Strawberry Layer Cake

First get the butter for the buttercream out of the fridge and let it soften. We left ours on the counter for around half an hour and it was good to go. Softened butter would be a bit cool to the touch and when you press it with your finger, there should be an indentation. Cold butter won’t work and warm butter won’t work either.

Using a whisk, beat together 3 eggs, 2/3 cup milk, and ¼ cup oil in a large bowl until fully combined. Then add in 1 packet of Pillsbury Strawberry Cake Mix and continue mixing for 2-3 minutes or until there are no large lumps left in the batter.

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. For baking the cake, we have used three 7-inch round trays. Grease each tray with ½ tsp unsalted butter and evenly divide the cake batter between the three pans. Gently tap each tray on the counter top to even out the batter and pop any large air bubbles.

Bake the cakes at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted to the centre comes out clean. After baking, set the cakes aside for 15 minutes to cool down and then leave them in the refrigerator for another 20 minutes.

Next, prepare the buttercream for the cake. For this, in a large bowl, beat 180g unsalted butter (softened to room temperature) using a hand-held electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute or until it is soft and fluffy.

Then sift in 1 cup powdered sugar and fold with the butter using a spatula until semi combined. This will help to avoid mess. Continue to whip the butter and powdered sugar together using the mixer on low speed for another minute until combined. By now, it will be a pale yellow in colour.

Lastly, add 6 tbsp whipping cream, 3 tbsp strawberry jam, and ½ tsp vanilla essence and whip until fully combined. The whipping cream will help to create a smoother, pliable buttercream. Once done, the butter cream should be a pastel pink in colour and smooth with no lumps. Add the buttercream to a piping bag will a large nozzle and set aside. If the jam is a bit runny, the buttercream might turn out to be runny as well, so pat dry the liquid from the jam or discard the liquid before mixing in with the whipping cream.

To prepare the strawberry sauce, add 1 cup finely diced strawberries, 2 ½ tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp lemon juice to a small saucepan. On medium low heat, stir and cook the strawberries for 6-7 minutes or until it becomes saucy and soft. You can squish the large strawberry pieces using a spatula to create a pulpier sauce. The sauce will be bright red in colour when cooked. Set aside.

Now onto assembling the cake. First, place one cake layer at the bottom of the serving plate/board upside down (this way the top will be more even). Spread a very thin layer of buttercream on top (around 2-3 tbsp).

Then pipe a ring of buttercream around the edge of the cake (leaving 1 cm from the edge) and using a spatula, smoothen it towards the middle. Make sure to leave some of the buttercream on the edge untouched to create a “wall” so that the filling will stay in the cake without leaking.

After that, add half of the strawberry sauce in the middle of the buttercream ring and spread evenly. Then place the second cake layer on top and repeat the same process on top.

Once the top layer is also filled, place the last cake layer on top. Spread the rest of the buttercream around the cake and smoothen it using a spatula to create a nice even coat. Optionally, you can use some strawberry slices to decorate the top of the cake.