Instructions

For the Cake

1. Being by adding the freeze dried strawberries to a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs. You may have some small bits and pieces, and that is perfectly fine. Set aside. (You should have about ½ cup of crumbs).
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper circles. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg whites with ¼ cup of the buttermilk. Set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, combine cake flour with baking powder and kosher salt. Whisk together and set aside.
5. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with granulated sugar and strawberry crumbs. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed and beat for about 2-3 minutes, until fully blended.
6. Beat in vanilla extract.
7. Add in the dry ingredients, slowly, just until combined. SLowly add in the egg mixture, beating until well blended (about 1 minute).
8. Finaly, beat in the remaining buttermilk.
9. Pour batter evenly into the prepared cake pans. Bake for 26-28 minutes until lightly browned and springs back when you touch it.
10. Remove from oven and cool in pans for 5 minutes. Invert onto parchment paper lined wire racks. Cool completely.

For the Frosting

1. In a food processor, pulse freeze dried strawberries until fine crumbs. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl with whisk attachment, beat butter for 2-3 minutes until pale in color (scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed).
3. Add in powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and strawberry crumbs.
4. Beat an additional 2-3 minutes until well blended, and fluffy. Add in more milk if needed to achieve the consistency you want.

How to Assemble

1. To assemble, place one layer of cake on a cake platter. Slide some parchment paper strips under the edges around the cake to keep the platter clean.
2. Spread about 1 ½ cups of frosting on top of cake. Add second layer of cake.
3. Spread remaining frosting on top and sides of cake using an offset spatula. Once cake is frosted, remove strips of parchment paper.