While everyone else is on the Whole 30 diet or thinking about smoothies and salads, I'm here with cake. You may have seen my instagram post that one of my New Year's resolutions (believe it or not) is to bake more, so it seemed only fitting my first post of the year begin with cake!
I'm not normally a fan of making resolutions, so I came up with a few very general ones this year that shouldn't be too hard to mess up on:
- Bake more. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, then you know I much prefer cooking over baking. But for Christmas I received Tartine Bread as well as The Pizza Bible, and after skimming through them I've come to the decision that I need to learn how to become a better baker. It's a fast-paced world, and cooking appeals to me because it's quick and easy and doesn't require a lot of time and patience. And this is exactly why we need baking in our lives (especially bread making!), to slow down and enjoy the simple things.
- Listen and See More Live Music. Music has always been such a big part of my life but the past couple of years I haven't been as interested or passionate about it. I blame this on Spotify and Pandora because no one ever buys full albums anymore or whatever. We live in Austin, the live music capital of the world, so there is no reason why we shouldn't be seeing more live music! This past week we went to The Elephant Room, a jazz bar in South Austin. It was like a real life Lala Land!
- Have more adventures! This is the same every year, but last year it felt like we traveled a lot more since we were in the Northeast and everything was close by. I hope to travel some this year, even if it is locally around Texas!
- Be More Involved. Since moving and both of us working a lot around the clock we haven't been as socially involved as I would like to be. I would love to be more involved in a church or collab with more blogger friends and/or just be apart of a community more in general!
On New Year's Eve one of my best friends, Shandi, came up to visit and we made this New Year's cake. I made the champagne buttercream, while she pretty much did everything else. I shot and edited the above video and it was so much fun. Hopefully there will be more collaborations like this in the future!
Strawberry Cake with Champagne Buttercream
Ingredients:
for the Strawberry Filling
- 2 1/2 cups chopped strawberries (we used frozen)
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 1/2 tbl. corn starch
for the Champagne Buttercream
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbl. champagne
for the Drippy Glaze
- 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp. orange juice
- 1-2 tbl. milk
for the cake
- recipe for one strawberry cake (we cheated and used a box mix!)
Directions: To make the strawberry filling, bring all three ingredients to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Stir continuously for two minutes while crushing berries with the back of a wooden spoon. Pour mixture into a bowl and cool completely.
To make the champagne buttercream, cream butter together in a stand mixer or handheld mixer until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and champagne and mix together until fully incorporated and frosting is smooth.
For the drippy glaze, whisk all ingredients together until smooth. Add more milk for a thinner consistency.
To assemble, begin by placing first cake layer on a cake stand and pipe a circle of buttercream around the top. Fill with approximately 1/4 cup of strawberry filling, and spread until even. Repeat until all layers are built.
Frost the sides and the top, using a flat spatula to smooth the sides and top. Fill a piping bag (or plastic bag) with the glaze and drip evenly along the top. Glaze will slowly drip down sides of cake. Enjoy!