Mother's Day Lunch

There's a local meat market that sells bacon hamburgers and charges you the price of gold for them. So for lunch today I decided to try to mimic their burgers in a cheaper fashion. I chopped up bacon and added it to the burger mixture - there weren't any burgers left over so I guess they were pretty good! I also fixed french fries - I think this was the first time I've done this since I left McDonald's.

Strawberry Cake (not low fat!)
Cake Ingredients:
3/4 Cup softened butter
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
3 Cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs
3 Cups cake flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp strawberry gelatin
1 Cup thawed frozen strawberries - pureed (I don't do this)
1/4 Cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp red food coloring


Icing Ingredients:
1 1/2 packages softened cream cheese
3/4 Cup softened butter
6 Cups powered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and arrange racks in center of oven. Grease three 9 inch round layer cake pans, line bottoms with wax paper or parchment paper. Grease top of paper and sides of pan, then dust with flour (I cheat and use the spray with flour in it).

Beat butter and oil until smooth and creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until very light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift flour with baking soda and gelatin and set aside.
Blend pureed strawberries with milk, vanilla extract and red food coloring and set aside.

Reduce speed on mixer to low setting and stir flour mixture and strawberry/milk mixture alternately into batter, beginning and ending with flour. Divide batter evenly among three pans and bake 30-35 minutes or until tops spring back if lightly pressed in their centers. (I didn't cook the full 30 minutes because the sides of my cakes were getting really dark - could just be my oven)

Cool layers in pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto racks to completely cool before icing.

Icing - beat cream cheese with butter until smooth. Gradually beat in powered sugar on a medium speed until light and fluffy. Blend in vanilla and continue beating until frosting has a smooth, satiny appearance.

Spread generously between layers and over the sides and top of cake.

The first time I made this I made cupcakes and used Wilton's buttercream icing. I love cream cheese icing but seriously think it was too much for this cake. I liked the buttercream better.


And this is what I 'made' for my mother......she loves them, what can I say.

The strawberry cake was for me, my birthday that is. I almost always get a strawberry cake on my birthday (different recipe - sheet cake usually), but this year Johnathon had a track meet and everyone got home late - so I made myself one today!