Fat Wednesday? What the what?!

So timelines aren't really my greatest thing. And it's already Wednesday, which is a whole day after Tuesday in case you lost track, too. Plus maybe I was/still am moving and didn't have internet and haven't quite yet unburied all my baking supplies. But never fear! It's summer and there's always something good going on in the summer.

My sister and I went to visit my dear Mama (she's my gramma, not my mom, but my mom is equally as dear and charming, just not as wrinkly, sorry, Mama) at the farm earlier this summer. I was all excited to go tromping through the woods to find fresh, wild blackberries and raspberries. Well, I came to find out that, according to Mama, who's pretty much always right, strawberries are the first berries of the season and it was definitely first-berry-time. We got to pick through her little strawberry patch together in the blazing sun, tasting fresh, warm berries. Delicious! And so here is my strawberry cake, in honor of Mama.

Strawberry Almond Butter Cake

(adapted from CakeLove)

6 oz. butter, unsalted

14 oz. sugar

4 eggs

2 oz almond flour

5 oz. white flour

2 oz. potato starch

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 c. half and half

1/4 c. heavy cream

1/2 c. strawberry puree (this is just plain, pureed berries, no sugar!)

1 T. vanilla

Cream butter and sugar together until nice and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, incorporating each egg before adding the next.

In separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together liquid ingredients. Alternate adding dry and liquid ingredients to creamed mixture in about 5 additions, beginning with dry.

Preheat oven to 350. Line bottom of 9" round cake pans with parchment paper. Spray sides of pans with nonstick spray. Bake for 25-28 min. Allow cake to cool in pan.

Meanwhile...prepare the almond buttercream...

Ingredients:

3 c. powdered sugar

1/3 c. butter or margarine

1-1/2 tsp almond extract

1 to 2 T. milk (I think whole milk is best, it makes it nice and creamy, but skim works okay, too)

Combine powdered sugar and butter. Add extract and 1 T. milk. Slowly add more milk, a tsp at a time, until frosting reaches the desired consistency.

If you really wanna make this decadent, after you frost your cake layers with buttercream, smother it with white chocolate ganache and slivered almonds!

White Chocolate Ganache

5 oz. heavy cream

1 T. butter

12 oz. white chocolate chips

Heat cream and butter in saucepan until it gets frothy and bubbly, but not boiling. Pour over white chocolate; stir until mixture is smooth. Allow to set in fridge until thick, then frost the cake, over a thin buttercream layer.