Strawberry Blast-Off Cake, Charles Phoenix Test Kitchen by Charles Phoenix

Frankly, I spend more time that I would care to admit daydreaming new cake recipes to try in my trustworthy Charles Phoenix Test Kitchen.

Recently I’ve been thinking of a very pink strawberry cake. Something cheerful that would be prefect served to cake-loving friends and family celebrating the July 4th Holiday. So I marched to the nearest supermarket and filled the basket with all things strawberry; fresh strawberries, frozen strawberries, strawberry cake mix and strawberry ice cream. YUM!

And because everybody knows strawberries go SO well with cheesecake, I threw in one of Sara Lee’s finest, too.



I grabbed plenty of Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting, more baskets of fresh strawberries and enough food coloring to tint the whole world pink.

At the check-out, I spotted those little toothpick flags we all love so much so I threw in a few packets of those, too. Not only is this cake going to be pink, it’s going to be patriotic!

I raced home, fired up the oven and mixed it all up and this three-layer strawberry cake layered with fresh strawberry cheesecake filling and finished with strawberries flying flags is what happened. It’s pink all right and patriotic, too!

I call it the Strawberry Blast-Off Cake – and you can recreate it in your kitchen! Here’s how:

 

Strawberry Blast-Off Cake

Cake:
2 boxes strawberry cake mix
Mix batter according to box instruction substituting melted strawberry ice cream for oil and water
Filling:
1 tub of frozen sweetened strawberries (well drained)
1 Sara Lee cheesecake
1 tub cream cheese frosting
2 baskets of fresh strawberries
Blend cheesecake, cream cheese frosting and drained frozen strawberries. Spread cake with light coat of filling. Top with ½ thick sliced fresh strawberries. Finish layer with more cheesecake filling. Repeat. Refrigerate.
Frosting:2 tubs cream cheese frosting (tinted pink)
Frost cake. Refrigerate.  Decorate with red striped plastic straws over wood skewers with fresh strawberries topped with little toothpick flags. Serve with great Americana pride!!!