Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch pans. We like to line the bottom of our pans with circles of parchment paper.

Puree fresh or frozen strawberries in a blender or food processor to make 1 cup. (You will use ¼ cup more for the frosting if you'd like to do this now).

In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds and set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and cream cheese and mix at medium speed until smooth.

Gradually add the sugar and mix at medium speed for 2-3 minutes.

Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears. Add a touch of pink coloring gel if you'd like.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the strawberry mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (We did 3 additions of the dry mixture, 2 additions of wet). Slightly increase the mixer speed just until combined.

Divide the batter between the three prepared pans.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack before turning out.

This recipe makes approximately 8 cups of batter. Works for cupcakes also (although there will be little to no dome).

We like to make the whipped cream just before it's time to assemble the cake.

Chill the mixing bowl and beaters/ whisk attachment in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Pour the whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla into the chilled mixing bowl, begin beating on low speed gradually increasing to medium high speed.  

The cream begins to thicken (approx. 1 ½ minutes) and soft to-stiff peaks form- peaks that hold their shape or slightly bend over. Watch closely as this happens quickly.  Do not over beat.

(When assembling the cake, we will also use sliced strawberries between the cake layers)

Put the softened butter in the bowl of your mixer and mix until smooth.

Add the pieces of softened cream cheese to the mixing bowl. The cream cheese should be soft enough that it combines easily into the butter/powdered sugar mixture. Beat on low/medium speed about 1 minute or until the cream cheese is blended in.

Add the powdered sugar, strawberry extract, and ¼ cup strawberry puree. Add a touch of pink coloring gel if you'd like.

Beat on Medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes (a bit longer if using a hand mixer). Scrape the bowl mid-way through. Do not over beat. You can add more powdered sugar if you'd like to thicken it up more. Refrigerating it for 10-15 minutes will also thicken the consistency.

This frosting should be refrigerated.

Place the first strawberry cake layer on the pedestal or cake plate. Pipe a dam of the frosting around the edge of the cake (about ½ inch from the edge) using a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.

Fill the top of the layer with sliced strawberries, followed by a layer of whipping cream (within the dam).

Top with the second layer and repeat above steps. Then top with the third layer.

Fill in any remaining gaps between the cake layers with frosting using the piping bag with tip snipped away. Crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of frosting. Chill in the freezer for 10-15 minutes (or longer in the refrigerator) to firm things up.

Apply second coat of frosting, smooth with bench scraper or spatula. Decorate to your liking- I applied a few strawberries around one side of the cake on top, surrounded by french tip stars (Wilton 6B or similar larger star tip/french tip)