I made this last weekend...another good way to use the nice strawberries we have right now.

Strawberry Country Cake (From Ina Garten's "Parties")

Makes two 8-inch cakes

3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), room temp.
2 cups sugar
4 extra large eggs (I used large)
3/4 cup sour cream, room temp.
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1/2 tsp. orange zest
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. baking soda

Filling for each cake:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour two 8-inch cake pans, then line with parchment or wax paper.

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt and baking soda; set aside. Cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy. On medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, then the sour cream, zests and vanilla, scrapping down the bowl as needed. Mix well. On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and combine until smooth.

Pour the batter evenly into pans, smooth the top with a spatulla and bake in center of the oven for 40-45 min. Let cool in pans for 30 min., then remove to wire racks and let cool to room temperature. (If desired, cakes can be wrapped and frozen at this point...up to two months.)

To make the filling for one cake, whip the cream, add the sugar and vanilla. Slice one of the cakes in half. Place the bottom slice on a serving platter, spread half the whipped cream and scatter with sliced strawberries. Cover with the top slice of cake and repeat with the cream. Garnish top with more berries, if desired.

Champagne, this sounds so delicious. I have copied and pasted it and will try to make it this weekend, time permitting, for company. Thanks for posting it.

Thanks for posting this recipe -- the cake recipe looks great, even without the toppings!

I did a quick )))))) search to see if I could watch Ina making that cake. Instead, I came up with a very sweet )))))) on two young boys who looked through Ina's cookbook and decided that this was the cake they wanted for the birthday party. To see the )))))), just copy and paste the link below. You have to scroll down past the pig (it's also the pig's birthday, as well as one of the boys, the 6 year old.) Even the part at the end is good where they run out of strawberries because one of the boys ate too many, so they added peaches and marshmallows.

http://steamykitchen.com/4574-barefoot- ... -cake.html

I am in the mood for summer cakes, now!

Marlene

Marlene, that is just adorable!!! I hope Ina Garten got to see it, too!

Champagne,

Isn't that little clip (avoiding the v word, LOL) cute? You can tell it was not staged or rehearsed. I love the part where he picks up the entire jug of vanilla, LOL.

I really DO want to make this cake, and I know Ina would love that those boys chose that one to bake for the birthday.

Marlene

Ditto!