Old Fashion Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Filling and Frosting

I have made MANY cakes in my day but this has jumped to the top of my favorites list. It was a HUGE hit this year. It was moist and rich but not too over powering. The cake was so delicious there were no left overs! I mean look how amazing it looks!

The cake itself was a delicious vanilla cake recipe I made from scratch with a strawberry jam frosting layered with strawberries. I found the recipe on boymeetsbowl.blogspot.com

Ingredients:

Frosting:

2 - 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam

3/4 cup chilled heavy whipping cream

Optional: Red food coloring

Cake:

3 cups cake flower

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

3 cups sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature (I used 1 stick salted and 1 stick unsalted)

7 large eggs

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

6 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup seedless strawberry jam

2 1/4 pounds strawberries (I only used 2 containers)

Directions:
Start with preparing the frosting. It needs to sit 2 hours before spreading.
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Beat in sugar ( I like to mix mine 1 cup at a time to prevent it from flying all over the place) and jam until well blended.

The pink is very light so I added a few drops of red food coloring to get a more pink tint to it. 

In a separate bowl beat the whipping cream on high until peaks form.

Fold whipped cream into frosting. Cover and chill (about 2 hours) until firm enough to spread.

Now lets start the cake! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

The original recipe calls for using 2 cake pans (with 2 inch sides) You would take those 2 cakes and cut them in half horizontally to make 4 layers. I try to avoid cutting cake when ever possible so I chose to use shallower pans I made 3 layers. Pick which ever method fits best for you. Butter and flour your cake pans.

Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into a medium bowl, set aside.

In a separate bowl blend butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each until well blended. Beat in vanilla and sour cream. Slowly add the flour mixture (Just like the powdered sugar before, add slowly to prevent from the mixture flying up)

Divide the batter into your divided pans. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool  in pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides of  the cake with a knife and turn upside down on your cooling rack and continue to cool completely. 

If you are going to cut the slices, using a large serrated knife, cut both cakes in half horizontally. 

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Now place your first layer on the plate (if you are cutting the cake, place the freshly cut side upwards) 

Spread 2 tablespoons of your seedless jam over the layer, then 3/4 cups frosting, and then layer with washed and sliced strawberries.

Continue this for the remaining layers.

(If using sliced cake, put the remaining layer face down)

Use the reaming frosting to frost the top and sides of the cake. 

The recipe calls to take the remaining jam and spread it on the top of the cake and decorate with strawberries. I decided to go the more simple route and just used sliced strawberries on top on the cake and around the edges of the plate. 

Cover with a dome and refrigerate until ready to be served (Best when cold!)

And yes it is as good as it looks!

Enjoy!