Two years ago last week, I gave birth to Tiny Love. Her homebirth was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Sweet Tiny Love has brought so much joy and happiness into my life. She is so dear and such a blessing for our family. She truly is a gift {literally, one of the best birthday gifts ever – she was born hours before my birthday}. These two years have flown by, I can’t believe she is two. It has been so much fun watching her grow and experience life through her eyes.
8 months pregnant, 1 day old, 1 year old, 2 years old
This beautiful little girl loves strawberries and I love chocolate, so I decided to make her a chocolate strawberry birthday cake. I wanted to make the frosting pink for her, so I decided to make strawberry buttercream frosting. When my husband and I asked her what she wanted to eat for her birthday, she said “ICE CREAM.” She loves her mommy’s homemade ice cream and I wanted to make her happy, so of course I made a batch of strawberry ice cream too.
Helping mommy make her birthday cake.
I wanted to make this cake as healthy and nourishing as possible for her. I used organic sprouted brown rice flour because it’s easier to digest {sprouting grains neutralizes enzyme inhibitors and phytic acid}. I used organic pastured eggs and pasture butter to help keep the cake more nutrient-dense. I chose a local raw honey to sweeten the cake along with organic strawberries + apples. The fruit helps sweeten the cake, keep it super moist and adds a lovely strawberry flavor.
Tiny Love enjoyed helping me make the cake and kept staring at it displayed in our dining room all day. She kept saying, “Birthday!” over and over. She understood what her birthday meant this year. Her daddy and I sang her “Happy Birthday” several times throughout the day and big her sister did too. By the time dinner was over and the two candles were glowing, she knew exactly what to do and blew out the candles. She couldn’t wait to get her little hands on the cake … and she did. She actually grabbed a spoon and started scraping frosting off of the cake.
The Chocolate Strawberry Cake and strawberry ice cream were a huge hit. Seeing how much joy these two treats brought to my Tiny Love was priceless.
CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY CAKE WITH STRAWBERRY BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
YOU WILL NEED: Food Processor, Large Mixing Bowl, Standing Mixer or Hand Mixer with Mixing Bowl, Two 9″ Round Cake Pans, Unbleached Parchment Paper, Cooling Racks, Spatula, Fine Mesh Strainer
Chocolate Strawberry Cake
Yield 1 9" cake
Make sure to DOUBLE the recipe to make a 2-layer 9" cake.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups sprouted brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup organic cacao powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/4 cup pasture butter - room temperature
- 1/4 cup light colored honey {I used local creamed clover}
- 2 organic or pastured eggs - room temperature
- 1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
- 3 medium-size organic sweet apples, peeled, cored and quartered {I use Fuji apples}
- 1 1/2 cups organic strawberries* - approx. 20 strawberries {See Notes}
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease cake pan. Cut unbleached parchment paper into a circle that will fit in the bottom of the cake pan. Add parchment paper circle to the greased cake pan and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine sprouted brown rice flour, cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt and xanthan gum. Mix with a fork and set aside.
- In food processor, add apple pieces and pulse until apples become applesauce consistency, about 45 seconds to 1 minute. Scrape down the sides using a spatula. Add strawberries and continue to pulse until everything is combined and no chunks remain. Set aside.
- Fit standing mixer with flat beater. Add softened butter and honey, mix on low speed until combined, then increase speed until creamed - about 45 seconds.
- Add vanilla and eggs to butter-honey mixture. Mix on low speed until combined.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to mixture. Turn mixer on low speed just to combine - only for a few seconds.
- Add puréed strawberry-apple mixture and combine on low speed - only for a few seconds. Finish stirring the batter by hand with a spatula just until mixture is combined.
- Add batter to cake pan, making sure to evenly distribute the batter.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until knife inserted into center of cake comes out fairly clean. Let cool for 15 minutes in cake pan before removing cake to cooling rack.
- Do NOT frost until the cake is completely cooled. Frost cake with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting or your favorite frosting. To make the swirls as pictured in photo - use the back of a teaspoon and slowly turn the cake in a simple swirl pattern around the top starting in the center and working your way out. Repeat the same steps around the side of the cake.
Notes
*You can use frozen strawberries, but they need to be defrosted first. If they are too cold, they will make the butter in the batter solidify. The puréed strawberry-apple mixture should end up making about 2 cups.
Strawberry Buttercream Frosting - Honey Sweetened
Yield 1 1/2 cups of frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup freeze-dried organic strawberries
- 1 cup pasture butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons raw light colored honey - I used local creamed clover
- 2 teaspoons organic vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons arrowroot powder
Instructions
- Add freeze-dried strawberries to a food processor fitted with the "S" steel blade. Pulse until strawberries are ground into a fine powder. Over a medium-size mixing bowl, strain strawberry powder through a fine-mesh strainer to remove most of the seeds. Set aside.
- Fit standing mixer with whisk or flat blade. Add softened butter, honey, vanilla extract and arrowroot powder to the mixing bowl. Mix on low speed until everything starts to combine. Increase speed to medium-high and whip until creamed and it begins to have a lighter white color, about 1 minute. Stop mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
- Add strawberry powder and whip on medium speed until completely incorporated.
- Use to frost COOLED cakes.
Notes
IMPORTANT Note: It takes about 2 1/2 to 4 cups of frosting to fill and generously frost a two-layer 9" cake.
Can be stored in the refrigerator before frosting cakes, but it will need to come to room temperature before it's spreadable again.
