Strawberry Shortcake

It was Miss J's birthday this weekend.  I tasked Grammy to make a birthday cake for her.  Originally, we talked about baking carrot cake.  For whatever reason, I've convinced myself that carrot cake is a healthier cake than chocolate, vanilla, and all the other flavors out there.  It's got carrots, right?  Plus, several years ago, I made Mr A a carrot cake for his first birthday too.

But turns out, Grammy also brought with her a huge flat of strawberries this weekend... like an extra double big flat of strawberries, so that we had more strawberries than we knew what to do with.  So to use up some of these delicious strawberries, my MIL decided she'd make strawberry shortcake.  I requested that she make strawberry shortcake in place of carrot cake, rather than in addition to.  I think that was a good idea.

She picked out Paula Deen's Mama's Pound Cake. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/mamas-pound-cake-recipe/index.html

I should've known it was a Paula Deen recipe.  It was so good.  Her ingredients are super simple but they are rich.  I will make this again.  I was worried it'd be eggy, but it wasn't.  It was soft on the inside but a little crunchy on the outside.  Sweet but not gooey.  Just perfect.

She macerated some fresh strawberries switch some granulated sugar and then whipped up a pint of whipping cream.  Each person got a piece (or 2 or 3) of cake, spooned some strawberries on op, and put a dollop of whipped cream on top.  So simple, so delish!  When the strawberries were gone, we ate the cake on its own, straight out of the pan.  I'm a little sad there's no more left.  I feel a little guilty there are no pics here.  (I'm hoping someone else took a few.)