Go Back

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 35 minutes
Decorating Time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours 35 minutes
Course Dessert
Servings 8 slices

Ingredients
 

For the Strawberry Reduction

  • 1 lb. fresh strawberries
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

For the Strawberry Cake

  • 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 ¼ cup all purpose flour
  • ¼ cup ground freeze dried strawberries (¼ cup measured of ground freeze dried strawberries)
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 10 tablespoon softened, unsalted butter
  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
  • 4 egg whites
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla

For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 1 cup softened, unsalted butter
  • 8 oz. softened cream cheese
  • 2 cups freeze dried strawberries (measure 2 cups before grinding)
  • 3 cups powdered sugar

For the Chocolate Ganache

  • ½ cup chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate chips
  • ½ cup heavy cream

Instructions
 

For the Strawberry Reduction

  • Purée 1 lb of fresh strawberries and add them to a large sauce pan along with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice.
  • Reduce the purée on medium low heat until it has thickened and reduced to ½ cup. This takes anywhere from 20-40 minutes.
  • When it has reduced remove from the heat and let cool completely. (It can be made in advance for easy cake assembly).

For the Strawberry Cake

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Add 10 tablespoon of softened, unsalted butter and 1 ½ cups of granulated sugar to a large bowl. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Next add in 4 egg whites and 2 teaspoon of vanilla and combine.
  • Then mix in the cooled strawberry reduction.
  • In a separate small bowl whisk together 2 ¼ cups of all purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon of baking soda, 1 ½ teaspoon of baking powder, ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ cup of ground freeze dried strawberries. (Make sure to work quickly with the freeze dried strawberries as I noticed they start to clump together once exposed to the air/humidity. They should be a fine powder).
  • Alternate adding the dry ingredients and 1 cup of buttermilk to the egg/sugar/butter/strawberry mixture until all is combined.
  • Lastly, add a little pink food coloring, just enough to brighten up the batter a bit. It will already have a nice pink hue from the strawberries, but the food coloring will just enhance it a bit.
  • Evenly divide the cake batter between three 6" cake pans.
  • Bake the cakes at 350 degrees for 34-36 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the centers/ the tops bounce back when they are lightly pressed.
  • Let the cakes cool for a few minutes in the pans then transfer them to a cooling rack to completely cool.

For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Add 1 cup of softened, unsalted butter to a bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high until pale in color and fluffy.
  • Add in 8 oz. of softened cream cheese and combine.
  • Grind 2 cups of freeze dried strawberries until they are a fine powder. Mix them into the frosting.
  • Lastly mix in 3 cups of powdered sugar until the frosting is light and fluffy.

For the Chocolate Ganache

  • Heat ½ cup of heavy cream just until about boiling.
  • Add ½ cup of chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate chips to a bowl and pour the cream over.
  • Let sit for a few minutes to melt the chocolate and then stir to combine.
  • Let the ganache cool on the counter for around 15 minutes to allow it to thicken before using in/on the cake.

Assembling the Cake

  • Once the cakes are completely cooled assemble the cake. You can simply fill each layer with strawberry cream cheese frosting and chocolate ganache, ice the outside with the strawberry cream cheese frosting , pour the chocolate ganache over the top and then decorate it how you see fit. However, if you are looking to make a really beautiful cake, follow the extra steps in the above blog post.

Notes

There are two separate measurements for the freeze dried strawberries. Just to clarify the measurements because I realize they might be confusing:
*In the cake we are using ¼ cup of ground freeze dried strawberries
*In the frosting we are measuring 2 cups of pre ground freeze dried strawberries and then grinding them
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!