Pink Strawberry Cake

My littlest sister turned 15 while we were at the beach last weekend. I had been saving this recipe to make for her birthday. A pink strawberry cake! How fitting. Let me start by saying, I am not talented at cake decorating. But you already assumed that much. Just because the cake doesn't look perfect (or is toppling sideways), doesn't mean it's not unbelievably tasty. I'll work on my aesthetic skills, if you'll trust me on this one.

I had quite a few factors fighting against me: a foreign kitchen and oven, lack of utensils (no spatula?!), a hot/humid climate, and the pressure of 16 hungry eyes. Despite my initial doubt about the finished product, after a few bites I called it a success. Any my baby sister loved it! That's all that matters, right?

My own touch was adding thin strawberry slices between each layer of cake. It helps bring out the strawberry flavor, which is very faint in the cake itself. I used pink food coloring, but next time I think I'll keep it all-natural and use strawberry puree to tint the frosting (I'll probably have to add more sugar to thicken it up).

INGREDIENTS
For the cake:
4 1/2 cups cake flour
3 cups sugar
5 1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
3 sticks (12 oz.) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups pureed frozen strawberries (1 1/2 cups after you puree them)
8 egg whites
2/3 cup milk

Cream Cheese Frosting:
3 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks, 6 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
3-5 cups powdered sugar (depending on how strong of a cream cheese flavor you want for your frosting, I used all 5)
2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 pint fresh strawberries, for between the layers or decorating (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour 3 9-inch round cake pans.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and pureed strawberries and mix to blend. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, several minutes. (The batter will be very thick at this point and resemble strawberry ice cream.)

3. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the egg whites and milk. Add the egg whites to the batter in two or three additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing just enough to incorporate (you want to do this by hand). Divide the batter equally among the 3 pans.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean. (If you are baking fewer than 3 cakes at a time, they will be done sooner.) Cool in the pans for several minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Mix in the vanilla and then gradually stir in the powdered sugar until you reach the consistency you want. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

6. To assemble the cake (after the layers have cooled completely): Set aside some frosting to reserve for piping, if you wish. Spread frosting and sliced fresh strawberries between each layer of the cake. Cover the top and sides with the remaining frosting. Decorate.

Makes 1 9-inch round, 3-layer cake.

(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)