Easy Strawberries and Cream Layer Cake Recipe

I'm always craving desserts. They're my weakness. So you'll always see me looking for easy semi-homemade recipes I can make that make me look like an expert baker, but take half the effort. With Valentine's Day just around the corner, this is the perfect and easy recipe to make for yourself, friends or your significant other! 

The first step is to gather all of your ingredients.

You will need:

• 1 box of Vanilla or French Vanilla cake mix - I used Betty Crocker Delights Super Moist French Vanilla because it has pudding inside that makes for a really moist cake.
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil or butter
• 1 cup of water
• 1 container of Cool Whip Original - You can use whichever one you like. I bought the big container but I used about half. 
• 1 container of fresh strawberries - You will use them in three ways: whole, sliced and diced. 
• 1 cake pan - in whichever size you want. I used a medium one.
• Butter to grease up your pan
• String to cut your cake in half. You could also bake two smaller cakes. 

After gathering all of your ingredients, the next step would be to preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Next, you will mix your cake mixture as it is instructed on the box. I always use butter instead of oil and a hand mixer to make sure it was well combined. 

Set your filling aside while you grease up your pan. 

Fill up your cake pan with the cake batter and tap it a few times against the counter so there are no bubbles trapped inside your cake. Bake it for about 35 minutes. 

Once your cake is baking (don't forget to set a timer), you can start cutting up your strawberries. Reserve three whole strawberries for your decoration. I sliced six of them also to decorate around my cake. I also diced ten strawberries to use for the filling of the layers. 

Set your sliced and whole strawberries aside in the fridge until you are ready to decorate your cake. Take your diced strawberries and mix them with 1/2 cup of cool whip to make your layer filling. I folded it with the strawberries gently with a spoon so the cool whip will not lose its creamy whipped consistency. 

 

Reserve your cool whip mixture in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Once your cake has baked and had enough time to cool (whipped cream melts if the cake is still warm). I would say an hour or two should be enough. You can go ahead and half your cake. Outline with a knife and then pass a threading string right through. You will be left with two layers.

On top of the bottom layer, you will place your strawberry and cool whip filling mixture. Spread it evenly before placing the second layer on top of it. You can make as many layers as you want. 

Once your cakes are stacked together you can start frosting it with the cool whip. Use as much as you need and it doesn't matter if it isn't perfectly frosted.  Mine obviously wasn't! 

 

After the cake is frosted, all you have to do is decorate it as you desire! I used the sliced strawberries for the edges and placed the whole strawberries in the middle.

If you have melting chocolate you can cover the whole strawberries in chocolate before placing it on the cake.  If you have amazing frosting skills or a piping bag, you can also make designs along the top. Go crazy and be as creative as you want.

Share with me your strawberries and cream layer cake creations on Instagram by using the hashtag #LoveNashiBakes and tagging me @love_nashi. I'll write to you all soon. 

Love Nashi.