Near the tip of the Eastern Shore, that tongue of land that juts down the side of the Chesapeake Bay, there sits a small barrier island nestled between salt marshes and the sea. Until relatively recently, Chincoteague Island was home to oyster fishermen, wild ponies, ice cream parlors and not much else. My family has been spending summers here since I was about five or six years old, and my parents moved here less than a year ago.

I’ve been spending a lot of weekends here lately. One such weekend was in celebration of my mother’s birthday.

It’s been so long since I’ve made an honest-to-goodness, classic birthday cake, and my mom deserved something worthy of a goddess. (For those who’ve met my mom, you know what I’m talking about.) When I found Smitten Kitchen’s strawberry “pink lady” cake, I knew I’d found the winner. Seasonal, not overly sweet, and pretty pink.

Since strawberries are starting to come into season, we opted for fresh fruit rather than frozen. You puree the strawberries and swirl them into the batter, which tastes like a butter cake with just a hint of fruit. If you have any leftover strawberry puree, mix it with some sugar, water, and freshly squeezed lime juice to make an agua fresca.

Since I think a buttercream would have been too heavy for this rich cake, I used a thick whipped cream to frost it instead. To top it off, I sprinkled on some homemade pink sprinkles that my gal Maddie made. If you’re feeling really ambitious, you could try your hand at making sprinkles too, recipe here.

strawberry celebration cake

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

3 cups white flour
2 cups sugar
3 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup freshly pureed strawberries
5 egg whites
1/2 cup milk
1 T pure vanilla extract
red dye (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter two 9″ round cake pans, and cut out pieces of parchment paper to fit into the bottom of the pans. Butter those too.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a smaller bowl, beat the butter and strawberry puree together until smooth. Add the strawberry/butter mixture to the flour mixture, and beat with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until fully incorporated. The batter will be very thick.

In another medium bowl, beat the egg whites, milk, and red dye (if using) until frothy. Add this mixture to the rest of the batter in 2 additions, beating well after each incorporation.

Pour the batter into the two prepared cake pans and smooth the tops with a spatula or knife. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before icing.

For the frosting, beat whipping cream with some sugar with an electric mixer until stiff, or opt for your favorite buttercream. Sprinkle some pink sugar or sprinkles on top.