White Layer Cake with Strawberry Filling

Rough-chop 1½ pounds (about 3 cups) strawberries.

Halve the remaining 1-pound strawberries and reserve for the topping.

In a large saucepan, whisk together water and cornstarch until smooth.

Add strawberries, sugar and salt; stir well.

Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring often. After the strawberries cook about 3 minutes, mash about half of them.

Continue cooking and stirring the mixture until thickened, about 15 minutes.

Remove from heat.

Add lemon juice and stir well.

If desired, add red food coloring; stir well.

Pour mixture into a heat-resistance, air-tight refrigerator container. Cool to room temperature, stir, cover and refrigerate until ready to use (at least 2 hours and up to 5 days).

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the whipping cream on medium-high speed until thickened. Add ½ cup confectioners’ sugar and whisk until very stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Place cream cheese, ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, almond and salt in another mixing bowl. Whisk on medium-high speed for 4 minutes, scraping downs the sides as needed, until creamy and fluffy.

Add the whipped cream and whisk, on low speed, until fully incorporated.

Increase the speed to medium-high and whisk until light and fluffy and the mixture has firm peaks.

Keep refrigerated in an airtight container up to 24 hours

Adjust the oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325°F.

Line 2 (if making a 4-layer cake) and 3 (if making a 3-layer cake) 8×3-inch aluminum cake pans with parchment and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl; set aside.

Add butter, coconut oil, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment. Set the mixer to low to moisten, then switch to medium speed and cream until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping as needed.

With the mixer running, add egg whites, one at a time.

Add vanilla and almond extracts and mix 30 seconds.

Scrape down the bowl and paddle.

Set mixer to low speed and slowly add one-third of the flour, followed by one-third of the buttermilk. Mix just until each addition is roughly incorporated. Add the remaining flour and milk, alternately, one-third of each at a time. Mix just until smooth.

Turn off the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape all dry ingredients from the bottom. Mix on low speed just until dry ingredients are incorporated.

Divide batter evenly between the prepared cake pans and bake about 40 minutes or until the cakes internal temperature registers 210°F. The cakes should be pale, brown around the edges and firm. A toothpick inserted in the middle of each cake should come out almost clean – with just a few crumbs attached.

Transfer cakes to a wire rack and cool 15 minutes. Remove cakes from the pans and remove the parchment. Return them to the wire racks to cool completely.

If not serving the cake within a couple of hours, wrap the cake layers tightly with plastic wrap up to 24 hours ahead. Keep the frosting and filling refrigerated until ready to frost.

If the Whipped Cream Frosting is too stiff to spread, leave it on the counter for about 15 minutes, stir or beat it for a few seconds and it should be good as new.

Place one cake layer on a plate or cake stand and spread about 1½ cups Whipped Cream Frosting on top. Spread it evenly while building a ½-inch “barricade” of frosting around the edge to keep the filling from leaking out.

Add about ½ cup Fresh Strawberry Filling in the middle of the frosting and spread it out evenly to the frosting “barricade”.

Add the next layer of cake and add the filling and frosting as before.

After adding all the layers, frost the sides of the cake with Whipped Cream Frosting.

For the top of the cake, arrange halved strawberries as desired.

Refrigerate until ready to serve and serve within 6 hours.

Enjoy!