Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Cream Frosting

I found it fitting to post a cake today in honor of my hubby’s birthday today! Happy Birthday love I hope you have a wonderful day!!

About a month ago my hubby decided to cater lunch for the office and smoked a pulled pork, I made my famous BBQ beans as well as potato salad and a nice BBQ sauce to go with the pork, which I’ll share in an upcoming post). For dessert I didn’t want anything too heavy and I’m sure you’re rolling your eyes at me after seeing how big this cake looks. It’s not as bad as it seems, I like layered cakes, but you could easily make this in a single layer cake pan as well. The cake tasted almost like strawberry shortcake. I loved all of the fresh strawberries in the cake which made you feel like it’s more healthy then what it is haha.

Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Cream Frosting
(Adapted from Perry’s Plate)

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Frosting:
2 8-oz packages of cream cheese, room temperature
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 c powdered sugar
1/2 c seedless strawberry jam
3/4 c chilled heavy whipping cream
Cake:
3 c cake flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 c sugar
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
7 large eggs
2 T vanilla extract
1 c sour cream
6 T plus 1/3 c seedless strawberry jam
2 1/4 lbs strawberries, hulled, sliced (about 6 cups), divided

For the frosting, beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until smooth. You'll probably want to use an electric mixer for this so you don't end up with lumps. Stop every now and then to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Beat in sugar, then jam.

Beat cream in a separate, chilled, bowl until peaks form.

Fold whipped cream into frosting.

Cover; chill for a couple of hours until it's firm enough to spread.

For the cake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans with 2-inch high sides. (I used 8 inch pans and had issues later)

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

Beat in vanilla.

Add sour cream, and beat for 30 seconds.

Add flour mixture in three additions, beating to blend after each addition. (Yep I should have used a larger bowl, but I was too lazy to dirty another bowl.)

Divide batter into prepared pans. (Word of caution do not fill this full, if you use 8 inch pans fill another smaller pan with the rest instead of forcing it all in these pans.)

Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50-60 minutes. (See told you it caused problems, I had a nice mess to clean up later.)

Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes.

Run a sharp knife around the edges of the pans, then turn cakes out onto a rack to cool completely. (You may even want to refrigerate them for a couple of hours to make this next step easier.)

Using a serrated knife, divide each layer in half horizontally. Place one half, cake side down, on a cake plate.

Spread 2 T of strawberry jam over the cake, then spread 3/4 c of the frosting over the jam.

Arrange 3/4 c of the sliced strawberries on top of the frosting in a single layer.

Repeat two more times with cake layer, jam, frosting, and strawberries. Top with remaining cake layer, cut side down.

Spread two cups of frosting over the top and sides of the cake in a thin layer, then frost with remaining frosting. Stir remaining jam to loosen, then spoon teaspoonfuls onto the top and sides of the cake. Use the back of a spoon to swirl jam decoratively into the frosting.

Makes 12 servings.
Nat's Notes:
1. As you can see, I used a 9x13 cake pan and did three layers instead of four. This makes a LOT of cake. (Which seems to justify the pound of butter (between the cake and the frosting) and 7 eggs, no?) It fed well over 20 people at Sophie's party. It does take longer to bake that way. I think I baked it for an hour and 5 minutes or so. Begin the toothpick tests at around 55 minutes, though.