Strawberry Cake

Just to finish up our British Columbia Trip, we had no trouble crossing back over into Washington, and we journeyed to Seattle where we enjoyed a stay at a house in the Fremont area, and some seafood and a trip to the Public Market on Saturday morning. A very nice finish to a wonderful week.
Now I am going to take a break from all our travels, and get back to everyday blogging...
One evening some friends invited us over for dinner, and fixed a wonderful gourmet meal, finishing with this scrumptious cake. I am not a fan of bakery frosting, where you can taste the shortening etc. However I just loved the whipped cream frosting on this cake. I asked how it was done, and they told me it was stabilized whipping cream made this way:
For 1 1/2 cups of frosting, combine 1 cup heavy whipping cream and 2 T. of powdered sugar in a mixing bowl, then whip to soft peak stage. Add 2 T. Wilton piping gel and 1 t. clear vanilla (I think regular would work fine) and continue whipping to stiff peaks. Both the piping gel and clear vanilla can be found at Michael's (or other craft store) in the cake decorating dept. My friend said that to frost this cake it took this recipe times 3, or 3 cups of whipping cream etc. She also said to take the beaters out prior to finishing and turn over the mixture by hand. The whipping cream tends to stay soft on the bottom even while firm on top, so mix it up then finish.

They used a regular white Duncan Hines cake mix, then added glazed strawberries on the top. The stabilized whipped cream was piped around that and the bottom for decor. They added a few dark chocolate curls on top and boy did we ever enjoy it! It was beautiful and delicious. Just thought I'd share : )