Aunt Kate's Strawberry Cake

12 Reviews

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 30 min
Ready In: 45 min

“This recipe dates back to the early 1900's and was made by my grandmother's sister Kate. I have the fondest memories of my grandmother and my mother making this when strawberries came into season. The cake itself is not very sweet, although the icing is. The balance is perfect. I make this for many occasions, and my secret taste testers have remarked how wonderful it is. Just a side note: using fresh, sweet strawberries is the key.” - by Drea217

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Grease a cake pan.
Beat white sugar and shortening together until light and fluffy.
Beat eggs, one at a time, into sugar mixture until well mixed; stir in vanilla extract.
Stir 1 cup strawberries and baking soda in a large bowl until baking soda is dissolved. This will help strawberries foam and rise in the cake.
Whisk flour and salt together in a separate bowl. Stir flour mixture and strawberry mixture by hand, into sugar mixture, alternating flour mixture, then strawberry mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
Pour batter into prepared cake pan.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
Beat confectioners' sugar, butter, and 1/4 cup strawberries in a bowl with an electric mixer until blended; frost the cooled strawberry cake.

Reviews (12)

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naples34102

Aug. 21, 2012

"I had fun playing with this, seeing if I could improve upon some issues of concern. First, I thought it unusual that baking soda was in the ingredients list, but not baking powder, especially since t..." See morehere wasn’t anything particularly acidic in the ingredients like lemon juice or buttermilk that would necessitate that. I also noticed the flour to sugar ratio was off, with not enough sugar. The submitter herself states the cake is not very sweet. And, while there aren’t many reviews of Aunt Kate’s cake, even some mentioned it was heavy and dense. Since the submitter also mentioned the cake was from the early 1900’s, I thought maybe baking powder wasn’t on the market yet. Nope, it was introduced in the mid 1800s. Still, I thought some baking powder was needed to give the cake some lift, making it lighter and fluffier. Knowing baking soda is four times as powerful as baking powder, I used 1/4 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. of baking powder and just 1/4 tsp. salt. One cup of strawberries seemed a lot to me for this little cake, which I thought might be “dragging” the cake down – I reduced it from 1 c. to 3/4 c. and added 1/2 tsp. of natural strawberry extract to compensate. Finally, I wanted the cake a little sweeter so I added 2 T. more sugar. I baked this as cupcakes and the changes did prove to result in a light and fluffy, nicely sweet cake. This is just slightly strawberry flavored, but once covered with the frosting (I added 1/2 tsp. strawberry extract) it was just right."

Mountain Girl

Apr. 22, 2012

"This was really good!! My 3-year old ate every bite. I found my cake took 35 minutes to cook through (I used a 9" round cake pan). Had to add the photo, it's a real showstopper! Thanks for sharing..." See more!"

Rae

Jul. 23, 2012

"My son wanted a Neapolitan cake for his birthday. I used this for the strawberry layer. I didn't make the frosting. This cake has great flavor, the strawberry flavor was perfect. It was actually reall..." See morey good. I did sub butter for the shortening. My only complaint is that it was a little dense and just a tad bit dry. Will definitely be making this again. I love that you use real strawberries and the cake is made from scratch. Thanks for the recipe!"

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