Pioneer Woman
Serves: 10
Cake
- 1-1/2 cup Flour
- 3 Tablespoons Cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 9 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 1-1/2 cup Sugar
- 3 whole Large Eggs
- 1/2 cup Sour Cream, Room Temperature
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
Icing
- 1/2 pound Cream Cheese, Room Temperature
- 2 sticks Unsalted Butter
- 1-1/2 pound Powdered Sugar, Sifted
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 pound Strawberries
IMPORTANT: Be sure to use a cake pan that’s at least 2 inches deep! Before baking, the batter should not fill the pan more than halfway.
Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and corn starch.
Cream 9 tablespoons butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well each time. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until combined. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just barely combined.
Pour into greased and floured 8-inch cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until no longer jiggly like my bottom. Remove from cake pan as soon as you pull it out of the oven, and place on a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely.
Stem strawberries and slice them in half from bottom to top. Place into a bowl and sprinkle with 3 tablespoons sugar. Stir together and let sit for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, mash the strawberries in two batches. Sprinkle each half with 1 tablespoons sugar and allow to sit for another 30 minutes.
Make icing: combine cream cheese, 2 sticks butter, sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, and dash of salt in a mixing bowl. Mix until very light and fluffy.
Slice cake in half through the middle. Spread strawberries evenly over each half (cut side up), pouring on all the juices. Place cake halves into the freezer for five minutes, just to make icing easier.
Remove from freezer. Use a little less than 1/3 of the icing to spread over the top of the strawberries on the bottom layer. Place the second layer on top. Add half of the remaining icing to the top spreading evenly, then spread the remaining 1/3 cup around the sides.
Leave plain OR garnish with strawberry halves.
IMPORTANT: Cake is best when served slightly cool. The butter content in the icing will cause it to soften at room temperature. For best results, store in the fridge!
*Chef’s note: This was the first thing I baked in the oven of my new apartment! Probably not the best idea, in hindsight. I think my oven runs a bit hot, because I checked the cakes very early after 30 minutes and they already were done. Perhaps a bit too done. The outside was more of a crust, which makes this tough to cut. I also would double the amount of strawberries. It may seem like a lot, but it’s a lot of cake! Especially with my overly dry version, more moisture and sweetness would have been great. The cake did have a great flavor, though. It was a nice switch-up from the typical biscuit base. As requested by my boyfriend, the recipient of this cake, we used Cool Whip in place of the frosting. T’was delicious! I recommend letting it thaw a tad before digging in when you remove it from the fridge.