Strawberry Almond Cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two 6-inch cake pans with parchment paper.

To make the batter: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the canola oil, sugar, almond milk and almond flavor. Mix on low until combined. Add the eggs and mix on low until combined.

Add the cake flour to the sugar mixture, and sprinkle the baking powder and sea salt right on top. Mix on low until you have a smooth cake batter, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Pour batter evenly into the prepared pans, about 375 grams each.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in the cake pans.

To make the compote: In a small pot, add the strawberries, sugar and water. Put over medium heat until all the sugar has dissolved, then turn the heat to low and simmer until the mixture has reduced by half. Remove from heat.

Measure out 1 tablespoon of the syrup from the compote and put into a bowl. This is basically almost all the juice, so you can just eyeball it too. You can let the compote sit out or put in the fridge to cool, but it should be at least room temperature before putting the cake together.

To make the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined, then speed mixer up to high for 1 minute or until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of bowl and mix on high again.

Using a piping bag with no tip or with Ateco tip #804, add frosting into the bag.
To assemble the cake: Remove the cakes from the cake pans. On a cake stand or spinner, place the first cake layer. Spread a small amount of frosting on top of the cake, but not as much as if you were going to fill the layer with frosting, just a thin layer.

Next, go around the cake edge with the piping bag to create a boarder of frosting. Add the compote into the center of the frosting boarder. The frosting boarder holds in the strawberry filling. Top with the second layer of cake.

Crumb coat the cake (find tutorial here). Then frost the cake smooth.
Add the remaining frosting to the bowl with the strawberry syrup and stir to combine completely.

Put the pink frosting in a piping bag with Ateco tip #846. Pipe roses on top of the cake. If you are using this decorating tip, all you have to do to create a rose is start in the center and in a spiral motion go around the middle where you started to create a rose. It’s almost two full times around, working your way from the inside out. But, you can make the roses as big or as small as you want by simply going around the spiral more times.


Store in a cake dome in the fridge for up to 3 days.