Great recipe! A couple hints: Add about 1/2 tbs. cornstarch to the milk before you add it to the pudding. Will make the frosting thicker. Also, when icing the cake, apply a thin coate of icing first -- that will cover some of the red puree. Then use a different utensil to spread large dollops of it over the thin coat. Voila, smooth icing with no red streaks.
I used one 16 oz bag of frozen strawberries and cooked them for a few minutes on the stove with 1/4 cup of sugar and a tsp of vanilla. It really helps because they aren't always sweet. To this, I added a handful of sliced fresh strawberries & pureed it. To the puree, I added a couple big handfuls more of sliced fresh strawberries that were cut smaller. I used a wooden spoon handle to poke larger holes in the cake & slowly spooned the puree over as soon as the cake came out of the oven. Some of the berries went in the holes & some stayed on top of the cake. Chilled the cake in the fridge for about 45 mins.
Instead of folding the pudding & the whipped cream together, I put them on as separate layers. I used a cheesecake pudding & prepared it with 1 1/2 cups of milk. I prepared it in a bowl that has a pouring edge so that I could just pour it straight from the bowl over the top of the cake. Chilled again for 10 mins. Then, instead of cool whip, I used 1 cup of heavy whipping cream with 1/3 cup of sugar until stiff. Spread over the pudding layer. Chilled in the fridge for about 3 hrs before we cut it & it was totally set up & fabulous. This is a terrific cake! I made this one as a 'test run' to see if I'd want to take one over to my son's school this week for their Teacher Appreciation luncheon & this is definitely the cake that I am making. FIVE STARS ALL THE WAY!!!!!
EXCELLENT RECIPE! I substituted cheesecake flavored instant pudding Heavenly. The cake was gone by day two in my house of six. Everyone begged me to make another one.
I am fifteen years old and made this cake at about 10 o'clock at night before Memorial Day.. My 70 year old Grandpa loved it and said it was the best cake he EVER had.
If you have trouble getting the strawberry puree to sink into the cake make sure you make large and deep holes (try a wooden spoon's handle) about 1" apart. To make this cake travel-safe try cutting the cake into 1" cubes then layering it in a sealable bowl. Half of the cubed cake half of the pureed strawberries half of the pudding mix and repeat. Garnish with a few fresh strawberries and refrigerate! This is my family's favorite way to eat it!!!
I tried this recipe the first time because I left a strawberry cake in the oven too long and I wanted to see if I could save it. I'm SO GLAD I did. I've received marriage proposals because of this recipe and it's so yummy and unbelievably easy to throw together. I like to use the instant white chocolate pudding and garnish with fresh strawberries and white chocolate curls when I make it but the vanilla or cheesecake flavors are great too.
This is a great recipe. I actually got it originally from the Duncan Hines Supreme Strawberry Cake Mix box but I just wanted to add a variation. Use the strawberry flavored Cool Whip. It's usually available during the summer months. Also to keep the frosting from being runny do not mix it - simply fold the cool whip in and it works brilliantly.
I've made a recipe very similar for a few years now and everytime there is any sort of family of church function I am automatically asked to bring this. I just make a few adaptations that make the cake super moist and also make it lower in fat. I follow the directions on the box but I omit the oil add 1 small package of vanilla pudding to the mix and a 1/2 package of frozen strawberries and the syrup to the mix. I then bake as instructed on the back of the box. I top with sour cream icing with low fat whipped topping and cover with the rest of the frozen strawberries and drizzle with left over syrup.
Light fresh and delicious. I tried this with a white cake rather than strawberry mix. I was concerned stawberry flavored cake would taste too chemical-like. Cheesecake pudding is excellent! It made a beautiful layer cake.
Very simple. Simple enough to make with my two young kids. I had to make a few small subtitutions due to what I had on hand but the recipe bends well for that sort of thing. I had to use frozen mixed berries because that was all I had. No pudding mix and I'm low on milk right now so I just frosted it with the whipped topping and lined the berries on top almost like you would with a Flag Cake. My one issue was that the berry puree was quite thick even with all the holes I poked in my cake. It didn't want to soak into the cake. I ended up just shrugging my shoulders and frosting it anyhow. It was okay--but the layer where the berries sat was terribly soggy and kind of........unappealing. I think this would be a keeper if you made the cake substituting the berry puree for the water and one of the eggs or oil called for in the actual cake recipe and baking it that way with the whipped topping/pudding frosting on top and then strawberries. It would keep better you'd still get the flavor of the strawberry puree and you wouldn't have any issues with soggy cake. That's just my two cents. That's how I'll make it next time.
