duh.)
So for anyone who may be interested in making a 6 inch strawberry cake, here is the final recipe I used:
Cake:
225g Caster Sugar
225g Self Raising Flour
180g Corn Oil
4 Large Eggs
2 tsp Strawberry flavouring
Preheat oven to 160 degrees (fan) and line your tin.
Beat the eggs and sugar together until very thick and pale. This took me several minutes with my stand mixer.
Add the oil and strawberry flavouring and continue beating.
Add the eggs and a spoonful of flour one at a time, beating between each egg.
Add the rest of the flour and slowly mix until incorporated.
Cook for 1 hour 15 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Buttercream:
100g Butter
200g Icing Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Approx 7 large fresh strawberries, hulled and crushed with the juice strained off (you can use more or less than this)
Cream the butter and then add the icing sugar slowly whilst mixing until all the icing sugar is incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix on high speed until the buttercream is pale and has a mousse-like consistency.
Add the strawberries and mix until incorporated.
This should be enough buttercream to fill and crumb coat a 6 inch cake, assuming you are slicing into 3 layers.
I also recommend using a good quality strawberry jam in the filling as well.
Enjoy!
