In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month I wanted to post a pink recipe. Since this cake is not extremely sweet, the hub thinks it is more like a breakfast cake. I personally think it is a great dessert cake, especially paired with a little ice cream.

Save the Tata-riffic Strawberry Cake

Ingredients

1 stick of organic butter (room temp – can sub with canola oil)

1/2 cup of unsweetened organic apple sauce

1 cup of agave

6 large egg whites

2 tsp of vanilla extra (I prefer alcohol free from Trader Joe’s)

2 1/4 cups of whole wheat pastry flour (I used organic from Red Mills, but can sub for regular cake flour – do not flour that isn’t cake or pastry unless doing GF)

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp of sea salt

1/2 cup of strawberry puree (see recipe below)

Note: if doing GF, use GF butter or canola oil and sub flour for 1 1/4 cup of quinoa flour and 1 cup of rice pastry flour

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 round 9” cake pans and set aside. In a mixing bowl cream butter till smooth, add apple sauce and mix on low for 30 seconds, add agave and vanilla and then mix on low for one minute. Add egg whites and mix for another minute. Pour in milk and mix until incorporated on low. Sift flour into a separate bowl, add salt and baking powder and mix with fork. Slowly add dry ingredients into the wet 1/4 at a time on low. Mix until smooth and silky. Stir in puree until fully mixed. If color is not pink enough you can add a few drops of food coloring. Note that because it is whole wheat color will not pop as much once cooked. Pour mix into cake pans 1/2 way up and bake for 25 minutes. Remove cake and let stand for 5 minutes, transfer to cooling rack. Once cooled spread 1/2 of remaining puree on top of bottom layer, add 2nd layer and then spread remaining puree. You can do a simple buttercream, but they are crazy fattening so we do not use. I suggest pairing with ice cream which is non-fat yogurt in our house.

Strawberry Puree

Wash and haul one and 1/2 packages of ripe organic strawberries. Rough chop and stir in 1 tsp of sugar, let stand for an hour or until juicy. In a medium sauce pan on low heat add berries and 1/2 cup of water. Cook down berries, about 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Pour berries into strainer and use rubber spatula to press berries into bowl. Once berries are in bowl transfer back into sauce pan and cook down until you have about 1 cup left.

Chopped Berries

Puree after spreading on bottom layer, forgot to take a pic after it was made