This recipe is just for the cake, if you'd like a tutorial on the petal style frosting, please go here. The idea for this cake was inspired by Life Love & Sugar and the white cake recipe was adapted from Woodland Bakery Blog

What you need:
For the Cake:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (I used regular vanilla extract so my cake wasn't stark white, use clear for very white cake)
7 egg whites, room temperature
1 cup milk (I used 2%, full fat will work as well)

For the Filling:
Dulce De Leche (you can find my recipe here, or you can buy it pre-made at many stores)
1 1/2 cups of sliced strawberries (cut off the tops and make sure they are completely dry)
Butter cream frosting (recipe can be found here)

What to do:
For the Cake:
Pre heat oven to 350 F. Grease two 8 or 9 inch cake pans, and set aside. 

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until it is nice and fluffy or approximately 5 minutes on medium speed (you will notice a change in texture from a grainy sand like texture to a cohesive smooth lump).  Note: If you have a stand mixer, use it with the paddle attachment. If not, I used a handheld electric mixer and it did the job perfectly. 

In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl mix together the egg whites, vanilla, and milk, gently beat it with a fork for a few seconds. 

Once your butter/sugar mixture is ready, turn your mixer to low and add 1/3rd of the flour mixture to it, mixing for 30 seconds. Then add 1/2 of the egg mixture, beating for an additional 30 seconds or until the liquid is absorbed. Add another 1/3rd of the flour mixture and beat, add the remaining 1/2 of the egg mixture, and then finally the last 1/3rd of the flour mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined but do not over beat the mixture, 30 seconds should be sufficient. 

***Note: We add the wet and dry components in intervals to ensure that all of the ingredients become well incorporated without over-saturating either ingredient, as Gretchen says***

You can see how nice and white the cake is even though I used a dark vanilla extract. Once the batter is done, pour into the prepared cake pans and place in the oven for approximately 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Remove from the oven, allow the cake to cool in the pan for approximately 15 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Once your cake has cooled, cut the dome off the top to get a flat surface. Then cut the cake in half, trying your best to keep it as straight as possible. Do this with both cakes, to give you four layers. Check out this video for a nifty tip on how to keep your layer cakes straight http://www.foodlve.com/food/how-to-keep-layer-cakes-straight.

Place the butter cream frosting in a piping bag with with a large round tip (#12 Wilton works well) or just cut the tip off a disposable one, as I have done. Place a dollop of frosting on to a cake board, this just helps the cake stick to the board without sliding around while you work. 

Place one layer of cake on the board and pipe frosting around the edge. This will be your border so that the filling doesn't seep out of the sides when you stack the layers. 

Spread a layer of the dulce de leche on the cake, if it is too thick heat it for 20 seconds in the microwave until you can work with it but don't make it hot.

Add a layer of strawberries. ***Note: it is very very important that the strawberries are completely dry, otherwise you'll end up with a goopy mess inside the cake, dry each strawberry then place on a paper towel after slicing, place another paper towel on top to really pull out the moisture***

Place another cake layer on top and repeat the previous steps of frosting wall, dulce de leche and strawberries. Continue until you reach the last layer. Place the last cake layer a top your master piece and marvel in it's beauty. 

In a small bowl take a small amount of frosting and add a few teaspoons of milk to thin it out a bit. Spread this onto your cake, this is called the crumb coat. It catches all the crumbs to give you a smoother finish when you apply your final layer of frosting. 

Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to stiffen up. 

Remove from fridge and frost with remaining butter cream frosting in any way you like. If you'd like a tutorial on the petal cake frosting, click here.