It's our anniversary today! Charles and I got married 4 years ago, and we are celebrating in Europe the UK. Before we left for our trip, I made a sweet little mini cake to mark the occasion. You know that tradition of eating the top of your wedding cake on your one year anniversary? Well our baker made us a fresh "top layer" for our anniversary (this was a big reason why I chose her). But shouldn't every anniversary involve cake? I think so, so I whipped up this mini angel food cake with roasted strawberry whipped cream frosting to mark our fourth anniversary.
I used angel food cake mix, so that part was easy. I made the roasted strawberry whipped cream frosting from scratch, but that wasn't too difficult either. And it is really good. My friend Jocelyn gave me the idea of roasting berries. It makes them extra juicy and intensifies the flavor. I roasted the berries alongside the cake as it was baking, then pureed them, and added them to a basic whipped cream frosting.
I made a mini cake - but I adjusted the frosting recipe below to frost a full angel food cake. If you want to take a shortcut you can buy an angel food cake from the grocery store and just add the homemade frosting.
I love the flavor combination of strawberries and rose, so I served this cake with Napa Valley Rose that I received from Cultivar. It's a light fruity refreshing wine that paired wonderfully with the cake.
I thought that my mini cake was adorable. But Charles said that it was the Frankenstein of cakes and that it wasn't very pretty. I stand by the recipe because it's delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 box of Angel Food Cake Mix
- 2 cups Strawberries
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 2 tablespoons Granulated Sugar
- 3 cups Whipping Cream
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- ½ cup Powdered Sugar
Instructions
- Prepare the angel food cake mix according to the directions on the box.
- Remove the stems from the strawberries, and place the strawberries in a pan lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle the granulated sugar over. Let the strawberries roast for 15-20 minutes (along with the cake), until they are soft and juicy. They should be easy to crush with a fork, and juice should be accumulating in the bottom of the pan.
- Place the strawberries and all excess juice in a blender and puree. (This will smell delicious). Then use a fine mesh strainer to strain the strawberries seeds out. Keep the juice and toss the seeds.
- Stir the lemon juice into the strawberry juice, and place in the fridge to let chill. This step is important because adding warm strawberry juice to the whipped cream frosting will melt it.
- Once the cake is done baking, remove it from the oven and let it cool. You want the cake to cool completely before frosting it.
- Prepare the frosting by pouring the whipping cream into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar, and beat on a medium speed until soft peaks begin to form. Then add the strawberry juice, and beat until the cream forms peaks stiff enough to stay put. If the frosting is too soft it will fall of the cake, but if it is overly beaten it will be buttery. So just keep your eye on things, you will know when the frosting is stiff enough. Then go ahead and frost your cake, and keep it chilled until you are ready to serve it.
Cultivar is a Napa Valley winery and I am part of their blogger program. I love that while they produce top quality Napa Valley wine, it’s still affordable – their wines range from $12 – $72 a bottle retail. And as a reader of The Kittchen, you can use this code “CultivarWineTheKittchen“ for a 10% savings when you order Cultivar wine.
I received wine from Cultivar Wine as part of this collaboration.
