Chocolate Strawberry Sweetheart Cake

Delicious chocolate layer cake with a strawberry filling and chocolate frosting. Perfect to share with your sweetheart. Gluten and dairy free substitutions included.

Cake Ingredients

1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour of all purpose gluten free flour – we used Bob’s Red Mill 1-1

1/2 cup cocoa

1/4 cup dark cocoa – such as Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa

1 1/4 teaspoons of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

2 cups of granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup of whole milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray or grease 2 eight inch cake pans. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, add all dry ingredients (except sugar) and whisk or mix until well blended.

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla extract. Use a hand mixer to mix on medium speed until smooth – about 2 minutes – stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl when necessary.

Add flour mixture and milk to the egg mixture and beat again until thoroughly blended. Pour batter evenly into pans and place in the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Set the cake layers aside to cool completely.

Strawberry Filling Ingredients

4oz softened cream cheese or dairy free cream cheese – we used Tofutti

1 cup of powdered sugar

2 tablespoons of strawberry jam

Beat the cream cheese in a medium sized bowl until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and jam and beat until well blended. Place one cake layer on a serving plate or cake plate. scrape the strawberry filling onto the cake layer and spread with an icing spatula. You want to bring it almost to the edges of the cake, but don’t let it overflow. Carefully place the other layer on top and put the whole thing in the refrigerator to chill while you make the chocolate frosting.

Chocolate Frosting Ingredients

2 cups of powdered sugar

3/4 cocoa powder

1/2 unsalted butter, softened, or shortening – we used Spectrum Organic

3-4 tablespoons of milk or plant milk (or more if necessary)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

a pinch of finely ground sea salt

In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat the butter or shortening until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, cocoa, and a pinch of sea salt and beat until ingredients are fairly combined. Add milk and vanilla and continue mixing. If the frosting is too stiff, add more milk.

Beat the frosting again until it’s fluffy and easy to spread with a knife or spatula. Remove cake from fridge and cover the top and sides with chocolate frosting. Garnish the top with strawberries, chocolate covered fruit, sprinkles, heart candies, flowers, etc. This is a fun cake so get outrageous if you want.

Serve and enjoy!