Celebration Cake

If you are looking for a special occasion cake that is pretty, tastes delicious, has lots of calories and will disappear quickly, The Best Strawberry Cake Ever is the cake for you! It was the perfect choice for our Mother's Day celebration and I certainly want to give credit to World-Recipes for sharing it on Facebook. The only thing I would add is a big dip of vanilla ice cream to make the celebration complete!


The Best Strawberry Cake Ever

Ingredients:

1 box (18.25 ounce) white cake mix
1 (3 ounce) box strawberry -flavored instant gelatin
1 (15-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
4 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese,softened
1 (10 ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
1/2  teaspoon strawberry extract
7 cups confectioners' sugar,sifted
 Optional: Freshly sliced strawberries for garnish

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 (9 inch) round cake pans
In a large bowl, combine cake mix and gelatin. Add pureed strawberries,eggs,oil and water; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into prepared pans, and bake for 20 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

For the frosting:
In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
Beat in 1/4 cup of the strawberry puree and the strawberry extract. ( Use the leftover puree in smoothies or on ice cream for a delicious treat). Gradually add confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth. Spread frosting in between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with sliced fresh strawberries if desired.