Did you drool over the strawberry layer cake in August Living like I did? What a gorgeous looking cake. I had the perfect excuse to make it – I needed to send something over to my sweet tooth uncle.

The layers were a basic cake but included buttermilk which added moistness. (beat 2 sticks butter with 1 3/4 cup sugar. Add 4 eggs. Alternate 1 1/3 c buttermilk with dry mixture of 3 cups flour, 2 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and 1 tsp salt. Then add 1 tbsp vanilla. Bake in 2 round cake pans in a 350 degree oven. Martha says to bake for 40 min but when I checked mine at 30 min they were a bit past done, so check them at 25 min).

Once you’ve baked the layers, you cut both in half horizontally. Now you take 2 lbs of strawberries and mix with 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Let that sit for half an hour and drain off the juice and reserve it.

Whip up 2 cups of heavy cream with 3 tbsp powdered sugar. Get 1 1/2 cups of rhubarb or strawberry jam ready (I used strawberry).

To assemble, brush 1/3 of the strawberry juice on, then 1/3 of the jam, then add 1/3 of the berries and 1/3 of the whipped cream. Put on the next layer and repeat. Then do the third layer the same way. Top with the 4th layer. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Dust the top with powdered sugar.

It did turn out to be a pretty cake but I have some issues. First of all, it didn’t knock my socks off with flavor. It was almost bland. The problem with this is you drain all the juice off the berries and you are left with mealy, tasteless berries. Not a good situation. The cake layers were moist and tasty, but just a plain white cake. I wouldn’t make this again. Sigh. At least it looked nice.

Did you drool over the strawberry layer cake in August Living like I did? What a gorgeous looking cake. I had the perfect excuse to make it – I needed to send something over to my sweet tooth uncle. The layers were a basic cake but included buttermilk which added moistness. (beat 2 sticks butter … Read more →