This cake has gone down in the records as my husband's favourite cake yet. I'll never admit this to him, but it's also one of the easiest cakes to make. It's so light and fresh with real cream and fresh strawberries and perfectly moist, it's definitely a crowd pleaser.

***Please note, I tripled this recipe to get a very tall cake, you can double it, triple it or keep it the same depending on how tall you want it and how many people you'd like to serve***

Ingredients:
Cake Mix (that's right ladies and gents, I'm using cake mix. I used Duncan Hines Golden Yellow)
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1 packet vanilla pudding mix
1 cup sliced strawberries (make sure the strawberries have been washed and DRIED well, otherwise they will make your cake too mushy)
2 cups heavy cream (35%, whipping cream)
1 unflavoured gelatin packet (I always use Knox)
1 tablespoon boiling water
1/3 cup powdered sugar.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. 

When I'm in a rush and I need to make a cake and just don't have the time to make it from scratch, I have a little trick that makes boxed cake taste like homemade. I tweak the recipe just a touch, by adding an extra egg, a packet of vanilla pudding and substituting the liquid component with sour cream. Using an electric mixer combine your cake mix, eggs, sour cream, vanilla pudding mix and vegetable oil and mix on low for 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium-high and mix for another minute or two. 

Pour the mix into a greased 9 inch cake pan and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. 

Carefully remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes. Remove it from the cake pan and let it cool completely. 

In the meantime, prepare your whipped cream. In a clean dry bowl, add your whipped cream and powdered sugar and beat until medium peaks form. In a small bowl combine the gelatin with the boiling water and mix until the gelatin is dissolved (you have to move quickly otherwise the gelatin will set). Pour the gelatin into the whipped cream, while beating the cream otherwise you will get lumps of gelatin through out. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form, approximately an additional minute. 

To assemble:
Cut the top of your cake as needed to create a flat surface, then cut your cake into two even layers. Place a flat layer of strawberries onto the bottom layer of the cake. Spread 1/2 of the whipped cream mixture on top of the strawberries. Place the second cake layer on top of the whipped cream. Frost the rest of your cake with the remaining whipped cream and decorate the top with sliced strawberries.