Follow our complete, step-by-step, instructions to learn how to make a Strawberry Nut Cake.
Made with a white cake mix, frozen strawberries, jello, pecans and coconut. You don’t even have to use your mixer, just stir with a spoon. Easy and delicious.
Valentine’s Day 2019 is just a few days away, so I wanted to bake you a cake. Will you be my Valentine?
You really don’t need a special occasion for cake though – do you? I didn’t think so. You can simply say, “I thought about cake, therefore, I shall have a slice of cake.” Works for me. Smile.
This is yet another recipe from our “Stewart Family Favorites” cookbook that was compiled and sold at our family reunions many years back. I’ve posted a good number of those recipes here on Taste of Southern for you to enjoy.
This one though, is one that was submitted to the book by my mom. I’m not sure how she came to have this among her recipes, but I certainly do remember her making it more than just a few times. One bite of this and it just took me right back to her table after one of her big meals.
It’s sweet. No denying that. The frosting is the biggest part of that though as it’s made with mostly just confectioner’s sugar. But, you’ve got to really love how simple it is to make.
All the ingredients for the cake, including the box of white cake mix, gets dumped into a large mixing bowl. You just stir it together with a big spoon, no mixer is needed.
It’s the same with the frosting. You just dump the ingredients in a bowl and stir. It’s just that easy.
I like to make my cakes from scratch, but I wanted to follow the recipe that Mama used, so we’re making this with a box of white cake mix. I do hope you’ll give it a try. Cupid will love you for it. Smile.
Ready to make someone happy with cake? Alright then, let’s head on out to the kitchen, and… Let’s Get Cooking!
Strawberry Nut Cake Recipe – You’ll need these ingredients to make the cake layers.
You’ll also need these ingredients to make the frosting. We’ll show you that later.
You’ll need four eggs. I always suggest that you crack eggs into a separate bowl so you can see any shell that might accidentally fall in. It would be much easier to see this way than later in the cake batter.
Whisk the eggs up a bit with a fork. Set them aside for the moment.
Place the cake mix in a large mixing bowl.
Add the dry Jello gelatin.
Add the chopped pecans.
Add the cut up strawberries.
I just couldn’t find my food chopper, and didn’t want to dirty up the food processor, so I ended up slicing these into small pieces with a paring knife. Smile.
Add the oil
Mama’s recipe called for Wesson Vegetable Oil, but I couldn’t find that. I used a Canola Oil instead.
Add the evaporated milk.
Add the eggs to the mixture.
Don’t you just love being able to dump everything into one bowl? No creaming together sugar and butter, no adding eggs one at a time, or alternating between adding flour and milk like most cake recipes call for. This makes life so much easier.
Add the coconut.
Now, grab a large spoon and just stir it all together. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl to be sure you have all of the dry cake flour mixed in.
Prepare your cake pans.
I’m using 3 of the 8 inch cake pans. You could also just use 2 of the 9 inch size pans, or even make it into a sheet cake if you prefer.
I’ve started using parchment paper in the bottom of my cake pans. I cut them out of a roll so they fit inside the pan, then lightly spray the bottom of the pan. Add the parchment paper, then spray that and the sides of the pan. This particular spray already contains some flour as well.
If you prefer, grease your pans with shortening, then lightly flour them before adding the batter.
Divide the batter equally between your three pans. Once the batter is in, lift the pan up a couple of inches and drop it onto your counter. Tapping the pans will help any air bubbles rise to the top and burst.
Place the layers in an oven that has been pre-heated to 325F degrees.
Let the layers bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until done. Layers are done when the cake starts to pull away from around the inside edges of the pan, and when a toothpick inserted into the center pulls out dry.
Having said that, I’ve also started baking mine to around 205-210F degrees. Using a digital thermometer, you get a quick reading on the inside temperature of your layers so you don’t end up over baking and drying them out.
When the layers are done, remove them from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.
For the record, this was my first time ever to use baking strips around my pans. I had to soak them in water, snug them around the pan, then place them in the oven. Supposedly, it helps the layers to rise more evenly so you don’t have that big dome in the middle.
After the layers have cooled on the wire rack for about 10 minutes, run a butter knife around the inside edge of the pan to make sure the layer is free of the pan. I placed an arrow above to point out the knife as it wasn’t showing up very well.
Now, you need to flip the layers out of the pans so they can completely cool on the wire racks. I just place a wire rack over the open top of the pan, hold the pan and rack together, then flip it over. Your layer should freely fall from the pan. If it doesn’t, tap on the bottom of the pan with the handle of a butter knife, that should help the layer release.
I haven’t had any problems with layers sticking since I started using the parchment paper. I think it’s well worth the extra minute or two to use them.
Let’s make the frosting.
The layers should be completely cooled before you make the frosting and assemble the cake.
Place the confectioners sugar, butter and shortening in a large mixing bowl.
NOTE: One box of confectioners sugar weighs a pound. Several folks asked about this in the comments so I’m updating the info for you.
Add the coconut, strawberries and pecans to the bowl.
Grab that large spoon again and stir everything together until fully combined.
This will be a little rough at first. Everything starts coming together like a really dry dough, but keep stirring. Once the sugar starts to dissolve and mix in, it gets much easier. It probably took me just a couple of minutes. If it’s really thick, you could add a few drops of water until it reaches a good consistency.
This didn’t make a lot of frosting in my opinion. It would probably be sufficient for a sheet cake, or maybe the two nine inch layers, but I was afraid it wasn’t going to be enough for my three layers.
For the record: I made another batch, stirring it all together in the same bowl.
Start assembling your cake. I’m using a cake board to build my cake on. I start by spreading just a dab of frosting on the board, then center my first layer. This will help hold the layer in place while you build the cake. Place the first layer top side down.
The second layer goes on top side down as well, adding a layer of frosting between each layer as you go.
The top layer goes on top side up. Spread the outside of your cake with frosting, then cover the top, smoothing everything as you go. An offset spatula works well for this, and so does a revolving turntable.
I didn’t mention it above, but I like to put small strips of parchment paper under the first layer going around the cake. Any frosting drips onto the parchment paper, so when you’re finished decorating, you just slip those pieces of paper out and it leaves your plate or cake board fairly clean. Smile.
And, it did indeed take two batches of the frosting for me to frost my cake. Keep in mind that the printable recipe only makes one batch of the frosting. Double it if you prefer more frosting.
Enjoy!
As you can imagine, the frosting is pretty sweet from all that sugar. Cut your slices accordingly.
