Mariclare Bakes: Valentine's Day Edition

Valentine's Day is a very tricky holiday. Some love it, some hate it, and some don’t even acknowledge it as a holiday. For me, Valentine’s Day makes me think of my childhood. I used to love making valentines for my class and passing them all out. I especially loved receiving candy from my friends. But as we get older, valentines become less common. Nobody makes valentines to hand out to their friends any more. But I think that we should still carry on this tradition, but in an even more tasty way. This year instead of giving your friends candy for Valentines Day, give them cake. It shows that you care about them and it is delicious. My Valentine's Day cake recipe is a perfect gift. It’s a lemon cake with strawberry jam and cream cheese icing, and it is amazing.

Ingredients -

Cake:

2 ¼ cup flour

2 ¼ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

10 tbsp butter

1 ¾ cup sugar

1 ¼ tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

½ cup sour cream

¼ cup milk

Juice of 1-2 lemons

Zest of 1 lemon

Strawberry Jam:

1 pound frozen strawberries

Juice of half lemon

2tsp water

¼ cup sugar

1 ½ tbsp cornstarch

Cream Cheese Frosting:

½ cup butter

16 ounces cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

Instructions -

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease your baking pan.

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well.

Cream the butter and sugar together for about 2 to 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Then add in the eggs, vanilla extract, sour cream, and milk. Blend until smooth.

Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet, about a cup at a time. Mix until fully combined.

Lastly add the lemon zest and lemon juice to the batter and stir.

Strawberry Jam:

Add the strawberries, water, lemon juice, and sugar into a pot on medium heat.

While cooking, continuously stir the strawberry mixture, until all strawberries are soft.

Next use a handheld blender to blend the mixture until smooth.

Then add in the cornstarch and stir.

Lastly let the mixture cook until desired thickness is reached. I cooked it for around three minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Soften the cream cheese and butter.

Next add the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla into a mixer and mix until smooth, and light. (about 5 minutes)

Then slowly add in powdered sugar (about a ½ cup at a time). Blend until fully combined.

Let the cake fully cool before filling, and frosting.

Reviews:

Eunice Kim: 10/10- “I love cream cheese frosting, and this one is not too sweet but it’s not too sour and it complements the cake very well.”

Oliva Rodriguez: 8.7/10- “It was a good cake but it wasn’t like I was jumping for joy over it.”

Fatima Mohamid: 10/10- “If it was just the cream cheese and the lemon it would have been a 9/10 but the strawberry gives good flavor.”

Hannah Su: 8/10- “There is a little too much frosting so you can’t taste the strawberry, but I like it, it’s good.”

Grace Pelz: 7.5- “The frosting is not too overpoweringly sweet, it’s like good kind of frosting”