Strawberry Crunch Cake

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When I think back to my childhood, many of my memories are tied to the flavors and tastes of homecooked meals and sweet treats, BECAUSE I LOVE TO EAT! For me, food transcends time and can plug me right back into the exact moment I first experienced something new. Among these moments lies the delicious remembrance of one of my all-time favorite ice cream bars, the Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake bar! Who’s with me on this one???? Every time I would bite into one of these bars, my taste buds would do a little dance! An icy strawberry flavored center was covered in a creamy vanilla ice cream and surrounded by a salty/sweet strawberry-vanilla crunchy coating. What could be better than that? Well, I’ll tell you…it’s this ice cream bar’s CAKE doppelganger…my Strawberry Crunch Cake! And I’m here today to share with you how to make it!

This Strawberry Crunch Cake is a four layer cake! Each layer of this cake has a moist, dense crumb that is complimented extremely well by the creamy, sweet buttercream frosting and crunchy texture of the outer coating. It’s built with two delicious layers of the best fresh strawberry cake you will ever taste, alternated with two layers of a velvety vanilla cake, and glued together with a whipped fresh strawberry buttercream. The entire cake is then covered in a creamy vanilla buttercream and showered with with thousands of strawberry-vanilla crunchies.

Begin by making your strawberry puree. I recommend making this ahead of time. I usually make it and store it in the refrigerator overnight or for up to three days in advance of using it. To make this, you simply empty your thawed frozen strawberries into a blender or food processer and puree to a smooth liquid (I prefer using frozen strawberries, because it ensures a consistent flavor for your cake each time you make it–fresh strawberries vary in flavor depending on the time of year and whether or not they are in season). Then empty the puree into a saucepan and cook over medium heat. Allow the liquid to come to a slow boil, stirring periodically to avoid burning, until it has thickened and reduced by half; about 15-20 minutes. Refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to use or overnight. You will want this to be cooled to at least room temperature before using it.

When you are ready to make your Strawberry Crunch Cake, preheat your oven to 350°F. Prepare four (8-inch) cake pans by greasing the sides and placing parchment paper rounds in the bottoms. I like to keep 8-inch and 9-inch parchment paper rounds in my pantry at all times, because they make removing your cakes from the pan so much easier (you can order these on Amazon for pretty much any sized pan). Set your pans aside until you’re ready for them.

Next, in a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt, whisking gently to incorporate completely. Set aside. In a large bowl, add the butter, oil, sugar and vanilla extract and beat with a hand mixer on high until light and fluffy; about 3-5 minutes. Do not hold back on the creaming time! Add the eggs in one at a time, mixing until just combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Add half of the dry ingredients and mix until mostly combined. Pour in 1 Tablespoon of the milk and mix until just combined. Add the remainder of the dry ingredients and mix until fully combined. The batter will be thick. Do not overmix.

Divide the batter for your Strawberry Crunch Cake evenly between two bowls (there should be a little more than 3 cups each). To one bowl, add the remaining ¾ cup milk and gently fold in until fully incorporated. To the other bowl, add in the strawberry puree, strawberry baking emulsion (I use LorAnn Strawberry Bakery Emulsion, because I have found that it has the absolute BEST flavor and it smells amaaazing, but if you are unable to find it, any brand of strawberry extract can be used) and red gel food coloring and gently fold in until fully incorporated. Divide each batter into two separate pans for a total of 4 pans and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely.

While the cakes are baking and cooling, prepare each of the frostings as well as the strawberry crunchies.

For the strawberry frosting, begin by creaming together the butter, shortening and vanilla extract. Blend in the sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the heavy cream and strawberry puree and continue mixing until light and fluffy. Set aside until ready to assemble the cake.

For the vanilla frosting, cream together the butter, shortening, and vanilla extract. Blend in the sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the heavy cream and continue mixing until light and fluffy. Set aside until ready to assemble the cake.

When making my buttercream frostings, I generally like to use equal amounts of butter and shortening because I have found that the shortening reduces the sweetness of the confectioners sugar so that it is not overwhelming, while simultaneously giving the frosting more of a whipped texture. This also allows the flavor of the cake to shine through.

The final step before assembling this Strawberry Crunch Cake is making the strawberry crunchies. I promise when you see how easy it is to make these, you’ll be making them up regularly to garnish your pudding, yogurt, ice cream and anything else you can think of.  To make these, place the Oreos into a large, sealed plastic bag. Coarsely crush the Oreos with a meat tenderizer or mallet. I use a hammer! Make sure they are mostly crumbs with a few larger pieces in them. Melt the butter in the microwave in a medium bowl. Empty the crumbs into the butter and stir to coat evenly. Once fully coated, sprinkle the gelatin powder across the top of the mixture and mix thoroughly, making sure that some of the Golden Oreo color still shows through. Set aside until ready to use.

And finally, the moment of truth…it’s time to assemble the cake! These cakes bake up fairly level, so you most likely will not have to remove a dome, but if a small dome forms on any of the layers, use a serrated knife to remove it so that all the cake layers are completely flat. Place the first strawberry layer down on your cake pedestal or cardboard cake round. Pipe a dam of vanilla frosting around the outer edge of the cake and fill that dam with about 1 cup of the strawberry frosting. Spread the strawberry frosting evenly over the cake until it meets the vanilla frosting dam.

Place the first layer of vanilla cake on top of the frosting. Pipe a dam of vanilla frosting around the outer edge of the cake and fill that dam with about 1 cup of the strawberry frosting. Spread the strawberry frosting evenly over the cake until it meets the vanilla frosting dam.

Place the last strawberry layer on top of the frosting. Pipe a dam of vanilla frosting around the outer edge of the cake and fill that dam with about 1 cup of the strawberry frosting. Spread the strawberry frosting evenly over the cake until it meets the vanilla frosting dam.

Place the last layer of vanilla cake on top of the frosting and frost the entire cake with a thin crumb coat. Refrigerate the cake for 1-3 hours before putting the final coat of frosting on (this will allow the cake to firm up a bit so the layers aren’t floating back and forth on top of the strawberry frosting between the layers).

Once firm, remove from the refrigerator, put the final coat of frosting all over the entirety of the cake, smoothing it out with a cake scraper. Immediately cover the entire cake with the strawberry crunchies by pressing them into the frosting. Use the remaining frosting to pipe swirls on top of the cake and decorate with fresh strawberries.

The cake can be kept at room temperature for 1-2 days but should be refrigerated thereafter. Bring to room temperature before serving.

It is possible you will have some leftover crunchies after completing the cake depending on how many you use to cover it. These can be saved in an air tight container for up to a week and used as I mentioned above.