Strawberry Whipped Cream Cake

 When K was younger, she was my assistant in the kitchen. She liked to measure, cream butter and sugar and always, lick the bowl or beater. Eventually though, she decided that she wanted to try baking on her own. Muffins and cookies became her own projects. We would choose a recipe together and I would be banished from the kitchen. At first, a yell would come from the kitchen every few minutes: "Is the butter fluffy enough?" "Can you help me separate the eggs?" "Does the frosting look ready to you?" "Can you put the pan in the oven?" "Can you test to see if it is done?" 

Cakes though, remained a joint project. But at some point this year, she decided that she could do them on her own as well. She would choose a recipe, or more often, come up with an idea. My job was to purchase any missing ingredients from a list she provided and to let her work on her own. Except, it turns out, when it comes time to cut the cake into layers. That she says "is still too hard for me to do yet. Yet." 

Here is what she has to say about her Easter Cake. "I decided I wanted something with strawberries. So I based it off of the same recipe as I used for the St. Patrick's Day cake, from one of the cakes we tested for Caitlin. 

First up, I cut strawberries and mixed them with sugar, so they would be juicy and sweet.
Then I made the cake. It was a basic yellow cake. I did use vanilla paste and vanilla salt, but beyond that I followed the recipe.
After the cake was done, we let it cool completely, overnight. I did not want to wait. 
On Easter day, I made whipped cream. I added the juice from the strawberries, to make the cream sweet and turn it kind of pink. Then Mama cut the cake into two layers for me. 

I put the strawberries on top of the bottom layer. Once the top was on, I frosted it with the whipped cream. I put a couple of whole strawberries on for decoration. It was really good."

For the cake: There are a lot of good basic cake recipes available and most bakers have a favorite. The recipe that K used, from Modern Art Desserts by Caitlin Freeman, can be found here. Her modifications to it were to use vanilla paste rather than extract, to sub vanilla salt for plain salt and to bake in a 9-inch pan.

Simple Strawberry Filling
Many strawberry compotes use lemon, K opted not to include it. 

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5 cups fresh strawberries, cleaned and hulled
1/2 cup sugar

Cut the strawberries in half, or quartered if they are especially big.
Combine them with the sugar and toss with your hands to incorporate.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 2 hours, until the strawberries soften and are swimming in a good amount of juice.
Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
To use: drain the juice from the strawberries, reserving both. 

Strawberry Whipped Cream

1 pint whipping cream

Juice from the cut strawberries

In a mixer whip your cream until it forms soft peaks. Add your strawberry juice and continue whipping until well combined.