Don't judge a cake by it's frosting

My husband's birthday is January 9th, and being so close to Christmas we typically don't have a lot of extra money to spend on a nice gift for him.  He's totally okay with this fact, but that just doesn't fly with me! So each year I make him a gourmet birthday cake- whatever flavor/etc he wants.  It's pretty fun because typically our family doesn't eat cake very often so this once a year splurge is easy to justify.  And it's fun to get my creative baking on!  Usually the cakes each year turn out amazing in both flavor and appearance, this year however, not so much in the appearance.  But don't judge this cake by it's frosting appearance.... it was probably one of the best tasting ones I've ever made!


This year he wanted a Strawberry Shortcake.  So I got my creative hat on and got a plan.

The plan was:  3 layers of white/vanilla cake, the 2 fillings between the layers would be

 1) a cream cheese frosting with fresh strawberries mixed in, and 

2) strawberry glaze (pie filling)

The outside frosting was a homemade whipped cream with cheesecake jello and a little coconut extract. 

After frosting the sides and piping a fun top around the edge I had planned on placing fresh sliced strawberries on the top..... maybe in more glaze I hadn't decided that yet.

So I got the first 2 layers and the 2 fillings put together..... so far so good! (good thing I took a picture at this point.

It was the third layer where the cake met it's doom.

The cake only made it to the frosting getting piped fancy around the top of the third layer before the top layer started to break apart and slowly slide off the edges!

My first reaction was to grab the cake and try to stop it- but it was soon obvious that was futile. So then there was nothing we could do but laugh and take pictures anyway.

*Lesson learned-

The main reason my top layer broke apart was because I was trying to cool it down quickly so I put it on a bowl lid (my plates were too small) and put it in the freezer.  Unfortunately it wasn't set flat and so the cake cracked while being moved and cooling in the freezer.

Also, even though I used 2 cake mixes I didn't evenly proportion the batter out each time (I was using the same pan for each layer) So the last layer was also thinner than the other two.

Next time I will make this cake with plenty of time that I can completely let each layer cool, and on a stable surface.  And I will either use 3 cake mixes or watch my portioning better.

All ugliness aside however, it was one of the best tasting cakes I've ever made!

If you'd like my recipe for the frosting/fillings here they are:

Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling 

(I used this as a cupcake frosting as well)

8 oz cream cheese

1# bag powdered sugar

1 cube (1/2 c.) butter- melted

2 t. vanilla

1 t. coconut extract

1/2 c. fresh strawberries- purred

Mix all together well, add the strawberries last- once the other is mixed well.

If it's too thick you can add a little milk, if it's too thin, add more powdered sugar.

Whipping Cream frosting

1 pint heavy whipping cream

Beat until soft peaks form then slowly add in:

1 t. vanilla

1 t. coconut extract

1/2 of a small box of cheesecake flavored jello powder

powdered sugar to taste- probably about 2-3 cups

Happy Birthday Scott!