Saturday, May 14, 2011

The Strawberry Chocolate Cake that Almost Wasn't - Recipe Included

Recently I had a bad day.  And a certain someone (I won't name names) was teething so badly that I thought I might have to dope him with tylenol and pull out all my hair give him some extra nap time.  During said nap, I decided to make a strawberry chocolate cake to use up the strawberries we'd picked.  I hadn't made this cake in years.  And I'd forgotten.  Forgotten what an absolute PITA it is to make.  Not to mention the recipe is asinine.  It calls for things like 2/3 cup of butter.  Why couldn't they pick a normal amount?  Furthermore, you have to make a MERINGUE and fold it into this really dense batter.  A whole separate meringue?  Now if that isn't an annoying cake recipe, I don't know what is.

So there I was, pretty annoyed.  To make matters worse, it didn't get done within the prescribed time.  Nope, I had to cook it an extra 10 minutes.  Stupid cake.

And then?
The frosting.
Well, it makes a RIDICULOUS amount of frosting.
Look at all I had left after frosting both layers of cake:

Can you believe this?  There must be 3 cups there!  Not one to let things go to waste, I stuck it in the freezer for use on sugar cookies later, but by this time I was TOTALLY over this cake.  Me and this cake?  We were gonna have it out! 

But then there was this: 
And then I took a bite.  Layers of cake and strawberries and the most fudgey of frostings ever. 
Oh yes. 
That's why I made that silly old cake.

If you would like to torment yourself, here is the recipe -
Really Annoying Chocolate Strawberries Cake with Overdose of Frosting:
(from Taste of Home)

2/3 cup of butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
4 egg whites
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries

FROSTING (save yourself the trouble and just half this):
7 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 1/2 cups baking cocoa
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sliced fresh strawberries

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar.  Beat in vanilla.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternatively with milk.  In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form.  Gradually beat in remaining sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, on high untill stiff peaks form and sugar is dissolved.  Fold into batter.  Fold in strawberries.

Pour into two greased and floured 9 inch round baking pans.  Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.

For frosting, in large mixing bowl combine sugar and cocoa.  Beat in butter and milk until smooth.  Beat in vanilla.

Spread frosting over bottom cake layer; top with sliced strawberries.  Top with remaining cake layer; frost top and sides of cake.  Store in fridge.


17 comments:

Mere said...

I think I would have opted to stick my spoon in the frosting and just eat the leftover...especially after the big ordeal you went through to make the cake! :-p

Kim@stuffcould.... said...

This looks so yums! I hope he got his nap...

TexWisGirl said...

that's the best intro to a recipe i've ever read! :)

Samantha said...

The cake sounds like a total pain, and absolutely delicious!

LBB said...

I was laughing through this post! I felt your pain :) But after seeing the result....I want to make it too! I'll have to try it on a day I have some patience :D

Valerie Boersma said...

Since I can't blog right now-I think I will try making that cake! I think I could be in the worst mood on earth and that cake would fix everything! I think that cake could even fix the problems Blogger is having!! It looks so good!

Chatty Crone said...

No wonder you made that cake - it looked delish. And I love love love chocolate. Hope your little guy is feeling better.

Sonya @ Under the Desert Sky said...

That cake looks SOOO yummo!! Sorry it's such a pain in the behind to make.

Ginny Hartzler said...

Oh my, it looks worth the work and positively decadent!!! I'm impressed that you made the cake instead of just plopping down somewhere for a rest!

Shanae Branham said...

Wow! I love chocolate cake! Cake in general is one of my favorites and yours looks delicious. So are you joining the 400 mile challenge for the year? What are you recovering from? I thought the miles you posted last week were really good for a non-recovering person.
Cheers,
Shanae

jp@A Green Ridge said...

So now that I know where the frosting is hidden, I can go after that when I need to, right? That cake looks divine!...:)JP

Anonymous said...

I would love to just eat the icing!

Mad Woman behind the Blog said...

Okay, that is just SINFUL! And I'm in CA, how long is your delivery time?

BTW - totally different flavor but I recently made a Lemon Tiramisu that was DECADENT! And man was I glad I had a lot of guests to eat it!

Dawn said...

Think this would constitute as proper carbs to eat before race day???:))))))))))))

Andrea said...

Stupid me, I should have read this before grocery shopping tonight! Then we stopped at the strawberry farm to pick up some more on the way home. :) I have like NONE of these ingredients. Bah!!! It looks SO good though. Can you freeze me a piece and bring it to TYpeA? ;) YUM.

Sandy said...

LMAO Lisa! I learned a long time ago to not bake or cook even when having a bad day. It seems like it will go from bad to worse if you try to do something productive. The cake does look delicious though.

Joy @ Joy Of Desserts said...

LOL. Love your voice in this post. There are annoying recipes like that, and some of them are worth it. Best to be feeling peaceful when baking though.
It looks and sounds delicious. Glad you enjoyed the results.