this is the cake

I thought I'd be more direct today. Here's the Strawberry Layer Cake I happened upon while searching for something else. I think this was back in March. Anyway, as soon as I saw it I thought, this is it. This is the Mother's Day cake. Although presentation is not number one on my list of qualifications, it swayed me this time. And yes, I did the strawberries around the base and the fanned berry on top (I really need to start adding pictures). I subbed Greek yogurt for the cream cheese in the frosting which made it a little runny but it firmed up in the fridge. As usual, nobody cared. It was cake; it got eaten.

If you're going to do the decorative (but totally edible!) strawberries, make sure you buy two containers. This way I was able to take out the best berries for the outside and the weird, mushy berries for the cake batter's puree. And I just happened to have some really dark berries, which helped with the pink color. I didn't even bother to use all the food coloring called for.

One more really important note: this is a super-dense cake. Not like what you'd get from a boxed mix. This is the kind of cake where if it says "16 servings" they mean sixteen servings. I honestly don't know how you could eat a bigger piece. It was very good, though. I'd make it again. And Mom approved. That's the most important point.