We’ll be welcoming another little girl into the family in a few months (well…not us!), and today was a great day to celebrate. My little sister is having a baby, and today was her baby shower! My mom and I co-hosted the shower, and I had the super fun job of making the cakes. Yes, I said cakes! We were expecting about 30 ladies to come, so I took the opportunity to make three kinds of cakes. Luckily for Aaron and the kids, I had to try the recipes out beforehand, so they were able to sample the goods a few weeks in advance. At the shower, we had a chocolate cake, a vanilla cake, and a strawberry cake.
My sister is our free spirit, and she loves hearts and peace signs. Little Baby Shea is going to be a cute, decked out hippie girl! Since I was going to be making a strawberry cake, I decided to make it into a heart. I mean…pink…heart…they go together, right? Now, I’m not usually one for strawberry flavored things, but mmm-mmm, this cake was goo-ood! It is so nice and moist and has a fresh strawberry taste. Using pureed strawberries had my mouth watering from the get-go. To avoid having the batter be too wet, I strained the berries over a bowl, turning and pushing them to get some of the juice out. I think that this freshness makes the cake stand out from other artificially flavored cakes.
When I first popped the cakes out of the pan, I thought that they were going to be too dense and moist, but after being layered with buttercream, everything seemed to just fit together…pure scrumptiousness! The buttercream isn’t overly sweet and serves as a nice compliment to the fresh sweetness of the cake. At the end of the shower, this cake was the one that was mostly gone! I had to hide a slice or two to take home for my boys 🙂 I hope that you enjoy the cake as much as we did!
Vegan Strawberry Cake
3 cups cake flour
4 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp salt
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 packages strawberries, pureed and strained *
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Ener-G egg replacer equivalent of 4 large eggs, beaten (6 tsp dry powder mixed with 8 TBSP warm water)
Red or pink food coloring if you want the cake to look pinker
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper.
- Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Puree the strawberries in a food processor. Pour the pureed strawberries into a fine mesh sieve over a bowl, allowing the juice to drain.
- Stir the sugar, oil, pureed strawberries, vanilla and beaten egg replacer into the flour mixture.
- Add in a few drops of food coloring if you want.
- Divide batter evenly among oiled pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, rotating the pans periodically to ensure they bake evenly. A toothpick should come out clean when inserted into the middle of the cakes, and the top should spring back when gently pressed.
- Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes, and then remove pans, allowing the cakes to completely cool.
- While the cakes are cooling, prepare the frosting.
Buttercream Frosting
2 cups Earth Balance vegan butter (4 sticks), softened
6 cups powder sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 TBSP almond milk
- In your blender, whip the Earth Balance butter sticks until creamy
- Slowly whip in 1 cup of powder sugar
- Slowly whip in the vanilla and 1-2 TBSP of almond milk. The frosting may begin to look clumpy or curdly, but don’t worry!
- Slowly whip in the remaining powder sugar. If the buttercream is too thick, slowly add bits of more almond milk. If you get the buttercream too runny, slowly add in more powder sugar.
Once your cakes are cooled, spread approximately one cup of frosting on your bottom layer. Put the second layer on top. Use the remaining buttercream to frost the top and sides of the cake.
*I had originally said 2 pints of strawberries, but I realized that is not the size of the package. I meant the regular sized packs of strawberries that you buy in the produce section, and admittedly, I don’t know how big they are!
It's Truly Scrumptious! 