Beautiful Strawberry and Chocolate Double Layer Cake

Spring has sprung. It’s the best time of the year for fun outdoor parties or get-togethers. And what is the best and most essential part of a party? The snacks. Those sweet treats that make the day so much better. Now is the time to take advantage of the wonderful spring weather and get creative with your baking. Nature can be a source of inspiration in itself. I was inspired by my rose bush growing on the side of my house to make a delicious two-layer cake with beautiful icing roses and vines. Such a fun treat to make!

Chocolate cake with a hint of coffee was used for the bottom layer, and decadent strawberry cake was used for the top layer, and delectable buttercream icing topped it off.

You will need pink and green icing food coloring for this recipe.

Strawberry Cake

1 box of white cake mix

1 small package of strawberry jello

3 tablespoons of flour

¾ cups of oil

½ cup of oil

4 egg yolks

10 oz frozen strawberries, thawed and chopped, using only half of the bag (you can use fresh strawberries chopped)

In a KitchenAid stand mixer, mix white cake mix, package of strawberry jello, and flour with water and oil. Beat at medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add egg yolks one at a time. Add half of the bag of strawberries (you can use fresh strawberries chopped). Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Bake in 8 inch cake pan at 350 degrees Fahrenheit and take out when a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.

Chocolate Cake

1 cup white sugar

1-1/8 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup cold, strong, brewed coffee

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a 12 inch cake pan. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Add flour mixture, alternating with coffee. Beat until just incorporated.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Buttercream Icing

½ cup vegetable shortening

½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

1 tsp clear vanilla extract

4 cups sifted confectioners sugar

2 tbsp milk

Cream shortening and butter in a KitchenAid stand mixer. Add vanilla.

Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all of the sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry.

Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

Decorating Your Cake

Let cakes cool completely before you ice them. When they are cooled, ice the larger cake first.

Place smaller cake on top of the larger one, and ice it completely.

Get two medium bowls and place a fair amount of icing in each. Take a toothpick and dip it into the green food coloring then swirl it around in the icing. Mix the color completely into the icing with a spoon. If you want the color to be darker, dip the toothpick in the coloring again and swirl it in the icing and mix the color in.

Do the same thing with the other bowl of icing with the pink food coloring.

Put the green and pink icing into separate pastry bags. For the green icing you will want to use a small plain pastry tip for the vines, and for the leaves you will want to use a leaf tip. (I always practice the leaves a few times on a plate to make sure I can get them just right before I pipe them onto the cake). If you're unsure about how to start out making vines, I always start out with a long "S" shape. Don't worry about it looking perfect, this is supposed to be fun, remember?

When you have made the vines, start piping the leaves onto the vines. When you are done with the leaves, now it’s time to get started on the roses.

For this, you will need flower nails.

Start out by making a small circle of icing in the middle of the flower nail with a petal tip with the pink icing. Place the large part of the tip half way up the rose base. While squeezing the icing bag, slowly turn the nail, and move the frosting bag up. Then move it down to form the center of the rose. Keep doing this until it looks the way you want your rose to look.

You can either let your rose dry before you take it off of the nail and place it on the cake, or you can put it on the cake immediately. If you are going to apply the flower right away, be careful because it could fall apart and become just a blob of icing. Don’t worry too much, though. Most of the time I take my roses off right away and they look fine, just as long as I take my time getting them off of the flower nail, and I am gentle when I apply them to the cake.

So, there you go. You now have a fun, pretty and tasty idea for a delicious spring treat. Enjoy!