High Altitude Strawberry Cake
An easy, moist, fluffy, made-from-scratch strawberry cake made with fresh strawberries, frosted with strawberry buttercream.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Strawberry Reduction
- 12 oz fresh or frozen strawberries
Cake
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ cup strawberry reduction, completely cooled
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg whites only (save the extra 2 yolks for another use)
- ½ cup vegetable oil (do not substitute with melted butter)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 small drops pink or red gel food coloring, optional
- 3 ¼ cups cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Buttercream
- 2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup strawberry reduction, completely cooled
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1-2 drops pink or red gel food coloring, optional
Instructions
Strawberry Reduction
- Wash and hull the strawberries, then use a small food processor to puree the strawberries.
- Scrape the pureed strawberries into a small saucepan. Over medium low heat, simmer the strawberries, stirring frequently to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan, until reduced to 3/4 cup. This may take up to 30 minutes.
- Once reduced, transfer the strawberry reduction to a container, cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until needed. You can make the reduction up to 2 days in advance. You'll be using the strawberry reduction in both the cake and the buttercream.
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray the bottoms of three 8-inch round cake pans with non-stick baking spray.If making half the recipe for a smaller cake, use three 6-inch round cake pans.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, lemon juice, 1/2 cup strawberry reduction, eggs, egg whites, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract until well combined. Whisk in the food coloring, if using.I added 2 small drops super red gel food coloring; without the food coloring, the cakes will be a paler pinkish tan color.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, then whisk until everything is evenly distributed. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and whisk for about 10-15 seconds, until combined.
- Divide the batter between the pans, then bang the pans on the counter a few times to pop any large air bubbles.
- Bake the cakes until the tops spring back when gently touched, or a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, about 21-25 minutes for three 8-inch cakes, and about 18-20 minutes for three 6-inch cakes.
- Set the pans on a cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter for 1 minute until smooth. Beat in the remaining 1/4 cup strawberry reduction and the vanilla.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder and the salt.
- Increase speed to medium (#6 on a Kitchen Aid mixer) and beat for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl down several times, until very light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 1 more minute to pop any large air bubbles. If desired, beat in a few drops of red or pink gel food coloring for a deeper pink color.
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans, and stack, fill and frost the cake with the buttercream. See How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost a Layer Cake for more tips.
- Fit a piping bag with tip 1M, fill with any remaining buttercream, and pipe swirls on top of the cake, if you like. Then top with fresh strawberries just before serving.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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