Did you know that the showstopping Strawberry Icebox Cake cover star of our March/April 2020 issue was inspired by one of our founding editors’ childhood go-to’s? Brooke Michael Bell, our Vice President of Culinary & Custom Content, has been on board with Bake from Scratch since day one, working alongside our editor-in-chief Brian Hart Hoffman to shape the magazine into the ode to baking that it is today. Uncover the chilly evolution of her favorite birthday cake, which we reimagined as our cover star.
I don’t remember the exact birthday when my mother first baked a strawberry-studded layer cake, but for as long as I can remember, it was my birthday cake. As a child, I loved its bright pink hue and generous slather of strawberry-cream cheese frosting with chopped pecans. At some point in time, the cake made its way from our kitchen counter to the refrigerator to protect that lovely frosting from the southern Alabama humidity, and the cake changed forever. Don’t get me wrong—it was always a delicious cake, easily made by mixing together a box of white cake mix, strawberry gelatin, fresh strawberries, and a few other ingredients—but it became a mighty fine cake once it met the refrigerator. I began to request it chilled every year for my birthday, and it was pure magic.
Since the birth of Bake from Scratch magazine five years ago, I’ve wanted to give my box-mix birthday cake its proper redo, and now, we finally have. This brilliant recipe from our test kitchen incorporates all of the original elements into a modern take that’s properly chilled. I wouldn’t want to enjoy it any other way.
— Brooke Michael Bell
Find the recipe for our Strawberry Icebox Cake cover star in our Retro Redo column, in our March/April 2020 issue!
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