INGREDIENTS I USED: I used this sprouted brown rice flour. I used this cacao powder, it has a great flavor. I used this sea salt, it’s my absolute favorite. I used this organic vanilla extract. I couldn’t find fresh strawberries for the cake batter so I used a bag of Woodstock frozen organic strawberries. I used these freeze-dried organic strawberries for the frosting. I used this arrowroot powder for the frosting.
MORE TREATS YOU MIGHT LIKE
Strawberry Lemonade Ice Cream
Homemade Cherry Ice Cream Bon Bons
Such a beautiful cake for a beautiful little girl
Thank you so much! I think she is beautiful too 🙂
I saw this beautiful cake on Instagram and thought it was your birthday…so now I will say happy birthday to Tiny Love! I bet this cake is as delicious as it looks!
Thanks Linda! I actually posted it on IG on my birthday, which is the day after hers 🙂
Happy Birthday to TinyLove!! Such a beautiful cake to celebrate your little one. Congrats!!
Thank you so much Krystal, so kind of you.
It is evident (and so sweet to read about) how you relish the many sweet moments these sweet children bring into your world. I love that you use sprouted rice flour!! (We use that in our shops and love it too.) I don’t mind a bit of xanthan either. Love the freeze dried strawberry buttercream. It all sounds perfect, including her eating the frosting with a spoon. Such happy sweet times and memories.
Thank you Megan, you are always so thoughtful with your words. I love my girls, what can I say? I have so many fond memories of food from my childhood – from my mom and my grandma, and I enjoy putting my love into food for my family. I rarely use xanthan, so I don’t mind using it in small amounts in things like this 🙂 xo
I never would have thought to make pink frosting with freeze dried strawberries! I might stop at the frosting and forget about the cake. 🙂
The frosting is SO good, I was eating it by the spoonful before I frosted the cake 😉 I find that using freeze-dried strawberries versus fresh adds a brighter pink color, which I love.
The pictures are so beautiful! I am pinning this to try soon. 🙂
Thank you Jess xo I appreciate the pin 🙂
What a beautiful cake!!! 😀 Pinning!
Stopping by from Real Food Wednesday. Have a wonderful weekend, Tammy
Thank you so much!
Ohhh!!! Look at that cake! I am so glad you posted this! I might do this for Caitlyn’s 2nd birthday this summer!
Thanks so much Renee. Our babies are getting so big!
Yum… my whole family would devour this! I have never thought about using freeze-dried fruit to make frosting… awesome idea! Pinning this to use for sure!
Thanks for pinning it! I appreciate it 🙂 The freeze-dried strawberries work so well – the color is bolder than using fresh too.
What a cake! I will be making that lovely frosting for sure! Could the cake be made without the cocoa so that it is just strawberry?
I’ve never made it without the cacao powder. I’m not sure how it would turn out without it because it’s part of the “flour” mixture. My friend has a Strawberry Cake on her blog if you’re interested.
Hi! Lovely cake. I have a question – since the grinding of the strawberries is included in the directions, are they measured at one cup pre or post grinding? If post, do you know how much is needed to start with? Just trying to figure out how much to buy. Thanks!!
Thanks 🙂 It’s 1 1/2 cups before puréeing them, about 20 strawberries. The total puréed strawberry-apple mixture should end up making about 2 cups.
Thanks for the reply! I should have been more specific. I meant the freeze dried ones in the frosting, thus pre/post grinding. Is it still 1.5 cups?
It’s 1 cup of freeze-dried strawberries pre grinding. The end result/strawberry powder will be smaller than a cup.
Wow, this is gorgeous. I wonder if it would work with almond flour…
Thanks! I haven’t made a grain-free version yet, so I’m not sure. But that sounds like a great idea 🙂
I can’t help it, I need to feature this at Savoring Saturdays. Haha. Thanks so much for sharing it with us, Emily! Hope you’ll come back this weekend. 😉
Thank you so much Raia! I really appreciate it xo
First off, yummy cake! Second, I love that you had a home birth. I’ve done a home births for both of my daughters. Third, just wanted to let you know that I’m featuring your chocolate strawberry cake on Savoring Saturdays this weekend. Love for you to stop by and share something this week!
Aww thank you Brianna! I love that you had home births too! So special 🙂
Beautiful! I was going to do the whole thing for my girls for Valentine’s Day but ended up just doing up the frosting and piping it onto a heart shaped cookie instead. The frosting was delicious…and I reduced the honey to 1/3 c. and increased the strawberries to a heaping cup full. They loved it and there is plenty of frosting left over for another time!
Oh yum! So glad you enjoyed it. I made the frosting for cookies on Valentine’s Day too 🙂
I JUST tried this cake today and couldn’t be more pleased! We have a variety of food allergies in the home including dairy, gluten AND cane sugar!!! So I’m always on the hunt for the rare yummy treat that we can all eat. My poor son has trouble w/ strawberries so next time I may try an apples only or apple+another fruit version. But this is SO GOOD! Thanks for posting. I do have one question – any tips for storage? How long will it keep and should I refrigerate?
Oh that’s great to hear! It can be so hard sometimes when there are different allergies and sensitivities. So pleased you enjoyed it. I normally keep it in the fridge for storage. If they’re anything that you can cover it with that will help it not dry out as much. I have never tried freezing it, but I bet you could slice it and freeze it too. Thanks so much for stopping by. 🙂
Can you use maple syrup instead of honey?
I haven’t tried making this with maple syrup, so I can’t say for sure, but usually maple syrup and honey can be swapped in most recipes.