Neapolitan 5-Layer Birthday Cake with Strawberry Frosting

Well, hello! What an exciting few days it's been. Lots going on, and as usual, no two days have been the same. As I mentioned in my last post, I was thrilled when Ree (The Pioneer Woman) chose two of my cake photos for her Food Photo Assignment--another one of her wildly popular photo contests. It meant so much to me, considering I'm pretty new at all of this, and there were, as usual, so many amazing entries.  My blue birthday cake photo ended up winning as a finalist in the competition, so I could not be more pleased! Coincidentally, most of what I learned about photography was from Ree. I find her photography tutorials to be particularly helpful, down-to-earth, and as always with The Pioneer Woman, charming. If you'd like to take a peek at my blue birthday cake photo and more about the results of the Pioneer Woman Photography Food Photo Assignment, you can view it here, along with the gorgeous winning photo by Jennifer Glass. Speaking of birthday cakes, I was in a layer-cake kind of mood this week, both making and eating, of course. One of my favourite layer cakes is Neapolitan Cake: layers of rich chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla cake, layered with homemade strawberry jam. The flavours really work so well together, and I personally find it really unique and quite appealing, if not striking, once sliced. What's interesting, is that most people know of it, and I think really enjoy it, yet I don't see it often. I made Neapolitan cake for the first time last year for Neve's birthday. I had the idea to make a Neapolitan Cake based on the colour-scheme of her party, but wasn't sure what would work for filling. I noticed Martha Stewart had done a 3-layer version using  jam as filling, which I thought was perfect. The guests seemed to really enjoy it, and I had a lot of fun making it. I love when a cake looks pretty traditional and simple on the outside, but has an unexpected appearance on the inside. No matter how many cakes I make, I'm always secretly (or not so secretly) excited and eager to slice it and see what it looks like inside--particularly when it's a multi-flavoured cake, like this one. Such anticipation! It seems people can't resist peeking over my shoulder with curiosity when I first slice into a cake, and this one usually earns an "oh, wow!"

 

Kind of crazy looking inside, right? I love the contrast, but most importantly (always), it is really, truly a delight to eat. I find you don't really taste the jam filling, but it adds a great strawberry flavour and makes the cake even more moist and yummy. It tastes so very Neapolitan and, to me, very reminiscent of my childhood. I feel as though even the cake itself with its colour-combination has a retro feel to it, which I really like.

This time, I went for a sugary pink Strawberry Frosting, for more of a fun birthday cake taste, and to carry through the strawberry flavour a bit more.  The possibilities are endless, though, as you could opt for chocolate frosting, ganache filling, Swiss meringue buttercream and fondant, and more. Visually, I think I prefer it with a nice chocolate fondant over buttercream, but really, pink is never a bad idea (or rarely, at least!), and this Strawberry Frosting is so delicious. I used simple homemade strawberry jam between the layers, which I prefer both for taste and look with the Neapolitan Cake. It's also very quick and easy to fill that way. If you filled it with frosting, I feel it might be a bit much, since there's already so much going on, but that is definitely personal preference, and the cake flavours lend to vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry fillings and frostings. If you'd like to recreate this one, here's what I did: 1. Baked my favourite Strawberry, Vanilla, and Chocolate cake recipes for 9" round pans. You can layer any way you like, but I chose to torte my chocolate and strawberry 9" round cakes into 2 each, and just used one vanilla. Each of the 5 layers are about 1" high. 2. Using a thin 9" round cake board, I placed the first layer down, filled with jam,  and repeated until the cake was stacked. I then covered the whole cake in airtight container and placed in fridge for about an hour. 3. I made a batch of Strawberry Party Frosting, tinted it Strawberry pink, try using a few drops of Sweetapolita Bright Pink (I tend to use this brighter version of pink gel often, because with buttercream being a yellow tinge, it seems to cut right through the yellow, making the result a nice bright pink.). Once the cake was chilled, I frosted it, added my favourite white sprinkles, and then piped a classic birthday cake star tip border and shell border on the bottom, using a Wilton Open Star Tip #22 for both. You can use your favourite Chocolate and Vanilla recipe, or you can use my favourites (links attached). I've included a recipe for Strawberry Cake, since it's seemingly hard to find a good one. I really like this one that I found online last year and modified slightly. Keep in mind that with all of the white sugar in this Strawberry Cake recipe, the crust of the cake gets a bit more golden brown than the other flavours. This recipe makes two 9" rounds, but I made cupcakes with the extra batter. You could divide the recipe in half.

Strawberry Cake          {click here for printable recipe}

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white sugar 1 (3oz) package of strawberry gelatin (JELL-O)
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup strawberry puree made from frozen sweetened strawberries (or you could use unsweetened and add a tablespoon of white sugar)

Method:

• 1. Prepare two 9" round pans (butter and flour, or parchment lined).
• 2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and dry strawberry gelatin until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Mix vanilla and milk together. Combine and whisk dry ingredients, adding to creamed mixture and alternating with milk/vanilla until just combined. Blend in strawberry puree. Pour into prepared pans.
• 3. Bake in 350 F for about 25 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool in pans on wire rack for 20 minutes, then inverting onto wire rack to finish cooling. Recipe for Strawberry Cake adapted from allrecipes.com, submitted by GothicGirl.

Strawberry Party Frosting         {click here for printable recipe}

One 9" round (sliced in 2 horizontally) Rich Chocolate Cake from Rich & Ruffled Chocolate Celebration Cake post, or click here for printable recipe. One 9" round Snow White Vanilla Cake (sliced in 2 horizontally) from Old-Fashioned Party Cake post, or click here for printable recipe. I hope you love this cake as much as we do! 

You can even fold in some Rainbow Crunchy Sprinkles or Pastel Sequins into your frosting for a few extra pops of colour, or Pastel Bit Chips for a funfetti-style pink frosting! 

Good luck & enjoy!