Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Thoroughly mix cake ingredients together and blend until smooth. For the frozen strawberries, I typically buy the 24 ounce container and spoon about half into the batter with some of the juice. Pour into 2, 9 inch greased/floured cake pans and bake at 350 degrees F for 35-45 minutes or until tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.

For the frosting:

Cream softened butter and cream cheese together. Add vanilla and mix well. Slowly add sifted powdered sugar to mixture. Whip until a nice smooth frosting texture is achieved.

Remove stems from the fresh strawberries and place in a blender or food processer. I save a few whole ones to garnish cake with (leave those with stems). Puree until a smooth puree is achieved. Add small amounts of the puree to frosting mixture, blending well in mixer until desired flavor is achieved, without compromising the thickness of the frosting.

I typically make half a batch of this frosting, without the strawberries, and use this first for a crumb coat. I frost the cake with a thin layer to seal in crumbs and refrigerate until frosting sets. I then frost with the strawberry cream cheese frosting.

Note: this frosting is really great and could be used as a fruit dip also. My husband does not even like frosting and he can’t get enough of this!