Strawberry banana birthday cake

Ever since my flop-of-a-carrot cake birthday cake for my son last year, he’s been asking me to make him a strawberry-banana cake. Interesting flavor combination for a cake right? Well, who can blame a toddler for imagining up some of his favorite fruits into a birthday cake! He’d have a watermelon cake if I could conjure up a way to make that happen (and actually taste good!) one day.

I needed to redeem myself from last year’s birthday cake disaster, so this year, for his fourth birthday, I set out on a quest to make a strawberry banana cake, and my goodness did it turn out to be absolutely delicious! I thought long and hard about how to incorporate the strawberries into the cake without them making the cake soggy or mushy or an off-putting brownish color, which tends to happen to strawberries when they are cooked. Strawberries are one of those fruits that just don’t hold up well when baked or even frozen and then defrosted, and to be honest, I don’t really like anything with cooked strawberries in it, like strawberry pie – just does not sound appealing to me. Now, I do enjoy fresh strawberry jam, where the berries are properly cooked and simmered and reduced down into a thick spread, with its natural sugars all concentrated and syrupy and delicious. For this cake, I decided to give freeze-dried strawberries a try. I’d never tasted or used them before, but I knew they would have a pungent, strawberry flavor and they would not make the cake soggy from any extra liquid. I mixed freeze-dried strawberries into the cake and I even made the frosting with them too! The strawberries gave the frosting a beautiful natural pink hue. I used oat flour as a base for the dry ingredients, then simply added some baking soda for leavening, some fresh lemon juice to give the baking soda a boost, over-ripe bananas, and freeze-dried strawberries. That’s it! And for the frosting, I blended up cashew butter with more freeze-dried strawberries. With a garnishing of fresh strawberries between the layers and some more slices on top, voila – my baby boy’s birthday cake! A clean, simple, naturally sweetened birthday treat! It was so good we ate up the entire cake on his birthday and we decided to make another one the very next day!

Strawberry banana birthday cake

For the cake:
270g (about 3 cups) organic oat flour, such as Arrowhead Mills
5 over-ripe bananas
1 (1.2 oz) bag of freeze-dried strawberries, such as Whole Foods brand
juice of 1 lemon
1/2-1 cup water, as needed
2 tsp. baking soda
For the frosting:
10 Tbsp. unsweetened cashew butter, such as Octonuts (no added oils or sugar)
1 (1.2 oz) bag of freeze-dried strawberries
2-3 Tbsp. water, as needed
For the garnish:
1-2 cups thinly sliced strawberries

Pre-heat the oven to 350F. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer blend up the over-ripe bananas with the lemon juice and about 1/2-1 cup water. Once the bananas are pureed, add in the oat flour and baking soda. Beat the mixture on low until fully combined. Add more water as needed, but being sure not to add too much water (the batter should be rather thick). Next, with a spatula, fold in the freeze-dried strawberries. Pour the batter into a 8 or 9-inch round silicon baking mold. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before removing from the silicon mold.

While the cake is in the oven, make the frosting. In a mini food processor, blend the cashew butter with the freeze-dried strawberries, added a few tablespoons of water at a time to loosen the nut butter. The frosting should be thick and creamy, loose enough to spread, but not too watery. Place the frosting the the fridge to set while the cake cools.

Finally, assemble the cake. Once the cake has cooled, carefully flip it out from the silicon mold onto a plate. Then, using a serrated knife, cut the cake in half horizontally and gently set the top layer aside. Spread about half of the frosting onto the bottom layer. Scatter half of the thinly sliced strawberries over the frosting, then carefully place the top layer, cut-side down, on top of the filling. Spread the remaining frosting evenly over the top of the cake and decoratively arrange the remaining strawberry slices on top of the frosting. Place in the refrigerator and allow the cake to set and chill until ready to serve. Slice into six generous wedges and enjoy!