We have many traditions in our family including Nana’s strawberry cake recipe. Since my birthday always happened during our Fourth of July trip to the lake, Momma (or Nana) baked a fresh strawberry cake at home to carry with us. (No one wanted to do real cooking at the lake.) Even after driving through the Ozarks, waiting in line at the ferry, and stopping in town for groceries, the cake was dreamy and luscious. We gorged on it all week.
This weekend, (daughter) Kelsey and I messed with tradition. For (son) Tate’s twenty-first birthday, we decided to tweak the recipe. Since we both love to cook, we thought it would be fun to try something new. We researched on-line recipes. Only a 4.5 star recipe would do.
Clearly, we weren’t right in our heads. Why mess with perfection? (Our excuses—I’d been cooped up too long in the house writing, and she’d just finished law school finals.)
The recipe we selected looked wonderful. It contained strawberry preserves and fresh strawberries and cake flour and vanilla bean paste. Plus there was buttermilk. Buttermilk means serious baking, y’all.
And oh my goodness, the batter. We licked the spatula and most of the bowl. Best batter ever. Light and fluffy.
We were feeling smug about our new and improved strawberry cake right up to the moment we tasted the finished product.
What a complete waste of calories. The cake was dense and flavorless, more like a bad grocery store bundt cake than fresh homemade cake-cake. The frosting was all wrong and not sweet enough.
It wasn’t Nana’s cake.
Not even close.
If Nana was watching (and of course she was), I’m sure she was thoroughly entertained by the whole birthday cake tasting debacle. The birthday boy pretended to like it. The rest of us gagged a few bites down. Kelsey had to cleanse her palate with a plain strawberry. (It did leave a strange aftertaste.) My sister’s boyfriend said it tasted like Nestle’s Quik strawberry drink from back in the day.
Even with a less than stellar cake, the day was a success because it was spent with family. We’ll be laughing about our cake experiment for a while…
Luckily we still have Nana’s 5-star recipe. And with my birthday only fifty-two days away, I know we’ll get the real thing soon enough at the lake. Momma will see to it.
Nana – baker of the best strawberry cake…
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
P.S. Today as I went back to review the recipe we used (trying to decide whether or not to call it out on my blog), I realized we chose a 2-star recipe! Not sure HOW that happened after reading so many 4 and 5 star recipes. Like I said, we weren’t in our right minds. This whole thing would have been avoided had we read the reviews. So be sure to never make the Country Living Fresh Strawberry Cake. It’s anything but.
“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.” ― Julia Child
Musical Pairing:
Carry on Wayward Son
Too bad about the strawberry cake but at least you had a good party anyhow. Also you were adventurous to try something different. Love the Julia Child quote.
Wish I could try your Nana’s strawberry cake. Bet it’s delicious. I’m looking forward to our local strawberries which are usually ready in late June for a very short time. So delicious!
I may make it soon to post on the blog!
You just can’t mess with tradition. Nana’s cake wins again.
Talya, I enjoyed this so much. My mom is a cake master and one of my older son’s favorites is the homemade fresh strawberry. I have more time at my computer now then I have had the past three years and want to start catching up on your writings.
Thank you Linda. It is so good to hear from you. Would love to visit next time you are in Dallas! Better yet, I’d love to come see you in the Hill Country!
I can’t believe we used a 2 star recipe. No wonder!
I know!!! Not sure how that happened other than we were lured by the pretty picture.
Some of the best family stories revolve around food debacles and how we all learn you can’t improve on perfection.
So sorry. I always hurt in my gut when I feel like I have wasted ingredients and time. Don’t mess with Nana! It was probably worth it, though, to have a good story to tell.
Oh but you were doing it with and for your loved ones and that makes all the difference! I’m sure your Nana was having just as much fun watching as you were making the cake. All in all it sounds like a 5 star day!
Yes it was Colene!
Oh this just made me smile because we’ve done the same thing in my family. Only I’m pretty sure we took one bite and the rest ended in the trash. Your family was a lot nicer to try and choke it down. My boys aren’t so nice that way. 🙂
I hate it when cakes turn out badly! But I love that Julia Childs quote 🙂
My Aunt June makes a killer strawberry cake. It has strawberry jello in it.
So now you HAVE to post Nana’s recipe so we all know what perfection tastes like!
I NEED her recipe!! LOL! Loved your post and the quote! The pic of Aunt Francis is beautiful! You favor her T.!!!!
I plan on making it soon!
Oh man! I hate when I bake something and it is a complete waste of calories (and ingredients.) So sorry it flopped but my motto is, when at first a cake doesn’t succeed, turn it into a trifle! 😉
My Nanny used to make a strawberry cake, as well. I don’t remember it all that well, but I’m FAIRLY sure the cake part was out of a box, and so was the frosting. 🙂 Shhhh!
It was GOOD, though. And that’s all that mattered. She made it for ME. 🙂
Never was a fan of strawberry cake. I could make an exception for a strawberry volcano cake, however.
This one was somewhat of a volcano inside. Horrible.
Your Nana was a bathing beauty! What a sweet guy Tate is! This will be a birthday to remember, not only as the big 21, but also with the funny cake story. I used to make a strawberry cake that started with a white cake mix. It was yummy. I’d definitely try your Nana’s recipe though.