Cool Lemon Cake with Strawberries

This cake has a little story behind it. Recently I flew to Alberta to meet our newest little grandson. While there we also celebrated our daughter's birthday. I asked her what kind of cake I could make her, and she asked for something cool and fresh. Lovella had just posted a recipe for Cool Lime Cake. I went through my daughter's pantry and fridge and found everything but the sweetened condensed milk. There was no time to run to the store so I decided to go with a white cake mix, and frost it with a mixture of lemon pudding and whipped cream. For the filling between the cake layers I sliced fresh strawberries and used 1/4 of the pudding and cream mixture.

Having several cake mixes and instant pudding packages in the pantry are always a good idea. Fresh, frozen or canned fruit come in handy for a quick filling.

Make sure you have a peek at Lovella's Cool Lime Cake. It has a few more ingredients and steps, but will be worth the effort.

Ingredients:

• 1 box white or lemon cake mix
• 1 box instant lemon pudding
• 1 pint cream
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• strawberries, enough to put in the middle layer and some for the top.

Method:

1. Bake cake according to instructions in 2 round pans or a 9x13.
2. Cool cake.
3. Make pudding as directed on package using 1/2 cup less milk.
4. Whip cream along with sugar and vanilla until peaks form.
5. Fold cream and pudding together,
6. Slice up strawberries.
7. Place one of the round cakes on a cake plate.
8. Spread some of the whipped cream mixture on the cake.
9. Place a layer of sliced strawberries over the cream and top with the second cake.
10. Frost the cake with the remaining cream and pudding mixture, and decorate with strawberries.