Purple Princess Cake with Almond flavored Ermine Frosting

It was the little girl's 5th birthday on Wednesday. I have typically made her a white cake with strawberries and blueberries because her birthday is so close to July 4th (red, white & blue). This year as I was browsing recipes for "berry cakes from scratch", I found a version of a Pink Lady cake that used pureed strawberries. Since she wanted strawberries and blueberries, I decided to call mine a Purple Princess Cake. As far as the frosting, my favorite is an Ermine frosting. SO light and not too sweet despite being pretty much butter and sugar.

This cake will make (3) 8" rounds although I baked mine in a large Longaberger lasagna pan.

Purple Princess Cake

4 1/4 c. flour
2 1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp plus 2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter (3/4 c.)
1/2 c. coconut oil
2 c. sliced strawberries (fresh or frozen unsweetened)
1 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen unsweetened)
1 overripe banana
4 eggs
2/3 c. plain yogurt

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour pan(s).

Puree the berries and banana in food processor.

Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large mixer bowl. Add in butter, coconut oil and berry puree. Mix well. Add in eggs one at a time and then plain yogurt. Mix until well combined but do not overbeat.

Pour into prepared pan(s) and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (about an hour for one large pan - probably about half that time for 8" pans).

Cool completely before frosting.

Almond flavored Ermine Frosting

3 Tbsp. flour
1 c. milk
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 c. sugar
1 c. confectioner's sugar (can leave this out)

Cook milk and flour in saucepan over medium heat until thickened. Add small pinch of salt, mix well and set aside to cool just a bit. Beat butter and sugar together. Add in slightly cooled flour mixture and beat until well incorporated. Add in extract and confectioners sugar to taste.