Strawberry Lemonade Cake

It's almost Summer and already in the 90's here in Texas, so Strawberry Lemonade Cake from The Cake Book sounded like the cake to make this month for the Cake Slice Bakers Group!

Although it looks like a pretty easy cake - sheet cake with frosting - it takes quite a bit of time to make.

There's the zesting and squeezing of 5 lemons, separating egg yolks from the whites, and cooking the marshmallow frosting.  Kind of time consuming.  But you end up with an interesting and quite tasty, very lemony cake dotted with fresh strawberries.

Here it is, soaked in the lemony sauce, before frosting:

This was my first time making marshmallow or marshmallow frosting and to be honest, I didn't have a pleasant experience.  The instructions were a bit confusing, so I did my best.

Rebecca Firth's (the author) photo of the cake looked great, with fluffy billows of pink marshmallow frosting, and mine was more like melty (but delicious) marshmallow creme.

I promise I went by the instructions faithfully, but it just didn't work out.  

You know what though?  It was strawberry marshmallow deliciousness.  Creamy and drippy, but tasty!

Here's my poor cake after the frosting sat awhile.  

The cake calls for olive oil instead of butter or regular oil, and you can tell in the deep flavor.  

I do love the use of fresh strawberries pressed down into the cake and the strawberry jam in the frosting.

You could really use that frosting and a fruit dip and it would be a big hit.

The cake also calls for ¼ cup of lemon zest.  That's a lot of zest and it took five good-sized lemons.  The lemons were also juiced for ½ cup of lemon juice for the lemon soak, so no waste there.  

After refrigerating overnight, I had a slice after lunch and it was amazing.  So deeply lemony and very moist from the lemon sauce and frosting.  I thought it was pretty good the day I made it, but it was really good after refrigeration and letting that lemon soak in.  Nice chunks of fresh strawberry, too.  

If you have the time and don't mind a little marshmallow in your hair after frosting this Strawberry Lemonade Cake, you and your family will like this one!

Be sure and check out the other Cake Slice Bakers choices at the links below the recipe!

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Strawberry Lemonade Cake

Yield: 20

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 47 minutes

Additional Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 32 minutes

Deeply lemony, moist cake dotted with fresh strawberries and topped with a strawberry marshmallow frosting.

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Ingredients

• The Cake:
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar (300g)
• ¼ cup lemon zest (8g) (4-5 lemons)
• ½ cup good-quality extra-virgin olive oil (112g)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
• 2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour (360g)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (5g)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (5g)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (6g)
• 1 cup water (224g), room temperature
• ⅔ cup sour cream, room temperature (160g)
• 1 ½ cups fresh strawberries, hulled and halved (225g)
• Lemon Soak:
• ½ cup fresh lemon juice (104g)
• ¼ cup granulated sugar (50g)
• Strawberry Marshmallow Frosting:
• 3 large egg whites, room temperature
• ¾ cup granulated sugar (150g)
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup (42g)
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ cup strawberry jam (160g)
• Garnish: fresh strawberries, lemon slices, sprinkles (optional)

Instructions

1. For the Cake: Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a 9x13" baking pan and line with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Spray the paper/aluminum foil, too. Let the excess paper/foil hang off the ends of the pans so you can lift it out to cool.
2. In a stand mixer bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest. Mix on low for about 1 minute until combined. Still on low, stream in the olive oil until it's completely blended with the sugar mixture. Add in the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, making sure that each addition is well blended. Scrape the sides and bottom with a rubber spatula to make sure everything is blended in.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. In a large 2-cup (or bowl) measuring cup, whisk together the water and sour cream.
4. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream mixture. Scrape sides and bottom as needed. Batter might be a little lumpy and fairly thin - that's OK. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and tap the pan on the countertop to release any bubbles. Place the strawberry halves, cut side down, over the top of the cake batter, then bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then carefully lift out the cake by the paper or foil an let it cool on a rack.
5. For the Lemon Soak: In a small saucepan, combine the lemon juice and sugar. Stir over medium-low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved (1-2 minutes). Set aside to cool.
6. Once the cake and soak are cooled, carefully lift the cake back into the pan (I took the paper off before moving). Brush the entire amount of lemon soak evenly on top of the cake. There's a lot of it, but use it all. Set the cake aside to let the soak absorb into the cake while you're making the frosting.
7. For the Marshmallow Frosting: In the top of a double boiler, add the egg whites, sugar and corn syrup and place over the simmering water of the bottom pot. Try to make sure the water is not touching the bottom of the top pot. Whisk the egg white mixture until it's thick and frothy (I used an electric hand mixer on low for this step). Wait until the sugar is melted completely into the water and the mixture it hot - it should take about 5 minutes (or around 160°)
8. Remove the top pan from the heat and transfer it to the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (careful, it's hot). Add the cream of tartar and salt. Mix on medium-high speed until very stiff and glossy and the mixture and outside of the bowl is cool to the touch. Remove the bowl, clean out the whisk attachment, then fold in the strawberry jam. Spread the frosting over the top of the cake using an offset spatula or back of a large spoon to make pretty swirls. Decorate with strawberries, lemons, or sprinkles if desired.
9. Refrigerate leftovers. Even better the next day, although the frosting will probably loosen up.

Notes

You can leave the strawberry jam out of the frosting if you want, or use fresh, chopped, patted dry strawberries. Leave it plain, then top the cake with fruit if you'd like.

Make sure the marshmallow mixture is very stiff so it will hold up on the cake. As you can see by my photos, I didn't let it get quite stiff enough (thus, the melty look!).

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 20 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 279Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 42mgSodium: 247mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 1gSugar: 33gProtein: 4g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving by Rebecca Firth. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

 

 

It is a new year and a new book - The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving - and our choices for May 2024 were ~

Dad's Olive-Oil-Coconut Layer Cake with Pineapple Curd

• All That's Left Are The Crumbs

Stellas Strawberry Lemonade Cake

• My Recipe Reviews
• A Day in the Life on the Farm
• A Little Bit of All Right
• Karen's Kitchen Stories

I Love Argentina Alfajores Cake

• Amandie Bakes