Devil's Food Cake with Strawberry Frosting

Not that I hadn't made enough already for Valentines Days; With all the Red Velvet Cake Balls and the cookies I've made, you'd think that'd be enough, right? Well, I guess I thought that it might not be enough, so I made a cake to add on to all of what I've already made. So, we're pretty set on sweet things as of right now.

Since it's Valentines Day, at which is known for chocolate, I decided to make a Devils Food Cake. Yummy chocolatey deliciousness. I then used my favorite frosting, strawberry frosting, to frost the cake. I tried to resist to not lick the spoon, but, I couldn't. I had to.

The cake was a success, and since we already had so many sweets, I took the rest of the cake to my grandparents as well as my aunts and uncles to wish them a Happy Valentines Day. The cake was such a success, that even my kitty wanted some!!

Recipe

CAKE

2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup shortening
1 1/4 cup milk, scalded
3 eggs
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla

FROSTING

8 ounces strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
4 tbsp. butter, softened
3 to 4 cups powdered sugar


For Devils Food Cake

1. Grease two 9 inch layer cake pans and line with wax paper. Grease wax paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Sift the cocoa with 1/3 cup of sugar and pour the milk in gradually. Stir until well blended. Set aside to cool.

3. Sift together the flour, remaining sugar, baking soda and salt. Add shortening and half of the cooled cocoa and milk mixture. Beat at medium speed of an electric hand held mixer. Add eggs, vanilla, and remaining cocoa and milk mixture. Continue beating for about 2 minutes.

4. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes when done before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.


For the Strawberry Frosting

1. First wash the strawberries well, then hull and slice. Put the slices into a bowl and sprinkle sugar onto and toss well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Drain excess juices from strawberries.

2. Crush and mash strawberries. Beat butter until smooth. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and the crushed strawberries. Slowly beat until sugar is blended in, then beat on medium speed until fluffy. Add more powdered sugar as needed until frosting is a nice spreading consistency. Frost the cooled cake and decorate with sliced strawberries.