
Ingredients
For the 1234 yellow cake:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup milk
For the strawberry filling:
1 pound fresh strawberries, cut into ¼-inch pieces
½ cup sugar, or to taste (too much is too much!)
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
For the strawberry buttercream:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
5 ounces strawberry puree (from approximately 1 pound strawberries)
8 cups confectionary sugar, sifted
1-2 tablespoons heavy cream, plus more if needed
Directions
Make the yellow cake:- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or 320 degrees for convection). Grease two 9-inch round cake pans with butter.
- Sift flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Scrape down sides of bowl, and add eggs 1 at time, mixing after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
- Alternate adding ⅓ of flour mixture with ⅓ of milk at slow speed, until just barely incorporated.
- Bake until center bounces back to the touch, approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 to 15 minutes and turn onto drying rack to cool completely.
- In stand mixer, beat butter until very smooth. Scrape down sides of bowl and add about 1 ounce of strawberry strawberry puree. Mix just to incorporate.
- Add sugar and remaining puree gradually. Mixture will be quite stiff. Finish by adding heavy cream as needed, beating until frosting is well mixed.
- Cut layers of cake in half horizontally with a serrated knife. Lay cut sides up and spoon strawberry filling onto each side.
- Carefully stack the cake layers back together so that the layers of strawberries are facing each other. Transfer to a cake stand.
- Frost cake with strawberry buttercream and decorate with any extra strawberries.