Neither my hubby nor I are big fans of buttercream and we had no doubt that for our big day we wanted one of our favorite desserts as a wedding cake, namely strawberry shortcake. Of course, that troubled the chef prepping our wedding reception meal because you can’t really make a strawberry shortcake ahead of time. All worked out well eventually and hubby and I had our strawberries and whipped cream with a delicious vanilla cake instead of the traditional shortcake.

I’m sure Diana and Ryder would love to have something similar on their special day! So here’s a simple recipe for you, but you can also substitute a vanilla cake mix if you’d like.

Come back tomorrow for Diana and Ryder’s video wedding album! Remember, leave comments on the blog this week for a chance to win a backlist copy of one of the books in THE CALLING/REBORN Vampire Novels.

Strawberry Vanilla Cake

Ingredients for the cake

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Beat sugar and eggs in a bowl until slightly thick. Add the remaining ingredients and beat on medium for about two minutes. Pour into floured and greased cake pans. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cake pans rest for about 5 minutes then turn out onto racks to cool. Once cool, brush off any excess flour.

Strawberry Filling

1 pint strawberries, washed and sliced

Place 3 tablespoons sugar in the bottom of a bowl. Add about 1/2 cup of the strawberries and mash them together with the sugar. Add the rest of the strawberries, add another tablespoon of sugar and let the mix sit in the fridge for 30 to 40 minutes. If you’d like, you can add a little rum, amaretto, Grand Marnier or some other sweet liquor.

Place one cake layer on a plate. Cover with the strawberry filling. Add the second cake layer and cover with whipped cream.

Whipped Cream Icing

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Beat the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla until you get soft peaks with the cream. About 1 to 2 minutes.

Spread the whipped cream over the sides and top of the strawberry filled cake.