Strawberry Sparkle Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine cake flour and salt and sift together five times. Set aside.

Beat egg whites until frothy (lots of bubbles but still liquidy and loose.) Add cream of tartar and beat on high until stiff.

With mixer on medium-low, slowly sprinkle in sifted sugar as it mixes in.

Remove bowl from mixer and fold in sifted flour gently until it’s all combine. Sprinkle vanilla into the bowl and fold gently.

Spoon batter into tube pan—make sure there’s no grease or butter in there! Smooth the top and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a wooden skewer stuck all the way to the bottom comes out clean. (Don’t open the oven while it’s baking!)

Carefully remove the cake from the oven and immediately invert it on a wine or vinegar bottle. Let it cool completely while hanging upside down. Once totally cool, remove it from the pan.

To make the filling, sprinkle the jello powder into a bowl and pour in 2 1/2 cups of boiling water. Stir to dissolve, then add the bag of frozen sliced strawberries. Stir to cool the mixture and set it aside.

Turn the cake upside down so that the end that was stuck to the bottom of the pan is now facing up. With a serrated knife, carefully cut the top 1-inch of cake from the top. Remove it and lay it beside the cake. Next, with a small paring knife, make two concentric cuts in the cake: one cut is 1 inch from the outside rim, the other cut is 1 inch from the inside rim. (Be careful not to cut all the way through to the bottom of the cake! Leave about an inch from the bottom.)

Tear out a trench in between the two cuts and save the torn cake pieces for another use.

By now, the strawberry mixture should be cool and somewhat gelatinous. IMPORTANT: If mixture is not thick, stick it in the freezer for 15 minutes or until it thickens and sets. Carefully spoon the mixture into the trench in the cake, filling it all the way to the top and ever-so-slightly above to allow for a little settling. Place the top of the cake back on top, lining it up just right.

Refrigerate cake for a couple of hours (or you can stick it in the freezer for an hour or so if you’re in a hurry!)

To serve, whip together the cream and sugar until stiff. Spread all over the cake. Cut into slices and serve! Note that once you make a cut, the filling will slightly seep out of the remaining cake, but not overly so.

This is a fun, festive, fresh, fabulous cake!