Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Frosting (gluten Free, dairy free)

Sweet pinkness...my five year old daughter wanted a pink cake with pink frosting for her birthday.  My way of finding a recipe that is suitable for her dietary needs is just to google "strawberry cake" and see what recipes pop up.  Then, how hard can it be to make substitutions and come up with something yummy?  Right, not so hard, but type in "gluten free dairy free" and up pops all these difficult, ridiculous, xanthan gum-sweet rice flour-filled recipes that would cost me $40 just to buy the ingredients, and in my case, be 95% sure to flop and be disgusting.  This is the recipe I came across, laced with a couple alterations.  Piece of cake.

Cake:

1 pkg gluten free white cake mix (I used Whole Foods' store brand)

1 pkg strawberry jello (if you want a different flavor, and pink color will do)

1 cup oil

4 eggs

1/4 cup water

3/4 cup mashed strawberries, fresh or frozen--just strawberries, not with sugar added

Preaheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour your cake pan(s).  Combine the cake mix and jello.  Beat in the remainder of ingredients till blended, and pour into either a 9x13 baking pan or two round 9 inch cake pans.  Bake for approximately 30 mins.

Frosting:

1/2 cup margarine

1 lb powdered sugar

Beat those two together and add:

1/4 cup mashed strawberries 

Cool the cake thoroughly on wire rack--you can dump the round cakes out of their pans after 10 mins. to finish cooling.  Frost.  A small tip:  I like to frost a cake several hours before it is going to be eaten, and let it sit out at room temp so the frosting kinda hardens on the outside, locking in the moisture on the inside.  Its like a "curing" process, in my opinion.  

After serving, this cake does require refrigeration.