This incredibly delicious homemade vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream is the perfect combination of a soft and fragrant vanilla cake topped with a naturally flavored strawberry buttercream made from freeze-dried strawberries.
Author:Winnie Reeves
Prep Time:60 Minutes
Cook Time:30 Minutes
Total Time:1 hour 30 minutes
Yield:9-16 Cake Pieces 1x
Ingredients
Scale
Homemade Vanilla Cake
1 3/4 Cup (219 g) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, Spooned and Leveled
2/3 Cup (134 g) Granulated Sugar
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
2 Large Eggs, Room Temperature
1/2 Cup + 2 Tablespoons (155 ml) Milk, Room Temperature
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons (6 oz) Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
3 Tablespoons (45 ml) Neutral Flavored Oil i.e. Grapeseed/Vegetable Oil
1 1/2 Teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar/Fresh Lemon Juice
2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
Strawberry Buttercream
1 Cup (8 oz) Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
2 Cups (240 g) Powered Sugar, Sifted
Scant 1/4 Cup (20 g) Powdered Freeze-Dried Strawberries
1/4 Cup (60 ml) Heavy Cream, Cold
Instructions
Homemade Vanilla Cake
Preheat oven to 325F(165C). Line an 8” x 8” square pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine.
In a standard measuring cup or small bowl, add the milk and vinegar or lemon juice. Whisk to combine.
Add butter, oil and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Cream ingredients together at medium speed (4 on stand mixer) until mixture is fluffy and pale yellow in appearance, about 3-4 minutes.
Beat eggs into butter mixture one at time. Each egg should be fully incorporated into mixture before the next egg is added.
Reduce mixer speed to low (2 on stand mixer). In an alternating fashion, mix in half of the dry ingredients into batter, followed by the milk mixture and vanilla extract, and ending with the remaining dry ingredients. Stop mixer and with a flexible spatula, scrape the sides and base of bowl to catch any unmixed ingredients. Mix batter for an additional minute.
Pour homemade vanilla cake batter into prepared pan. Use the back of a flexible spatula to spread into an even layer. Bake cake batter for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through bake time. Cake is ready when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow homemade vanilla cake to cool in pan for at 10-15 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely to room temperature.
Strawberry Buttercream
Add butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Cream butter at medium speed (4 on stand mixer) until thick and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Reduce mixer speed to low (2 on stand mixer), slowly add and mix in the powdered sugar and powdered freeze-dried strawberries into butter.
Mix heavy cream into strawberry buttercream one tablespoon at a time. Once all of the heavy cream has been mixed into buttercream, stop mixer and use a flexible spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of mixing bowl.
Increase mixer speed to medium and resume mixing strawberry buttercream until thick and fluffy, about 1- 2 minutes.
Assembly
Use an offset spatula to spread a thin layer of the strawberry buttercream over cooled homemade vanilla cake.
Transfer the remaining strawberry buttercream into a pastry bag fitted with a 1M pastry tip.
Pipe medium sized rosettes to cover the top surface of cake. Pipe smaller rosettes over any gaps between the first layer of rosettes.
Notes
Homemade vanilla cake can be made ahead time and frosted with strawberry buttercream on the day it is to be served. Simply, bake and cool to room temperature, tightly wrap in plastic wrap and store in refrigerator for up to 2 days and in the freezer for up to 1 month. If storing in the freezer, thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
To ground freeze-dried strawberries into powder, I used a coffee grinder; however, a food processor will work as well.
Powdered freeze-dried strawberries tends to clump up. Highly recommend passing powdered freeze-dried strawberries through a fine mesh sieve before using.
If strawberry buttercream becomes too soft while piping rosettes, place pastry bag in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to allow buttercream to firm back up.
For a more rustic looking cake, spoon strawberry buttercream onto cooled homemade vanilla cake. Use an offset spatula to spread out buttercream over the surface of cake. Top with fresh strawberries if desired.