Cristobal's Southern Strawberry "Birthday" Cake

Okay, so I made MY favorite cake for Cristobal's 30th birthday.
Before you go on thinking I was selfish for making him a cake that isn't his favorite (although it's up there on his cake scale), let me tell you a long story about how I met strawberry cake and why I decided to make it for his birthday.


I grew up in the South. Jonesboro, Arkansas to be exact.  My family stood out like a sore thumb during the 90's (after 2000, I would say it became more multicultural).
My mom's cakes and desserts for potlucks, birthdays, and special occasions were the not so typical, yet always yummy: Persian baklava, rollette with rosewater whipped cream, saffron rice pudding, walnut cookies, chickpea cookies... (the list can go on).
I was, and am, very proud of my mom's cooking, baking, and entertaining.  After all, that's where I got my love for cooking and entertaining.
Mom, never hesitated to bake or cook for anyone and was always up for a party at our house.
Every time she made a cake she'd add a little rosewater to it or saffron; a dash of ground cardamom and a heavy hand of "anything Persian".  Yes, I know these are now the "cool" ingredients every chef out there is adding to their fancy menus, but at the time it was not cool for me. It was kind of embarrassing.

Like, why couldn't we be normal and add food coloring to our cakes and sprinkles, and whip cream from a can (not the homemade kind). Why couldn't be use the Betty Crocker boxed cake mixes?  I seriously thought we were poor because everything had to be homemade and Persian.  My dad also refused us of anything with food coloring or artificial ingredients. Add that to the mixture of growing up 1 in 2 of Persian families in Jonesboro and you have one kid who wants to sort of "fit-in." So I vowed to myself that once I turn 16 and can drive, I will treat myself to all the artificial ingredients out there.  Yes, I was a rebel!

*side note: my purpose in writing this is not to bash the way I grew up--only to explain what it was like as a first generation Iranian girl growing up in the South. By all means, hind sight I'm proud of the culture I grew up in, happy I couldn't eat Fruit Loops for breakfast, and a little humbled that most every meal was home cooked by my mom or dad. (don't shed a tear, I did have the occasional McDonald's and Little Caesar's Pizza Pizza for dinner.)

Fast forward to my job as a barista in college: Edge Coffeehouse. The first coffeehouse to pop up in Jonesboro, and I had the coolest job.  In addition to espresso drinks, coffee and tea, we also served freshly made wraps and sandwiches, homemade cakes and pies.  Yes, cakes and pies without saffron or rosewater. Cakes frosted with icing and cream cheese, not with rosewater whipped cream.
I Was In Heaven!

And there she was. Beautiful, red, and studded with strawberries. Surrounded in the vitrine with plates of fluffy coconut cake and cherry cheesecake.
It was probably my very first time trying Strawberry cake and Coconut cake prepared in a Southern way.   Most of my paycheck would go towards stuffing my face with those two cakes.  My co-workers were kind of surprised by my new love affair and were quite shocked that it was my first time eating such cakes. Mrs. May was the "grandma" baker for the Edge-- a true Southern belle who knew how to bake!  Just thinking of her baked goods-especially strawberry cake- saddens me. I miss that delicious strawberry cake. Frosted perfectly, surrounded by strawberries, just waiting there for me to eat after work (okay, okay, I did eat while working too--no one's perfect!)
So, I kick myself today for not getting her recipes after working there for 4 years.

And the search continues...
I had searched endlessly on the web for a good strawberry cake recipe.  They are ALL horrible.  I've tried them all from Food Network's chefs to Southern Magazine's recipe.  I have seriously been searching for the past 8 years!!!!!!! I've driven Cristobal crazy over this search.  Not even Sprinkle's strawberry cupcake can compare to my very first bite at the Edge Coffeehouse. (a couple years back Cristobal surprised me by making strawberry cupcakes, but again it just wasn't the same.)
Until....*drum roll/angel's singing*
My May 2011 issue of Saveur magazine www.saveur.com is featuring Charleston, South Carolina in honor of soul food.  And in the collection of recipes, I spot Strawberry Cake!!! I read over the recipe and it's nothing like the other's I've tried. It's SIMPLE. Like Strawberry Cake should be.
In honor of driving Cristobal crazy over strawberry cake, I decided to bake it for his birthday.  I was taking a risk as I hadn't tried it out before hand, but I just had a hunch that it would be great.
And GREAT it was!
*I will post the recipe word for word. And let you know of the adjustments I had to make afterwards.

Strawberry Cake from Bertha's Kitchen
Serves 12

16 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing pans
3 cups flour, plus more for dusting pans
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam
3 tbsp. red food coloring (optional)
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 eggs
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1-lb box confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tsp. strawberry extract

1. Heat oven to 350.
Grease (2) 9'' round cake pans and dust with flour; set aside.
Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl; set aside
Whisk together milk, jam and 2 tbsp. red color; set aside.
Beat together sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs in a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and smooth, 2-3 minutes.
In 3 additions, alternately add dry and wet ingredients to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with dry; mix until combined.
Divide batter between prepared pans and smooth tops; bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean; about 40 minutes.
Let cool for 15 minutes, unmold, then cook completely.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese on high speed of a mixer until smooth and fluffy, 1-2 min. Add remaining food coloring, confectioner's sugar and strawberry extract; beat until smooth.
Place one cake upside down on a cake stand and spread 1/3 frosting over top.
Cover with second cake, top side up; frost top and sides of cake with remaining frosting; refrigerate 1 hour before serving. Serve at room temperature.

*I'm a firm believer in always making a recipe word for word the first time you make it so you can truly respect and honor the person who came up with it. oh and changing a recipe by a few ingredients or steps NEVER makes it yours! So I'm listing the changes I had to make, but by no means am I claiming this as my recipe. Thank you Bertha for this recipe!

Yes, I had to omit the food coloring. My dad raised me well (next time I'll search for beat juice substitute because I think the red coloring gives a great visual to the cake.)
The recipe calls for "flour" so I just used cake flour, but I'm sure AP flour will be just fine.
I also added another 1/2 cup of jam to the batter to make it a little more "strawberry-ish"

For the frosting I again omitted the red coloring.
And, for the love of God, I could not find strawberry extract.  I called 3 different grocers (Fry's, Sprouts, and Whole Foods) and none of them carried it. So to give the frosting strawberry flavor I used strawberry jam that had the seeds and the chunks in it.  I didn't actually measure it, just poured it in until it had the taste I was looking for.

There you have it. My long story about growing up Persian in the South, finding strawberry cake, losing strawberry cake, searching for strawberry cake and re-connecting with strawberry cake--all in honor of my husbands 30th birthday and a BIG THANK YOU to Saveur's 138th issue and Bertha's Kitchen!