Strawberry cake is not pink - Page 2

Yes, I added 1/4 cup of puree. Do you puree yours or cook it down?

no i used chopped fresh ones

 

i tried the purees--used cooked uncooked store bought frozen from restaurant supply and all that--those purees were icky to me

 

 

jello + fresh chopped real strawberries + white cake = my strawberry cake

I pureed fresh strawberries. I don't know if you did that. Now I just cook them down and get a reduction sauce and use that. :) 

 

I have a perfect (for me) white cake recipe.  It makes 3 nine inch rounds. Would one three ounce pkg of jello be enough?  or would I need a larger pkg?  and how much strawberries, would a cup or so be enough?  Finally, would this work for other fruit flavors, do you think?  I'm thinking of peaches. . . . .lol.

peaches --what a great idea -- making my mouth water

 

we should try it huh

 

have to use frozen or wait for peach season--it won't be too long to wait either

 

i think i might wanna grill/fry the peaches a bit maybe--something to test anyhow

 

i also think i would dice & flour the peach bits maybe--see how that goes

 

think i'd like it in yellow cake-

 

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ok--to one cake recipe/box mix i used

 

1 three oz --the small box of jello

 

1 cup chopped fresh strawberries

 

this made about 6 cups of batter

 

i think to get 3 nine inch cakes  (12-15 cups batter?) you would might wanna add more maybe

 

i added the berries last after mixing completely then mixed it some more but i wanted the berries to show in the final product so i just let them get slightly mashed by the beater--they do sink to the bottom some--but once you get it torted --it's just a great bunch of pretty strawberry goodness in there--omg--super good--i was really pleased

 

Could do the peaches something like a bananas foster with maybe a maple syrup get a really good glaze on them.  Frozen peaches should work, they don't get all mushy like frozen strawberries do. 

 

I have a smaller white cake recipe that I use for cherry chip cake.  Makes 2 eight inch rounds.  Its a really thick batter so the berries shouldn't sink too much.  I think I'll try that with the strawberries--actually what I really want to try it with is raspberries or blackberries.  They'd have to be folded in really gently.  I'm not that big a fan of strawberries, but DH thinks strawberries are a whole food group and would really appreciate a good strawberry cake.  His birthday is in March and they usually have the good imported berries in the stores by then.  Thanks for the ideas K8!

aak! I have tried many different methods with fresh berries to get a delightful pink tinge in my strawberry cake, all failed. Then one day, as I sat watching my three year old delightfully snacking away on some freeze dried strawberry bits, it came to me. "Why hadn't I thought of this before?" I said to myself. So, what I did was stew and reduce a basket of fresh berries, strained them, used that as the liquid for a white cake, I used a mix, but I'm sure you could figure this pitt for scratch, too. Then I used an entire pouch of freeze dried strawberries from trader joe's, folded those in. The cake turned out quite a lovely shade of pale pink, a little muted, better than grey, and the freeze dried berries lent a great flavor, color and texture. Give that a go

The freeze dried sounds like a great idea! Are they chewy after baking, or do they moisten?

I am the exact same way...!! I've tried it twice, the first time it was brown might strawberries were not fresh, the second time it was more delicious with strawberries flavors as used fresh strawberries. And also I have used organic jello.

The first thing that came to mind for me as a natural additive for a pink color is beet juice.  I don't think it would take much and shouldn't affect the flavor.

 

 

good idea--then you are all set for lunch too -- a nice beet salad ;)

Not being made of money, and not having the time to juice a bunch of strawberries, and strain and reduce the juice, I use a combination of seedless strawberry jam and imitation strawberry extract  in my strawberry marble, and use a white cake as the base, and a few drops of McCormick red food coloring to keep the pink batter pink.

 

You do realize that Jell-O, like any other gelatine, is basically boiled-down collagen, whether from bones, hides, horns, or hooves.

You mentioned you use imitation strawberry extract. What is in that? 

I just make a light white cake, and mix in powdered freeze dried strawberries, and some reduced strawberry 'juice'. It doesn't come out the fake bubble gum pink that people are used to from boxed mixes, but a really pretty pale pink. The powder gives it a really good punch of strawberry flavour, without using anything artificial.