Strawberry Layer Cake

Hi Everyone! Happy Weekend! I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day and are having a good weekend so far! It was a cold and snowy Valentine’s Day for us here in Maryland, so we decided to stay in, and my husband made the most delicious crab stuffed lobster for dinner. It was amazing! I wanted to share my Valentine’s dessert, this Strawberry Layer Cake, with you today, since it was so good and very simple to make, and would be perfect for any party, special occasion or birthday! The beautiful cake consists of layers of classic yellow cake, sweetened whipped cream and fresh strawberries, but you could definitely use other berries, do more layers or use chocolate cake instead of yellow cake, there are so many variations you could make! Here is how I made mine…

1 yellow cake (You can use a store bought mix or make your own with THIS recipe)

2 cups heavy cream

2 tbs confectioners’ sugar

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Strawberries and/or other berries

1. First, make your cake. If you are using a store bought mix, just follow the directions on the box to make the cake, or use this recipe to make your cake. Once you have your batter ready, pour it into two greased round pans (either 8-inch round pans or 9-inch round pans) and bake for about 20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean (if you are using a box mix, follow baking instructions on the box). Once the cakes are baked, let them cool completely.

2. To make your whipped cream, whip the heavy cream with the whisk attachment in your mixer. As soon as the whipped cream starts thickening, add in the sugar and vanilla extract (add more/less sugar and vanilla to get your desired sweetness) and whisk again until the whipped cream is nice and thick (but make sure you don’t over mix so you don’t end up with butter!)

3. Clean your strawberries and halve them (leave a couple whole with their stems on to use on top of the cake). Place one of the cooled cakes on a cake stand or your serving plate (you may need to trim the top using a knife if it’s super bumpy!) and spoon about half of the whipped cream on top, leaving about a half inch boarder around the edges, then place half of the cut strawberries on top. Top it with the second cake and press it down gently so you can see the whipped cream and strawberries around the edges. (If it seems like the cake is going to slide off, you can secure it with a couple toothpicks.) Spoon the second half of the whipped cream on top of the second cake, creating pretty swirls, then arrange the rest of the cut strawberries on top, and add the whole strawberries.

 Happy Baking, Everyone!