Description
Okay, so I first heard about “earthquake cake” from my neighbor Karen (who, let’s be honest, usually burns water). But when she brought this over to our block party, I literally ate three pieces and asked for the recipe. It’s called earthquake cake because it looks like a beautiful disaster happened in your pan – the cream cheese layer creates these amazing cracks and swirls throughout the cake that look like, well, earthquake fissures. But in the BEST possible way. The strawberry version? Pure genius. It’s like if strawberry cheesecake and chocolate cake had a baby, and that baby was absolutely perfect.
Ingredients
Scale
For the Cake Base:
- 1 box strawberry cake mix (or white cake mix if you can’t find strawberry)
- 1/2 cup butter, melted (the real stuff, not margarine – we’re not animals)
- 1 egg
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut (adds amazing texture, but skip if you’re anti-coconut)
- 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (totally optional, but adds great crunch)
For the Cream Cheese Layer:
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened (leave it out for like 2 hours, or soften in the microwave for 30 seconds)
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3 eggs
- 1 box powdered sugar (about 1 lb)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup strawberry preserves or jam (the chunky kind is perfect)
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, diced small (frozen works too, just thaw and drain them)
For the Topping (optional but why would you skip it?):
- Extra fresh strawberries, sliced
- Whipped cream or Cool Whip
- A drizzle of strawberry sauce
- Maybe some white chocolate shavings if you’re feeling fancy