Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Icing.

We had a little birthday party over here this weekend. I made a strawberry cake with cream cheese icing, and we all loved the flavor. Cake decorating is certainly not my forte, but it tasted delicious! The cake is full of flavor, and the cream cheese icing...well, it really was the icing on the cake.

Strawberry Cake

From Annie's Eats (original recipe here)

I N G R E D I E N T S :

2 cups white sugar
1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin
1 cup butter, softened
4 eggs (room temperature)
2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup strawberry puree (made by dicing strawberries and adding sugar to sweeten them)

For the Cream Cheese Icing:

adapted from a recipe in Cooking Light Magazine 

(I actually doubled this to make sure I would have enough for the whole cake). 

1/2 cup (4 oz.) block-style cream cheese; 1/4 cup butter, softened; 2 tsp. vanilla extract; 1/8 tsp. salt; 2  3/4 cup powdered sugar, divided.

D I R E C T I O N S :

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and dry strawberry gelatin until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the batter alternately with the milk. Blend in vanilla and strawberry puree. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.

Bake for 25 to 30* minutes in the preheated oven, or until a small knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool in their pans over a wire rack for at least 10 minutes, before tapping out to cool completely. Frost as desired.
*I used one large pan rather than two small round pans, so I had to cook mine for more like 45 minutes. 

For the icing:

Place the cream cheese, butter. vanilla, and salt in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar, beating at low speed until smooth (do not overbeat). Stir in remaining 3/4 cup powdered sugar. Cover and chill 30 minutes. Spread frosting over top of cake.