A little over two years ago my older sister got married and had a backyard potluck for her reception. It was a very small and intimate event, and she asked me to make the cake.
It was the begging of June, very hot out, and I had never made a layered cake before and was up until midnight making it because I had work and rehearsal dinner for the ceremony until 9 pm….needless to say, the photos were horrible!
However, the cake was delicious. Superbly DELICIOUS!
The horrible pictures? Yeah, those were pinned, and re-pinned and re-pinned. I think at some point it was my most re-pinned recipe..nooooo!
The pictures have also gotten some not so nice comments (although true, still not so nice to read that someone says ‘the flavors look good, just don’t look at the cake’).
Since then, I’ve made the cake quite a few times, and the thing is, the recipe is spot on, but I always forget to take pictures of it!
It’s one of – if not THE- best cake I’ve ever made! The cake is super dense, yet moist, and holds up very well, then there is layer after layer of deliciousness. Such perfect flavor combinations of the almond butter cream and strawberries. 
I made this cake for my little sister when she graduated from medical school and made a little stencil of a star and filled it with gold sugar! 
And, as Julia Child says: A Party without Cake is just a meeting! So next time you need a fancy cake, this is your winner!
Ingredients
- 1 18.25 ounce package white cake mix
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/3 cups water
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 egg whites
- 2 cups Strawberries finely chopped
- Almond Butter Cream : 3-5 c. confectioners sugar 1 stick. butter at room temp, 1 tbs vanilla, 1 tsp. almond extract and 1-2 Tbsp. milk.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease spring form cake pans (I used 2-8 inch spring form pans for this cake) and place cake pans on top of a cookie sheet to catch any drips.
- Stir together the white cake mix, flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl until well mixed. Pour in the water, sour cream, vegetable oil, almond and vanilla extracts and mix.
- In a clean bowl eat egg whites slightly and then add to other ingredients from previous step, beat with an electric mix on low until all the ingredients are mixed and moistened but it's ok if some minor lumps still remain, about 3 minutes.
- Pour the batter evenly into the two prepared cake pans, and bake in the preheated oven until the top is a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Allow to cool before frosting. Can be made up to three days ahead of time and stored in the fridge before frosting.
- Almond butter cream: In a bowl add butter that is at room temperature and cream with a stand mixer or hand mixer, scrape down sides of the bowl and add extracts and milk, beat with the mixer again until combined. Add powdered sugar until desired texture is reached...mine was somewhere around 4 cups powered sugar.
- When cake has cooled, cut each layer in half (cake will be moist so be careful). Spread a little of the frosting evenly over the layer, then add strawberries, then put the other layer back on. Repeat with each layer of spreading a little bit of frosting and adding strawberries.When you have all layers in place put one layer of thin frosting around the outside of the cake.
- Refrigerate the cake for an hour so that the frosting cool. Then remove from the fridge and put final layer of frosting on.
- For decoration I made a stencil of a star and filled it colored sugar.
Aaron says
I’ve been making this cake for several years and it is my partner’s favorite cake. I make it for him every year for his birthday. I just now found this “smaller” version and I’m looking forward to making it this year for his birthday. I’m excited that hopefully this smaller recipe will allow me to have thinner cake layers and get more of the butter cream and strawberries incorporated into each bite. I have been making the larger version for years and freezing half of the cake and icing it later. I’m always terrified to cut the cakes in half as the first time I did it the cake crumbled. I have been using 4 different pans so I don’t have to cut them. They are standard 8 or 9 inch cake pans and they work great for multiple layers.
Sweetphi says
So so happy to hear this wonderful feedback, thank you so much for taking the time to come back and comment! That’s so sweet you make this for your partners birthday!
Michelle says
Hi! Plan to bake this cake soon. Question about the frosting.. you have ‘1 tbs vanilla’ listed. I just want to confirm if you do actually mean tablespoon or rather is it meant to be tsp? Thanks!
Sweetphi says
Hi – yup, it’s 1 tablespoon. I love a hint of vanilla flavor and find that with a teaspoon you can’t taste it at all. It’s not a strong vanilla flavor with the tablespoon, but that’s how I make it. If you’re more comfortable you could use only a teaspoon, it won’t change the end result 🙂
Hope you love this recipe, it’s one of my all time favorite cakes!!
Michelle says
I’ll def go with the tablespoon. I’m with you on the hint of a vanilla flavor. Thanks for the reply. ?
Michele Walters says
My daughter and I made this cake tonight. We used the double recipe and ran out of time, so we will frost it tomorrow. I’ve made this before and it was amazing. I love almond flavored wedding cakes and this one is better than any I can remember eating. The last one was for Sunday supper with my grown kids. They were fighting over the last piece! My daughter and I have been planning all week to make it again, so we decided to make a wedding cake size. I used 2 different sized springform pans and it baked great in them. I always use extra almond extract in the batter. The frosting is ready also and I will rewhip it tomorrow morning before frosting. I lost the battle for the strawberry filling but I will add some on top of mine. Thanks for sharing such a great cake recipe. BTW, I’m a chef not a baker 😉
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for leaving feedback, so glad you like this recipe!
