Recipes from our Friends: LynnBo's Fresh Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Lynn and her husband GaryMy favorite photo of Lynn from back in the day-- pep rally day!I've known Lynn about as long as I've known anyone, I think. We went to elementary school all the way through high school together. Lynn had the most amazing parties back in the day... she was a big time party-thrower, even as a kid! I cannot hear Sly & the Family Stone to this day without thinking about spend the night parties at her house. And while we lost touch for a lot of years, I am soooo happy to have reconnected with her. I've met her teriffic husband Gary and one of her beautiful daughters, Kara. (who are both pretty amazing musicians and singers, I might add) I saw a Facebook post where someone was asking Lynn to make this cake for them and they were raving about it... so I asked her to share it with us. Lynn, you are so inspirational! I'm so happy we are friends!

LynnBo's FRESH STRAWBERRY CAKE with STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Ingredients

1 strawberry cake mix (plus eggs and oil as required by the package)

1 1/2 cups fresh chopped strawberries plus more strawberries for garnish

1/2 cup of unsalted butter (1 stick) softened
12 oz cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons heavy cream or evaporated milk

1 small box strawberry Jello- add this to taste. (I used about half of the box)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 (or to package directions)

Prepare or spray your pans as directed on the package; I used Baker's Joy and sprayed mine.

First, chop up 1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries and mash them so they resemble a puree.

Make the cake mix as directed except exchange the mashed strawberries for the water the package directions call for. Pour evenly into the prepared pan (s). Bake as directed or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Lynn recommends using a 9x13 pan but I used two 9" round pans for mine. Allow them to cool before frosting.

For the frosting:

Cream together the cream cheese, butter, sugar, and Jello at medium speed of your mixer. Add the milk and vanilla and mix well.

Garnish with lots of strawberries. Lynn recommends adding them just before serving because there is so much moisture in the strawberries, they will slide all over the cake if you add them too soon. She also recommends to pat the strawberries dry before topping.

Hope you enjoy this one.... perfect for Spring and strawberry season!

Want more recipes for strawberry cake? Try this Strawberry Layer Cake recipe from our friends at myRecipes.com which calls for Grand Marnier in the frosting.  Yummy!

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