Strawberry crunch pound cake

This blog post should really be titled “The cake that didn’t want to cake.”

I’ve known that the theme for this month’s #BundtBakers was strawberry for a few months now. I made my first recipe back in early June when strawberries were plentiful and cheap. It was a strawberry rhubarb recipe and it promptly fell apart as soon as I sliced into it.

I tried again the next weekend, thinking perhaps I just used too many strawberries and the cake was too moist. Nope, cake mush, take 2.

A few weeks later, I tried out my mini bundt pan making a Neapolitan version that I was going to top with chocolate covered strawberries. Which would have been gorgeous if the entire cake hadn’t needed to bake for so long that it turned dark brown and you couldn’t tell the difference between what was supposed to be chocolate, strawberry and vanilla.

INGREDIENTS :

Cake:

• 1/2 Cup Shortening
• 2 sticks butter ( softened )
• 2 (1/2) Cups sugar
• 1 ( 3 oz. ) Package Instant Vanilla Pudding
• 1 (3 oz. ) Package Strawberry Jello
• 5 eggs
• 1 Cup milk
• 3 Cups flour
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 1 Teaspoon baking powder

Strawberry Crunch Topping:

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 ( 3 oz.) Package Instant Vanilla Pudding
• 1 ( 3 oz.) Package Strawberry Jello
• 1 teaspoon flour

Frosting:

• 1 ( 8 oz.) Package cream cheese ( Softened )
• 8-10 oz. Ounces Marshmallow Fluff

DIRECTIONS :

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees ~ In a Large bowl, using a hand mixer, cream together shortening, butter, sugar, 1 package Instant Vanilla Pudding, and 1 Package Strawberry Jello ( it will look crumbly. Next mix eggs in one at a time.
2. Add milk and mix batter till it resembles cake frosting. Next, add flour, salt, and Baking powder ( I just plop dry ingredients right on top the batter). Use a wooden spoon to slowly mix the flour in then finish it off with the hand mixer. This just keeps the flour from flying everywhere when you turn your mixer on.
3. Pour batter into a bundt pan that has been well greased with shortening. Use a wooden spoon to smooth batter around the pan. Bake @ 300 degrees for 1(1/2) hours.
4. Allow cake to cool for 10 – 15 minutes then carefully turn out on a clean surface to allow cake to finish cooling. Once cake is completely cool, frost it and top with strawberry crunch, recipes below.

Crunch Topping:

1. In a small bowl add 2 Tablespoons of butter, 1 (3 oz.) package of Instant Vanilla Pudding, and ONLY 1 (1/2) Teaspoons of Strawberry Jello ( Store the leftovers for a later use).
2. Use a fork to crumb together. Bake Crumbs at 350 degrees on a greased cookie sheet for about 10 minutes, or until slightly browned, stirring every few minutes.

Frosting:

1. In a small/medium bowl add cream cheese and marshmallow fluff. Use a hand mixer to mix together till fluffy.