Celebrate Mother’s Day with strawberry-filled cake

Mother’s Day is, of course, a day to celebrate moms.

The first Mother’s Day took place in Grafton, West Virginia, and Philadelphia in 1908, thanks to the work of Anna Jarvis. By 1914, Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

Today, there are an estimated 43.5 million mothers in the U.S., and that’s just counting between the ages of 15 and 50. In the past year alone, 3.9 million women between ages 15 and 50 gave birth. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

We shower moms with flowers and jewelry and perfume, thanking them for their love, guidance, sacrifice and friendship. We don’t take Mother’s Day lightly, though. Many have lost their mothers, or never knew them. Our hearts ache, too, for the women who are unable to become mothers.

Abraham Lincoln, who lost his mother when he was young, is credited with saying, “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Those of us who are in close relationship with our mothers cherish that relationship, knowing it has been severed, or never even begun, for others.

“I realized when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know.” — Mitch Albom

Desserts

My mom’s birthday falls either on or around Mother’s Day each year, so she gets double the celebration.

Our Mother’s Day consists of my mom’s favorite: desserts. She’ll pass up breakfast in bed, a fancy dinner for dessert or new jewelry for dessert. My grandma’s the same way, so I get it honestly from them.

Strawberry-filled cake

The one treat my mom requests each year for her Mother’s Day/birthday extravaganza is a strawberry cake. It’s a white cake with a layer of strawberries (with the gel that makes strawberry pies so good!). Ice it with whipped frosting and add more of that delicious strawberry-gel combo on top. That’s it. Easy. It’s almost as good as dipping fresh strawberries in a container of whipped topping.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the cake:

• 1 pkg. white cake mix (plus ingredients listed on box)

1. Follow directions on cake mix box.
2. Pour batter evenly into two 8-inch round cake pans.
3. Bake as directed on box.
4. Allow to cool completely before adding filling and icing cake.

For the strawberry filling:

I referenced this Strawberry Cake Filling recipe from AllRecipes, but use fresh strawberries instead. Allow filling to chill in the refrigerator for about 4-8 hours after it has cooled completely from the stovetop. This will thicken the filling and make it less messy to spread on the cake later.

For the frosting:

You can use one 16 oz. can of whipped white frosting, or make frosting from scratch for this cake. Try McCormick’s whipped vanilla buttercream frosting recipe.

Putting the cake together

Once the cakes have cooled, remove from pans. Place one of the cakes on a plate. Spread some of the strawberry filling on top of the cake. You can make the filling about ¼-inch thick. Place the second cake on top.

Frost sides and top of cake with whipped frosting as desired. Spread remaining strawberry filling on top of cake.

If you want to, you can further decorate the cake by piping a border around the top and bottom, or writing on top of the cake in icing.

Refrigerate the cake and serve cold.

By the way, Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. And Happy Birthday.

Have you made this cake? Tell us what you think in the comments below!