Pink Lady Cake

I got this recipe from smittenkitchen. Here's the link to the original recipe with much better pictures than I can provide: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/10/pink-lady-cake/print/

The cake is gigantic! It filled up my entire KitchenAid bowl.  I'm not a huge fan of cream cheese icing, but those who were seemed to like it...it's definitely a lot of cake, but very pretty. :)

Ingredients:

For the cake:

4 1/2 cups cake flour

3 cups sugar

5 1/4 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature 

1 1/2 cups pureed frozen strawberries

8 egg whites

2/3 cup milk

1 to 2 drops red food dye

For the cream cheese frosting:

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese. softened (You can use low-fat too)

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

For the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 9-inch or 8-inch round baking pans. Line with parchment paper and butter the paper. 

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl.  With the electric mixer (I'd use a KitchenAid, not a handheld electric mixer) on low speed, blend for 30 seconds.  Add the butter and strawberry puree and mix to blend the ingredients.  Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 min.; the batter will resemble strawberry ice cream at this point. 

In another large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, milk, and red food dye to blend.  Add the whites to the batter in 2 or 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl well and mixing only to incorporate after each addition.  Divide the batter among the 3 prepared pans.

Bake the cakes for 30-35 min. or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Allow the layers to cool in the pans for 10-15 min.  Invert and turn out onto wire racks and peel off the paper liners.  Let stand until completely cooled before assembling the cake, at least one hour.

For the frosting:

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy.  Mix in the vanilla, then gradually  stir in the confectioners' sugar.  Store in the refrigerator after use.