Birthday Cake - Vanilla with Strawberries and Buttercream

The cake is really good!

 I am myself not a fan of buttercream, I find it too sweet, but this is really perfect if you want a no-fail recipe. That's why I made that second cake without the frosting, the cake is really great with any berries.

Ingredients
Cake Batter

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups self rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting

• 1 cup unsalted butter, very soft
• 3  cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions
Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2.Grease and flour two 9-inch rounds. (the recipe calls for three, but then the layers would be very thin)
3. In a large bowl cream the butter until smooth
4. Gradually add sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy
5. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg
6. