Rugby and Strawberry Cake

This weekend MM and his boys attempted to kick some butt on the rugby pitch in a tournament down in Austin.  Every year some of the alum of SFA get together to prove that the old guys still have it in em ;) Unfortunately they had spent the evening before at a bachelor party, so you can imagine how well they played...and felt.

Angela and I watching our boys in the pink.

Angela (MM's best friends wife) and I on the other hand, were wonderfully refreshed after spending the night in front of the TV with a couple glasses of wine before heading down to Austin Saturday morning.  This weekend also happened to be Angela's birthday so of course I couldn't let a girl go without a cake on her birthday! Especially if she had to sacrifice her day to be outside, melting in the 105 degree Texas weather.

Strawberry Swirl Cake
adapted from recipe found at: allrecipes,com
Oven: 350 Bake Time: 35 minutes

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 package strawberry jello
4 eggs, separated
2 3/4 cup sifted cake flour*
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup strawberry puree
*1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
*extra strawberries for decoration and/or filling

Preheat oven to 350.
Beat butter, sugar and jello until light and fluffy.
Add egg yolks one at a time, beating after each addition.
Stir in vanilla.
*Sift 3 cups of flour into a large bowl. Measure 2 3/4 cup of sifted flour.
Lightly whisk sifted flour, baking powder, and salt.
Alternate flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour.
Blend in strawberry puree.
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Fold in egg whites until just incorporated.

Chocolate swirl:
Reserve 1 cup of batter and place in small bowl.
Melt chocolate chips in microwave for 1 minute, stirring every 30 seconds.
Mix chocolate with reserved batter.

Pour strawberry batter into prepared cake pans.
Place a few dollops of chocolate batter on top of strawberry batter.
Using a knife swirl the chocolate batter through the strawberry batter.
Transfer to oven and bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Transfer cakes to cooling rack. Let sit for 15 minutes before removing cakes to completely cool.

This Strawberry Swirl Cake goes perfectly with a fresh strawberry filling and Cream Cheese Icing.

Cream Cheese Icing
1/2 stick butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup whipping cream
3 cups powdered sugar

Beat butter and cream cheese until blended and smooth. Mix in vanilla. Continue to beat in powdered sugar and whipping cream until smooth and creamy.

Assembly: Split each layer of cake (ending up with 4 layers of cake) and alternate filling with fresh strawberry puree and cream cheese icing. Cover with remaining cream cheese icing.

Happy Baking!