Strawberry Shortcake Cake

This past weekend we were going to make a red, white and blue cake for Memorial Day. When I went to the store though, it seems none of the stores had any blueberries due to recent weather issues.  I did find some tiny containers available at one store, but they were $3.99. Um, no thank you. Two of the stores were supposed to have a bigger size on sale for $1.50, so I was not going to pay more than double for just a few berries.   I did find a great deal on strawberries at Aldi.  A pound container was only .99, so I picked up two.    Kara wanted to make the dessert. Since we only had strawberries, I told her she could make whatever she wanted.  

She loves Strawberry Shortcake, which gave her an idea.  She wanted to try and make a strawberry cake.  We picked up a box of Angel Food cake, and made it using a bundt pan. 

She cut up one of the containers of strawberries. I was not sure she planned to use them on the cake.  

She filled up the hole completely with strawberries. She knew she wanted to cover the cake with something but did not want to use frosting.

 

Every summer I make a Easy 4th of July Strawberry Pie. For this pie, I make a strawberry gel that she thought would be perfect for her cake.   We tried a very similar recipe for the gel, and it made way too much for what we needed. We should have stuck with the orginal amount.  

1 cup sugar 

1 1/4 cups water 

2 Tbsp of cornstarch 

1/4 cup of strawberry jello 

Bring the sugar, water and cornstarch to a boil over medium heat.  Stir frequently.  As the mixture starts to boil it will thicken.  When all of the sugar has dissolved at the strawberry jello, and remove from heat. 

Once the gel had cooled, she covered the cake with it.  She also covered the entire top with more cut strawberries. 

When we cut into the cake, the berries spilled out.  

We added a little whip cream, and this yummy cake tasted just like strawberry shortcake!