Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling

Three months ago I made my son his second birthday cake. As I was planning the party I found a vanilla cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting on pinterest. Let me tell you, it was love at first sight. It looked so good, I knew I had to try it. I wanted to do a trial run because, what if it wasn't? But, as luck would have it, I ran out of time. I had never made a vanilla cake from scratch, and to be honest, I was really concerned when I read the ingrediants. It called for things I didn't have in my kitchen and I don't like making substitutions the first time I try a recipe. I just wasn't sure it would turn out well. I debated on what to do since I knew I wasn't going to have time to redo it and decided on using this vanilla buttermilk cake recipe from Lick the Bowl Good. I really cannot say enough about this blog. I have tried several of her recipes and they all turn out really good. I have never met her or spoken to her, so my opinion is in no way tainted. She just has really good recipes. Because I've used her recipes before and had a lot of success, I felt more comfortable knowing what the finished product would be then someone I've never heard of before. I've had complete disasters before from random people and I didn't want to risk it with a birthday cake.

The one thing I was really worried about is the size of the cake. I wanted to make a 9x13 size sheet cake because I wanted to decorate the top of it, but because I wanted to do a filling, I needed enough for two layers. The Vanilla Cake recipe I used made plenty for me to do this, so I was really really happy. I didn't have to use all the strawberries it called for in the strawberry cream cheese frosting because I only did one layer. I used maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of the strawberries it called for. I spread the cream cheese frosting out and then laid sliced strawberries on top. I put the second layer on and frosted it in the remaining cream cheese frosting. It tasted really good, but I kept having to stick it into the freezer because it was kind of soft. It wasn't very good for decorating. Oh well, live and learn. I used a buttercream recipe to decorate the guys and write "Happy Birthday."

I made this again this past weekend for Memorial Day, which I don't like to repeat recipes because I have so many to try..haha! I used fresh locally grown strawberries we picked a few days previously and decorated the cake with blue frosting to make it red white and blue.

This cake recieved more compliments then anything I've ever made. I had people come back up for seconds, so you know that's a good sign. :)  Seriously, go make it! And splurge on the ingredients, get the buttermilk and get the cake flour, you won't regret it!

Stop on over to Lick the Bowl Good for the Vanilla Buttermilk Cake recipe.

Check out Perry's Plate for their recipe for the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting. Or you could always make the recipe they give with it. It has a lot of good reviews, I just wanted to stick with what I know. :)