Strawberry Layer Cake

I looked into my refrigerator this morning and saw a pint of strawberry puree and a quart of strawberries and thought, yes, today I will make strawberry cake!

 I headed straight to the cabinet to look on the back of a box of cake flour for a recipe I had noticed there. Alas, Swan's Down did not have the recipe I was looking for, apparently that recipe is on Soft-As-Silk. Not to worry, I made a bee line to the computer, there's nothing Google can't find. I Googled and Googled and could not find the recipe I had in mind.  However, I stumbled upon a recipe that I would never normally make, but I was intrigued by the ingredients: a box of cake mix (not with pudding)? strawberry jello (in powder form)? At first I thought, I'll just whip up my own white cake and add my strawberry puree. Next, I realized I was out of sugar. Well, if a trip to the store was inevitable, why not go ahead and try the recipe as written! What a concept!? This whole strawberry cake was becoming more work than I had anticipated, but I'll go to most any length for a cake!  Here's the recipe for Strawberry Layer Cake:

I'll spare you the pain of my trials and tribulations with this cake and just say I made some switches and substitutions, so much for following the recipe "as written." I found the frosting (when I made it as the recipe instructed) a bit soft, so I added 1/2 cup vegetable shortening and 1 - 2 cups powdered sugar. I'll be honest, I tried the cake and found it perhaps a bit overly moist (And here's why, box cake sneaks pudding into their mix. I was just washing some dishes and glanced down at my recycling, yes, I am recycling non-corrogated cardboard hooray me, go earth, and noticed in small print on the box "with one cup of pudding." Argh. Box cake. Why are you darning me?). The frosting was a bit acidic for my taste. If I make this cake again I might cut down on the frozen strawberries in the frosting by about half and add a teaspoon or so of strawberry flavor for candy.

Strawberry Cake is so wonderfully pink!