Strawberry Cake

To start us out I thought it would be nice to go with my first cake that wasn't just a quarter sheet and icing. I have made this cake several times before, and it's one of my favorites because I think it is one of the prettiest cakes and if I can make it look decent I'm sure anyone could. I'm not the most artistically inclined person.

So you take a white mix, add a 6 ounce container of strawberry yogurt, 3 egg whites, 3/4 cup water, 1/3 cup vegetable oil walla.

Put them into two extremely well greased 8 inch round pounds (I don't know about you, but if I don't spray the heck out of them they stick. I hate that, so I spray a lot and they pop out no problem).

Bake (350 for 25-30 minutes) and then let them cool for about ten minutes. Then run a knife between the pan and cake and turn them over onto cooling racks. If you followed my heck greasing advice this should be virtually quick and painless.

While the cakes are cooling I usually cut up the strawberries. I also have to force myself to wait for the cooling process because if I cut them up before I get all antsy while the cakes are cooling and end up attempting all this while they are too warm. First I slice up about three of the bigger strawberries. Slice them thin (as seen below) and put them aside in a bowl.

Then I cut what I call the triangles. I cut a majority of the strawberries this way because they are going to go around the circumference of the cake. Cut off the top, and cut vertically and then horizontally to create four "triangles" from each strawberry.

Then it is time for the first cake to be prepped for icing. Like below. I personally hate having to cut the top off of the cake. It's just asking for trouble with hands like mine, the cake is either going to mess up, or I'm going to be rushed to emergency care with a bloody hand (don't ask me how, I only remember how it won't stop bleeding, I can never figure out how the knife got me). So I like to use plates that dip in slightly and then have the top of the cake facing down, that way it won't be uneven and bulbous when I put the top cake on.

I just take a can of white frosting (usually the regular sized one will work fine, I tend to have some left over) and I frost the first cake like so...

Now it's time for the sliced strawberries. I like to cover as much surface area a possible. I would hate for someone to have to work at getting a strawberry in the middle, there should be ample berry coverage.

Then I put on the top of the cake, with the bottom facing the strawberries (so it's like the cakes are back to back).

Then frost to cover up the gaps and all. Use the frosting liberally, especially cause it kind of seals in the strawberries and their juice (no matter how hard I try they are still a little juicy... I suppose that could be a good thing).

One you have the base on (is that painter talk? Who knows) you are ready to decorate your pallet.

Take the quartered strawberries and line them along the edge of the cake. Just have them all face the same direction and spin the plate around as needed.

Then for kicks I like to put a strawberry arrangement on the top. It changes between different arrangements. Today's is one of the small cute strawberries (whole) flanked by two quarter strawberries.

And there's the cake! Hope you enjoyed and hope you have fun making it! Next week is the Oreo Angel Food cake.