Fun Memories Inspire New Take On Cake

I love turning an ordinary recipe into something new. It's fun when your taste bud expectations are pleasantly surprised. One of my favorite recipe make-overs is for boxed strawberry cake.

I never tried it until I was a student working in my college admissions record office. I'm not sure HOW I never tried it except that I've always been a chocolate cake kind of girl. Lynn and Nancy, the two ladies that hired the students and worked closely with us every day, always kept sweet treats on hand. Healthy? No. Fun? You betcha.

Sometimes there was too much to fit into the designated jar— it was more of a snack than work table. They were always so sweet to supply their students with their daily sugar rush as a sign of appreciation. A new bag of chocolate candy would disappear within a day.

Did I mention almost everyone working in that office was a woman?

Occasionally they would bring in something special— slices of Old Fogey's strawberry cake. Old Fogey's appeared to be one of their favorite lunch destinations. It was a deli/bakery in downtown Burlington. The restaurant is very small if you've ever been and only stayed open until 2 p.m. on weekdays. The owner's wife would be up at the crack of dawn each morning to bake the day's goodies. Her cakes would often sell out before lunchtime was over.

My first taste of Old Fogey's was a mistake. Our office "moms" were asked to bring back a couple of slices for some co-workers on staff. It was common knowledge that when you went to Old Fogey's, you didn't leave without having a piece then or saved for later. Lynn and Nancy brought back a couple of slices, but for some ungodly reason, the staffers changed their minds. A fortunate turn of events for the student workers. So we all took some bites and begged them to bring more.

So they did. Sometimes they would return with a whole cake. Sometimes they returned with guilty faces. "They ran out girls, sorry." This cake was well-known. Even the admissions tour guides would come sniffing around to records, lowering their status with our presence just to steal a slice. The day they bought around 15 separately wrapped slices for their girls gave us a good laugh.  Imagining them stacking Styrofoam plate after plate as the customers behind them grew concerned gave us a giggle. You may think it was greedy, but desperate times call for desperate measures. If you would have eaten this cake you would understand! Eventually some of us worked long enough to join them on their lunch outings to Old Fogey's so we could scrap for our own slice. And there were times where we were too late and went home sad and empty-handed.

So you might be asking, what was so special about this cake? Three words: cream cheese frosting.

Every once in awhile I would crave a slice of Old Fogey's infamous cake and immediately be disappointed that it will likely never happen (since I no longer live there and am not even sure they are still open). One day I bought a boxed mix and gave it some thought. What was so special about it? Would I ever be able to recreate anything remotely close? Then it hit me-- it was very simple.

I had recently baked a carrot cake, which of course requires cream cheese frosting. I never made it before and instantly loved it. I had been surprised by how easy it was. So I thought I would give this frosting a go with a store bought strawberry cake mix. All I had to do was make the cake in two 9-inch pans so I could stack later and let it cool. The "new take" part would come with the "dress up."

I mixed 3/4 pound of cream cheese, one stick of unsalted butter, 1/4 tsp. of vanilla extract, and 1 pd. powered sugar. The first time I made it I added red food coloring to make it a pretty pink to emphasize that it was strawberry. A look that I remembered from Old Fogey himself.

I've found the recommendation to top baked items with a visual of what's inside to be a useful technique. It skips those moments where people hesitate and hover, trying to decide if what you made is something they want to eat. Those who are uncertain may pass it up. Something I'm not familiar with as a lady with an appetite.

To improve on the old favorite, I added a strawberry filling. I dug out some strawberry jelly from the fridge. I didn't measure this out in any special way. I used the "eyeballing it" method, dumping what I thought was a good enough amount of jelly into a saucepan, added a little water and heated, constantly stirring. I added water as needed so it wouldn't be runny. I wanted to make a filling that would spread easily, but stay thick. I chopped up some fresh strawberries and threw it into the filling. I added a little sugar to sweeten it up. Once I spread it in between the two cake layers, it soaked into the cake a little.

After I covered the cake in the homemade frosting, I put on the finishing touch. I decorated with sliced strawberries all around the sides and on top. It made for a beautiful cake and the strawberry smell was overwhelming. One tip: Be careful to use fresh strawberries and not ones that have been sitting around too long. They can turn fast and ruin your cake if you have it left over for a couple of days.

My decorating skills have improved a lot since my first strawberry cake creation, which as you can see, was a little sloppy. I made this for a birthday celebration recently and people gushed over the smell when I removed the cake cover. The decoration of strawberries just add a nice touch. It wasn't hard. The boxed mix was half the work. Dressing the cake is the most fun anyway, especially if you have extra frosting left over for sampling!

It's the simple things that make an ordinary recipe seem extraordinary. I have no idea how well I recreated the old favorite since I have no way to compare. The response to my cake has been pretty good though and I now crave this version of the strawberry cake so that's enough for me to consider it a job well-done.