Strawberry lemonade cake with strawberry marshmallow frosting - a moist lemon cake studded with fresh strawberries and topped with a billowy frosting flavored with strawberry jam.
This cake is filled with fresh lemon zest, and then topped with fresh strawberry halves before baking. Next, the cake is brushed with a lemon syrup soaker once it has cooled.
The frosting is super fluffy and billowy. It's flavored with strawberry jam, which also adds a pale pink tint. You could also use strawberry preserves for a look and flavor that includes chunks of strawberries. It's up to you!
This cake is from the chapter, Single and Fabulous: Single Layer Cakes in All Their Glory, from The Cake Book by Rebecca Firth.
Everything I've made from the book has been amazing. As someone who loves to bake, I love that the book includes both volume and weight for every ingredient, and that the weights are accurate.
I love single layer cakes. They are so easy and yet so fabulous. They're perfect for a party. You can even serve them straight from the pan, especially with sheet cakes.
Ingredients:
For the Cake:
From the Pantry: Granulated sugar, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and extra virgin olive oil.
Eggs, sour cream, and water.
Lemon zest: You will need the zest from about 4 to 5 lemons.
Strawberries!
For the Lemon Soak:
Fresh lemon juice and granulated sugar.
For the Frosting:
Egg whites
Granulated sugar, light corn syrup, cream of tartar, and sea salt
Strawberry jam
Process to Make (full recipe and instructions in the recipe card):
First make the cake. Combine the lemon zest and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Then, add the olive oil and the eggs, one at a time.
After that, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in one bowl, and combine the sour cream and water in a large measuring cup. Add both, in two stages, to the sugar mixture and stir everything together. Pour the batter into a 9-inch by 13-inch baking pan.
Top the batter with halved strawberries, cut side down.
While the cake is baking, stir together fresh lemon juice and sugar over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool.
Once the cake has baked, let it cool for about 20 minutes in the pan, and then transfer it to a cooling rack to cool completely.
When the cake has completely cooled, return it to the pan and brush it with the soaker.
Finally, make the frosting. You begin by cooking egg whites, corn syrup, and sugar in the bottom of the bowl of a stand mixer that has been placed over a pan of simmering water while whisking constantly.
You cook and whisk the mixture for about five minutes, and then transfer it to the stand mixer, add the cream of tartar and salt, and whip with the whisk attachment for about 10 minutes, until the mixture has cooled and is very thick.
Finally, fold in the jam by hand and spread the frosting over the cake.
After the recipe, be sure to read more about the Cake Slice Bakers' cakes for this month.
Strawberry Lemonade Cake with Strawberry Marshmallow Frosting
Ingredients
- 300 grams (1 1/2 cups) granulated sugar
- 8 grams (1/4 cup) lemon zest - from 4 to 5 lemons
- 112 grams (1/2 cup) extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large eggs, plus one egg yolk, room temperature
- 360 grams (2 2/3 cups) all-purpose flour
- 5 grams (1 teaspoon) baking powder
- 5 grams (1 teaspoon) baking soda
- 6 grams (1 teaspoon) fine sea salt
- 224 grams (1 cup) room temperature water
- 160 grams (2/3 cup) sour cream
- 225 grams (1 1/2 cups) fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
- 104 grams (1/2 cup) fresh lemon juice
- 50 grams (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 42 grams (2 tablespoons) light corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 160 grams (1/2 cup) strawberry jam
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9 inch by 13 inch cake pan with spray oil. Line with parchment paper with enough paper to hang over the sides of the pan in order to lift the cake out of the pan.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar and lemon zest and mix on medium low for one minute. Slowly stream in the olive oil and mix until fully combined. Add the eggs and the egg yolk, one at a time, until fully incorporated.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large measuring cup, whisk together the sour cream and water.
- Add 1/2 of the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir. Add 1/2 of the sour cream mixture and stir. Repeat with the rest of the flour and sour cream mixtures.
- Return the bowl to the mixer and mix on low with the paddle attachment until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and top with the strawberries, cut side down.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Lift the cake out of the pan and place it on a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cake is cooling, prepare the soaker by heating the lemon juice and sugar over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Cool completely.
- When the cake has cooled, return it to the pan and brush it with the soaker until all of it has been absorbed.
- In the metal bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg whites, granulated sugar, and corn syrup. Place the bowl over a narrow saucepan with simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.
- Cook, whisking constantly, for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is foamy and the sugar is dissolved. The mixture should be about 160 degrees F.
- Place the bowl in the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and add the cream of tartar and sea salt. Beat on medium high for about 10 minutes, until the mixture is very thick and stiff and has totally cooled.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the jam. Stir with a rubber spatula until fully combined. Spread the frosting over the cake with an offset spatula.
- If you like, garnish with sprinkles or more strawberries.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
358Fat (grams)
11 gSat. Fat (grams)
2 gCarbs (grams)
63 gFiber (grams)
1 gNet carbs
62 gSugar (grams)
42 gProtein (grams)
4 gCholesterol (grams)
31 mg
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The Cake Slice Bakers also have a Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.
It is a new year and a new book - The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving - and our choices for May 2024 were ~
Dad's Olive-Oil-Coconut Layer Cake with Pineapple Curd
Stellas Strawberry Lemonade Cake
I Love Argentina Alfajores Cake
Strawberry lemonade is one of my favorite summer flavors. This cake is so much fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Carlee!
DeleteYour cake turned out great Karen.
ReplyDeleteLove the shot of the fresh strawberries sinking into the batter. You aced this one!
ReplyDeleteHi Karen, as a fan of your blog and lover of all bakes dedicated to The Cake Slice Bakers, I was wondering if you would make this cake again. I belong to a foods group, this was one of our dessert picks in June. The cake and frosting were so sweet it was not edible. The cook who made the cake did admit that baking was not in her wheel house, that she did not have a stand mixer therefore needed to wing it. I have yet to try this recipe as my first taste was a disaster. Jo Jo
ReplyDeleteHi Jo Jo. I definitely would make it again. I will say that the frosting was more of a challenge for some of the other bakers, but it worked just fine for me. I do use a scale to measure my ingredients, and I used a stand mixer so beating for 10 minutes wasn't hard for me. You really have to keep going until the mixture cools and really thickens. As far as being too sweet? It is a sweet cake, but it didn't seem overwhelming to me.
Delete