This past weekend, it was one of my closest friends' birthday. Everyone was getting together to celebrate at a birthday dinner, so I chose to make a cake for the dessert course as part of my gift to her (since she is always going on about how much she loves my baking). Summer is prime strawberry season, so I chose to make a strawberry cake. But to add a little twist to it, I chose to make a two-tiered cake with a shortbread cookie layer in the middle. So in a sense it's a strawberry shortcake, but a strawberry shortbread cake! For the shortbread cookie recipe, I referred to my favorite cookie cookbook Cookies for Kids' Cancer: Best Bake Sale Cookbook by my friends at Cookies For Kids' Cancer (all sales and proceeds go to children's cancer research).

Ingredients for cake:
 - 2 strawberry cake mix boxes (and required ingredients)
 - 1 carton of fresh strawberries
 - 2 cartons of vanilla or white frosting

Ingredients for shortbread cookies:
 - 2 sticks unsalted butter
 - 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
 - 1/4 cup granulated sugar
 - 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
 - 1/4 tsp kosher salt
 - parchment paper

Preheat your oven to 325F. In a mixing bowl, mix the butter and sugars together until smooth. Then add the flour and the salt, and mix together. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl. The dough should be soft and crumbly. Mold the dough together to form a log and wrap with parchment paper (I ran out of parchment paper and forgot to restock in time, so I used plastic wrap). Place in a ziploc bag and let refrigerate for about 60-90 minutes. Cut up the log into small pieces on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. It's okay if the pieces or the log fall apart in the process - you're making crumbs anyway! Place into the oven and let bake for 20-25 minutes. Place aside to cool. Now preheat your oven to 350F. Cut up small pieces of strawberries on a cutting board. Set aside. Using one box of cake mix, follow the directions and make the strawberry cake batter in a separate mixing bowl. Add some of the chopped strawberries and mix. In another mixing bowl, make the other batch of strawberry cake batter from the second box of cake mix. Add strawberries and mix. Prepare two 9-inch or 8-inch round cake pans by buttering the sides and bottom of the pan (you can also use baking spray). Pour one bowl of batter into each pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Place aside to cool (to speed things up, I cheat and put my cakes in the freezer for 5 minutes). Take one cake out of the pan. Frost the top with a thin layer of frosting. Take the shortbread cookie pieces and crumble them into a bowl. Sprinkle a thick layer of shortbread on top of the frosted cake. Take the other cake out of the pan and place it on top of the other. Now frost the entire cake. Adorn the edges with extra shortbread crumbs and halves of strawberries. Happy eating!  

This past weekend, it was one of my closest friends’ birthday. Everyone was getting together to celebrate at a birthday dinner, so I chose to make a cake for the dessert course as part of my gift to her (since she is always going on about how much she loves my baking). Summer is prime strawberry season, so I chose to make a strawberry cake. But to add a little twist to it, I chose to make a two-tiered cake with a shortbread cookie layer in the middle. So in a sense it’s a strawberry shortcake, but a strawberry shortbread cake! For the shortbread cookie recipe, I referred to my favorite cookie cookbook Cookies for Kids’ Cancer: Best Bake Sale Cookbook by my friends at Cookies For Kids’ Cancer (all sales and proceeds go to children’s cancer research).

Ingredients for cake:
 - 2 strawberry cake mix boxes (and required ingredients)
 - 1 carton of fresh strawberries
 - 2 cartons of vanilla or white frosting

Ingredients for shortbread cookies:
 - 2 sticks unsalted butter
 - 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
 - 1/4 cup granulated sugar
 - 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
 - 1/4 tsp kosher salt
 - parchment paper

Preheat your oven to 325F. In a mixing bowl, mix the butter and sugars together until smooth. Then add the flour and the salt, and mix together. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl. The dough should be soft and crumbly.
Mold the dough together to form a log and wrap with parchment paper (I ran out of parchment paper and forgot to restock in time, so I used plastic wrap). Place in a ziploc bag and let refrigerate for about 60-90 minutes.
Cut up the log into small pieces on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. It’s okay if the pieces or the log fall apart in the process – you’re making crumbs anyway! Place into the oven and let bake for 20-25 minutes. Place aside to cool.
Now preheat your oven to 350F. Cut up small pieces of strawberries on a cutting board. Set aside. Using one box of cake mix, follow the directions and make the strawberry cake batter in a separate mixing bowl. Add some of the chopped strawberries and mix. In another mixing bowl, make the other batch of strawberry cake batter from the second box of cake mix. Add strawberries and mix.
Prepare two 9-inch or 8-inch round cake pans by buttering the sides and bottom of the pan (you can also use baking spray). Pour one bowl of batter into each pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Place aside to cool (to speed things up, I cheat and put my cakes in the freezer for 5 minutes).
Take one cake out of the pan. Frost the top with a thin layer of frosting.
Take the shortbread cookie pieces and crumble them into a bowl. Sprinkle a thick layer of shortbread on top of the frosted cake.
Take the other cake out of the pan and place it on top of the other.
Now frost the entire cake. Adorn the edges with extra shortbread crumbs and halves of strawberries.

Happy eating!