White Strawberry Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream

Mother’s Day is coming up! Mom is a great mom. You know why? Because we get to eat cake for breakfast.

3rd grade Teacher: Alright class, let’s talk about what do you eat for breakfast.
Other students: Eggs! Toast! Cereal and milk!
My brother Hans: CAKE!
Teacher: Uh, what?
Hans: CAKE! 
Teacher: Uh, does your mom know you eat cake for breakfast?
Hans: Yeah, she gave it to me! We have lots of cake in our house!
Teacher: That’s, um, very …. unhealthy.

Mom is very practical and feeds us whatever needs to be eaten to clear the fridge. Like leftover dessert from last night. So at our house, cake is a normal thing to eat for breakfast.

Wedding cake in general is never very tasty and costs a fortune, so I confess I had a crazy idea to bake my own cake. Mom, being wise, was like “uh huh, yes because you have so much time as a medical student,” but let me go ahead and try a test run.

Although I’ve made Peanut Butter Banana and Black Forest layer cakes before, this is the tallest layer cake yet and the first time I’ve frosted the outside. B loves inhales strawberries and cheesecake, so I invented this cake adapting from food.com and frosting from Wicked Good Kitchen. The cake turned out quite good (and I am not a cake person!), especially as the flavors melded together the longer it was refrigerated.

Alas, even making a single tier is plenty of work, and I’ve got mandatory classes to get my MD degree next spring. So unless I can assemble a cake in 1 day after driving across Texas, I probably do have to resign myself to ordering a wedding cake (and Mom wins). B is pretty disappointed I can’t make our cake, but in the meantime, I can always bake, and thus we can always eat cake for breakfast! Thanks, Mom! Happy Mother’s Day!

White Strawberry Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream

Ingredients
WHITE ALMOND SOUR CREAM CAKE
1 (16.25 ounce) box white cake mix (Betty Crocker)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1⁄2 teaspoons salt
1 1⁄3 cups water (optional: sub 1/3 cup Amaretto liquer)
1⁄8 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons almond or vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
4 large egg whites

STRAWBERRY FILLING
1 12 oz bag frozen strawberries
1 lemon, zested
3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

CREAM CHEESE BUTTERCREAM
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 (8-ounce) package chilled cream cheese,
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions
WHITE ALMOND SOUR CREAM CAKE
Preheat oven to 325° F and grease cake pans (I used three 6 inch pans) with cooking spray.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Pour into your three cake pans, filling each pan 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake in oven until cake is done (mine took about 40 min). Baking time will vary according to the size and depth of pans being used.

STRAWBERRY FILLING
Combine the sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over very low heat for 10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved. Add the strawberries and continue to cook over very low heat for 20 minutes, until the strawberries release some of their juices and the mixture boils slowly.

CREAM CHEESE BUTTERCREAM
Using an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Beat in cream cheese and vanilla, continue beating until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of bowl.
Slowly add 2 cups confectioners sugar while beating until well combined. Adjust additional confectioners’ sugar for your desired consistency and sweetness. Buttercream can be stored in the fridge for several days. When ready to frosting cake layers, beat buttercream again to make it smooth.