Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small baking dish, combine the strawberries, sugar and a salt. Transfer to the oven to roast for 10 minutes. Remove it from the oven and transfer it to a food processor. Blend until completely smooth. Measure out 1/4 cup and set aside. (Any extra can be added to cocktails, milk for drinking, etc.)

Keep the oven at 350 degrees F (as it was for roasting the strawberries). And grease and line a 8×8-inch baking pan. (See below in “NOTES” section for other baking pan alternatives).

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment (alternatively you can do this in a large bowl with an electric mixer), add the butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. In a measuring cup, pour in the milk, egg whites, and reserved 1/4 cup strawberry puree and whisk until combined.

Turn the mixer to low speed and, alternating between the dry ingredients and the liquid ingredients (the strawberry/egg white mixture), add the them butter/sugar mixture until the batter is relatively smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth it out until it reaches the sides. Transfer to the oven to bake for 25 to 32 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack and cool to room temperature. It’ll probably take a good hour.

Using a food processor OR a spice grinder, add the 1/4 cup freeze-dried strawberries. Pulse for about 1 minute until it resembles a powder. Measure out 1 tablespoon. (See below in NOTES section on other recipes to make using freeze-dried strawberries.)

In the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment (or a medium bowl using an electric hand mixer), add the cream cheese and beat it until smooth. I like to do this or else the cream cheese frosting will have little clumps of cream cheese. Next, add the butter and beat it until smooth, about 15 seconds.

Add the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla extract and heavy cream. Beat for a full 2 minutes to ensure fluffy, delicious frosting.

If you want to make little strawberries, here’s what you need to do: add about 1/4 cup of frosting to one bowl. And then add a few tablespoons to a second bowl. We’re going to add food coloring to both of those frostings.

Then, add the reserved strawberry powder to the frosting and beat it one last time until combined. Add red food coloring if you want it be more pink. I added a small drop.

If you don’t want to make the strawberries, you can obviously skip removing some of the frosting and just proceed with adding the powder, etc.

Add a drop or two of red food coloring to the 1/4 cup of frosting. This is going to be for our strawberries. Mix it together until smooth. Transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a #3 round piping tip.

Add a drop of green food coloring to the 2 tablespoons of frosting. This is going to be our strawberry tops. Mix it together until smooth. Transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a #1 round piping tip.

Add the frosting to the top of the cake and smooth it out into an even layer. Make it cute with some swoops.

If you didn’t do the strawberries above, no biggie. Top it with some sprinkles OR leave it as is. It’s cute.

To add the strawberries, pipe on hearts; they’ll end up looking like strawberries once we add the tops. Add as many as you like. Make them any size you like, too.

Pipe on two little dots at the top of the hearts to transform them from hearts to strawberries. Do mine look like tomatoes? MAYBE. LOL.

I keep this cake at room temperature on my counter. I don’t own a glass cake cover so I use a colander. This cake is delicious for about 2 to 3 days. If my way leaves you unsettled, you can always place the cake back into the 8×8-inch baking dish and cover it with plastic wrap.