Annie B says
Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe! I’m excited to make it for my mom for Mother’s Day. I see in the larger version of this recipe — for your sister’s wedding– you had included a jam layer in that recipe. Is it alright if I add that to this version? I assume yes but I did not know if there was a reason it was omitted here or if just the fresh strawberries was preferred. I appreciate the wonderful step-by-step instructions/photos. I will follow up once I have made mine here in a few weeks!
Sweetphi says
Thanks for the question! You can definitely add jam, I just added it after having made this version – I’ve made both with and without jam and it turns out great 🙂
Deb Simon says
I made the cake for my grandson’s baptism and it was awesome!!! The cake had a wonderful flavor and the texture and moistness of a made from scratch cake. I was able to use the frosting recipe for piping as well as frosting the cake. I made 2- 9x13s and used raspberry jam in the center. It was a big cake so I ended up making 3 frosting recipes to have enough frosting. I got many compliments. Thanks so much!
Sweetphi says
Oh my goodness, your comment totally made my day! Thank you! I’m so glad you liked the cake!!
deb says
I am in the process of making this cake. Have it almost ready to frost. So excited! I want to do some piping with the frosting and am wondering if this recipe for frosting will work for piping. Thanks!
Sweetphi says
Hi Deb, I’m actually making the cake this afternoon too to answer just that question! I think the answer is yes, piping it should be a-ok, but I will be able to say that with 100% confidence after I remake it again 🙂
Sweetphi says
Hi Deb, I did remake the cake, and did use a piping bag, although I found it was a little more difficult than spreading the frosting on with a metal spatula.
Katr says
It looks fantastic!! I am curious if you have ever tried this with a yellow cake mix or fench vanilla and maybe omitted the almond flavoring? I love dense cake, but my absolute cake flavor is French Vanilla and my Father-in-law loves yellow cake. I am too lazy to try it and run the risk of it failing, so thought I would ask first?.
Sweetphi says
Have never tried with yellow cake mix, but I’m sure it would be fine – I’d just add a little extra almond extract
Nia says
I made this cake today. It turned out ok just not the texture I was looking for (more dense) but the almond flavor was very good. I made this in the form of a 2 layer “short cake” because I added too much milk to my buttercream ugh so it wasn’t as thick as it should have been
Sweetphi says
Hi Nia, thank you so much for the feedback! I’m so sorry that it did not turn out like you wanted, do you mind if I ask if you followed the recipe or made any adaptations to the recipe? I’ve made this cake a bunch of times and it has turned out consistently dense and moist each time, I’ve also had feedback from others that made this cake with the same result. So sorry you added too much milk to the buttercream (did you try adding more powdered sugar to salvage it? I find that has saved my buttercream a few times when I inadvertently added too much milk). I’m glad you liked the flavors though-it is a delicious cake 🙂
Nia says
I followed the directions exactly as written. But I think I know what happened….I think I overmixed 🙁
BUT I received great reviews from my husband and sister n law (I made it for her bday). I had a small slice and it’s good. I’m rdy to try again to get that dense texture I’m looking for.
I didn’t want to add too much powdered sugar to the buttercream so I left it the way it was….like a drizzle lol. I’ll be trying that again too 🙂
Thanks!
Megan {Country Cleaver} says
Super adorable and this cake looks totally decadent!! Congrats to your sis on her big accomplishment!!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for commenting Megan (I’m having a little fan girl moment here because I love your blog!!) This cake was definitely decadent, and perfect for celebrating my awesome little sis (I’ll pass on the congratulations!)
Cindy @ Pick Fresh Foods says
Wow, not only is this cake beautiful you filled with delicious strawberries! I love your pictures 😀
Sweetphi says
Awe, thanks Cindy, really appreciate your comment about the pictures 🙂
Sugar and Cinnamon says
This cake is stunning! Definitely saving the recipe to give it a try 🙂
andrea rentea says
This cake is delicious, especially the icing was very delicate in flavor. The second day after, it still tasted as good as the first day. It is definitely a “keeper” recipe I will make often.
Sweetphi says
YAY, so glad you liked it! Thank you for your nice comment 🙂
cheri says
Hi Phi, beautiful cake, your sister is one lucky gal, this is really special! Love this!
Sweetphi says
Thanks Cheri! This is the cake I make for special occasions 🙂
Meg @ The Housewife in Training Files says
I am loving this Sweet Sunday! Congrats to your sis – thats fantastic! Keep the sweets coming…I will gobble them up 🙂 Pinned!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for your sweet comment Meg-and I really appreciate the pin, hopefully this version will of this cake will get on pinterest versus the old one lol.