Chocolate Cake with Strawberry-Pudding Filling

I love to bake and cook.  One thing I don't make often and definitely need to practice more is cake baking and decorating.  I tried this cake a few months ago at my sister-in-laws baby shower and it was amazing!  My other sister-in-law made it and got the recipe from her mother-in-law.  I, in turn, made it for my husband's birthday with my own modifications that we enjoyed.  Despite flouring my pans, my cakes still stuck a little and did not look so pretty on the inside once I had assembled it.  It however worked perfectly when made at a lower elevation.  For higher elevation, add about 1/4 C more flour and it should work out just fine!

Cake:
2 1/4 (+ 1/4 C for higher elevation) flour
1 1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
5 TBSP cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 C oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 TBSP vinegar
1 1/2 C cold water

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease and flour two 8-9" round cake pans.
Sift the dry ingredients.
Mix in the wet ingredients.
Pour evenly into your cake pans.
Bake for 25-35 minutes.
Check with a toothpick to make sure it is cooked all the way through!

Filling:
Pudding-
1 package of prepared vanilla instant pudding

Follow directions on the box.

Frosting-
1 box package of frosting mix (or you can make this version with powdered sugar minus the milk)
1 tsp vanilla (eliminate if you are making your own frosting that already includes vanilla)
1 1/2 C regular whipping cream
2-3 TBSP cocoa (to taste)

Mix the frosting mix, vanilla, and whipping cream.

Refrigerate for about 1 hour.
Add cocoa and beat until stiff.


Strawberry-
3/4 tsp lemon juice
1 pint (2 C) of strawberrys, hulled and sliced in half
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 TBSP honey
1 TBSP maple syrup

In a food processor, blend the lemon juice, 1/2 pint of strawberries, vanilla, honey and syrup until it forms a puree.
Add the remaining stawberries and pulse the mixture until it is chunky...do not puree.

To assemble your cake...

Let the cakes cool completely.
Cut the two cake rounds in half horizontally to create four layers.
Place one layer on a serving dish.

On layer one, place 1/2 of the pudding and an equal amount of strawberry filling and spread them around, mixing them together at the same time.

Place another cake layer on top.

On cake layer two, spread a 1/4" layer of frosting.

Place another cake layer on top of the frosting.

Repeat the pudding and strawberry filling step one more time with the remaining pudding.

Place the final layer of cake on the top.

Frost the cake with the remaining frosting.

Refrigerate until it is time to eat.

Add desired toppings/decorations...I used fresh strawberries.

Enjoy!