This recipe is adapted from Chef LaKisha Harris for our pan! It's a sweet berry cake topped with crunchy OREOs and strawberries.
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp strawberry extract
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 of a box of cherry or strawberry Jell-O (3 oz size)
6 large eggs, room temperature
5 cups cake flour or White Lily All Purpose Flour
1 cup cherry soda (like Mountain Dew Code Red), room temperature
Marinated Strawberries (recipe below)
Strawberry Crunch (recipe below)
Cherry Soda Icing (recipe below)
6 Lemon OREO Cookies, crushed
Preheat oven to 300°F. Prepare Old Country Kitchenware square tube pan by fitting a parchment paper square between the two pieces and brushing with pan coat. Beat butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until pale, light and fluffy (about 6 minutes at medium speed). Add extracts, salt, and Jell-O, beat until combined. Add one egg and beat until fully incorporated. Repeat with each egg, beating well after each addition. Add half of the flour, beating until it just disappears. Slowly drizzle in half the cherry soda with the mixer running. Beat in the remaining flour, then drizzle in the remaining cherry soda. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and beat for another 15 seconds. Pour batter into prepared tube pan and gently shake to settle the batter. Place on middle rack of oven with a baking sheet on the rack below it to catch any drips. Bake 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool until the pan is cool enough to handle. To unmold, place it over a metal can and push down to remove the outer piece. Once the tube is cool enough to touch for 4 seconds, lift or turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate top with Macerated Strawberries, strawberry crunch, crushed lemon OREO cookies, and Cherry Soda Icing.
Macerated Strawberries
8 medium strawberries, diced
1/4 cup powdered sugar
While cake is baking, toss strawberries and sugar together, set aside.
Strawberry Crunch
6 Lemon OREO Cookies
1/4 of a box of cherry or strawberry Jell-O (3 oz size)
1 tbsp butter, melted
Add cookies to a zip top bag and crush with a rolling pin. Add Jell-O and melted butter and massage to combine. Bake for 7 minutes at 350F on a parchment lined sheet.
Cherry Soda Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1 to 1 1/2 tbsp cherry soda
Mix together powdered sugar and 1 tbsp cherry soda. Add more soda, a teaspoon at a time, until a slow ribbon of icing falls off a fork.
