for the cake layers:
For the cream cheese frosting & strawberry slices:
* If your box mix has a very different ingredients list than this recipe, feel free to follow those instead. Just add 1 extra egg white to compensate for the added strawberry jello packet. I used Duncan Hines white cake mix to test this recipe (not sponsored, just mentioning it for consistency), but any brand will do.
** I use 3 teaspoons (AKA 1 tablespoon), but you should use 2 if yours is particularly strong (or even 1 if it’s extremely strong). If you err on the side of less rosewater, and then regret it later, you can always add a few drops to the frosting, or toss the strawberries in a few drops of rosewater to make up for it (you can always add, but you can’t take away).
*** Jello cake tends to be very sweet, so this cream cheese frosting is not very sweet to compensate. If you like super sweet cream cheese frosting, feel free to add more powdered sugar, to taste.
**** Feel free to decorate the cake however you’d like, or recreate this look, inspired by Zoë François’ pavlova. Use a rotating turntable and offset spatula to evenly frost the cake. Smooth out the top with your offset spatula while rotating the turntable. Once the top is smoothed out, use your offset spatula to make sweeps up the side, rotating as you go and allowing the sweeps to overlap a little. To make the sweeps, point the flat side of the offset spatula so it’s facing the side of the cake, and place the spatula so it’s oriented horizontally. In one swift motion, sweep up while placing a small amount of pressure on the cake (don’t put too much pressure, or you will scrape off the frosting, which is not what you want to do). Allow the end of the sweep to sort of fall toward the center of the cake (kind of trail off toward the center as your spatula leaves the cake, but don’t scrape the top).
Storage: This cake keeps surprisingly well in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. If you’re making it ahead for guests, you might want to make all the components and frost it at the last minute. Cake stales faster in the fridge than at room temperature, so if you’re making it more than 24 hours ahead, you can freeze the individual cake layers (wrapped carefully).
Find it online: https://cardamomandtea.com/511/strawberry-rose-cake/