Valentine Cake with Strawberry Buttercream Icing

Today is my birthday! When I told Mac how old I was his jaw dropped and his eyes got really wide and he said, "Woah! That's almost a hundred!" So, there's that. I'll spare you the shock and horror of telling you how old I really am and just skip to the best part of having a birthday...the CAKE. I usually make my own birthday cake (chocolate with white icing), but this year I decided to mix things up a bit. This recipe for "magic pink cake" is absolutely amazing and would be perfect for Valentine's Day. It's super easy and is guaranteed to knock your socks off. If you're a strawberry fan, this cake is going to be your new best friend. Even Mac, who usually just licks the icing off cake and leaves the cake part, ate every single bite and has begged me for pink cake 9,000 times a day since I made it. Believe me, it's a winner. 

All you need to do is mix a box of white cake with some flour and strawberry flavored Jello. In a separate bowl, mix eggs and strawberries. If you mix them with a mixer, you'll get tiny specks/bits of strawberry in your cake batter. If you just use a spoon to mix, you'll have much larger chunks of strawberry. Your choice (you can't really go wrong either way)! Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir. Voila, pink cake! 

This homemade strawberry buttercream icing couldn't be any easier. Cream butter and strawberries, add powdered sugar. Then be prepared to battle everyone in your house for the rights to lick the beaters! Don't say I didn't warn you.

Once the cake is cooled, just dump the icing on top! You can also make this cake with chocolate cake mix, which is fantatic. It's not pink, but it's really really good! Or swap out the frozen strawberries for raspberries and use raspberry flavored Jello. You can also make this in cupcake form, but you will need to make the icing stiffer (less butter, more powdered sugar) because this recipe is a bit runny and tends to ooze off the cake (which I love). Feel free to add sprinkles!

Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix

1 small box strawberry jello

3 tablespoons flour

4 eggs

1 cup oil

1 cup frozen strawberries, thawed and chopped

1 stick butter

3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Mix cake mix, Jello and flour in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, oil and 1/2 cup strawberries. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix. Spray 9x13" pan with nonstick spray and add cake batter.

2. Bake cake in a at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool in pan for 15 minutes.

3. To make icing: cream butter and 1/2 cup strawberries. Add powdered sugar and mix well. (For stiffer/thicker icing, add more powdered sugar.)

4. Spread icing over cooled cake. Enjoy!

This cake has become a favorite in our house, even surpassing my beloved chocolate.

What's your favorite cake flavor?