4th of July Strawberry Cake

When I asked what I could bring to the 4th of July Cookout at William's Uncle Barney's house, his Aunt Lisa responded with, "a dessert - it's your specialty."  Ummmm, I'm guessing she meant my sister or my mom?  Because baking is definitely not my specialty.  I've only baked one cake, ever.  And although I do try and enjoy attempting cookies, muffins, and cupcakes, I rarely do so for a crowd.  Remember this disaster?

But, they asked for a dessert, so dessert it is!  I went all in, and four hours later, had a delicious Strawberry Short Cake.  The Pioneer Woman came through, again.  But it wasn't without a few bumps along the way.

My mom knew I was attempting the challenge of a cake, so when I called her, and said, "I already messed up,"  she started laughing.  I added a Tablespoon of Vanilla to the batter instead of a teaspoon and called to inquire whether or not I needed to start over.  She assured me it was fine and to continue.

Wills didn't seem to mind the extra vanilla.

I chopped and mashed a pound and a half of strawberries.  This was the only easy part.

Getting the cakes out of the pans was a joint effort of banging on the top with fists and spoons and finally just turning it over to William and closing my eyes.  I was scared to watch.  Surprisingly, with a little patience, we were on to the next step.

I don't have any pictures of the cream cheese icing process.  The recipe called for 1 1/2 pounds of powdered sugar.  Seriously?  Pounds?  I called my mom.  She started to explain, google, and ask questions about the size of the bag of powdered sugar I bought.  At this point, I was 3 hours in, the kitchen was a disaster, the slightest bit of sunshine was starting to peek through the clouds we've been covered under for days, Wills was restless, and I was ready to be DONE and head to the pool.  "Can you just tell me how much to put in?"  She responded and said about 5 1/2 cups.  Sorry, and thank you, Mom.

At this point, the only measuring cup left untouched and clean was a half cup.  I wasn't about to wash dishes, yet.  I told William to stop talking because I had to keep count of the 10 and a half times I needed to refill this cup.  I lost count at three and ended up dumping in most of the bag.  Whatever.  I was over it.  All in all, I tasted it before icing the cake, and it was perfect.

A little 4th of July garnish.

I'm glad that's over.

Happy 4th!  By the way, the cake was a hit!