Flamingo Pink Velvet Cake with Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

I actually made this cake last summer, when last year’s rhubarb was in season and strawberries were in abundance at the farmers markets. I made the cake toward the end of rhubarb season and was not quick enough to get my act together and write a full blog post for the cake. So here we are, 11 months later. This cake consists of layers of vanilla cake with freeze-dried strawberry powder folded in the batter for its pink colour, the best strawberry rhubarb compote (and I mean THE best), and vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. Because I made you wait a whole year for this, I am going to skip all the chit chat and get right to the recipe. Even if you do not make the cake, make the compote. I always have a big batch handy of it in my fridge. The compote is just as amazing on top of plain yogurt, on toast, or on oatmeal. I recently put a generous dollop of it inside homemade pop tarts and it was the perfect picnic treat.

If you need any other cute-birds-on-the-side-of-a-cake inspo, this swan cake is for youuuuuu!

Happy baking!

Flamingo Pink Velvet Cake with Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

Makes 1 three-layer 6-inch cake

By Amy

Ingredients

Pink Velvet Cake

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon clear imitation vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 cups minus 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoon sour cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3 tablespoons freeze-dried strawberry powder

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

• 1 cup (100g) rhubarb, trimmed and chopped
• 1 cup (145g) strawberries, chopped
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoom vanilla extract

Instructions

Pink Velvet Cake

• Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease three 6-inch round cake pans.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients together. Set aside.
• In a measuring cup, combine milk and sour cream. Set aside.
• With a stand mixer, beat butter until creamy. On medium speed, beat butter with sugar and vanilla until the mixture is fluffy and pale in colour.
• Add eggs and eggs yolks, one at a time, making sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next.
• Add in half of the flour mixture and half of the milk mixture.  Mix on low until just incorporated.
• Add the remainder of the ingredients and mix until just combined.
• Gently fold in freeze-dried strawberry powder. Do not mix fully to achieve pink marbling effect.
• Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Bake for 34 – 36 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centre comes out clean.
• Cool cakes on a wire rack for about 15 minutes before remove cakes from pans to cool completely.

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

• In a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.
• When the butter has melted, add the remaining ingredients to the pan. Allow to cook, undisturbed, for 2 minutes.
• Gently stir and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the rhubarb is tender and juices become thick (10 to 15 minutes).
• Remove from heat and let compote cool.

Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the egg whites and granulated sugar and gently whisk by hand.
• Fill a sauce pan with a few inches of water and bring to a simmer.  Place the mixer bowl with the egg white mixture on top to create a double-boiler. The water should be kept at a simmer but should not touch the bottom of the bowl.
• While stirring the mixture, heat the egg white mixture the sugar has dissolved.
• Once all the sugar gas dissolved, return the bowl to the stand mixer.
• With the whisk attachment on the mixer, beat the mixture on high speed for about 7 – 8 minutes.  This will form a shiny, medium-stiff meringue. At this point, the meringue should be close to room temperature.
• With the paddle attachment on the mixer and the speed of the mixer set to low, begin adding in the butter a couple cubes at a time.  When the previous addition of butter has been incorporated, add a few more cubes. Repeat until all the butter has been incorporated.
• Once the butter has been mixed in, the vanilla extract.
• Turn the mixer up to medium speed and mix until silky smooth.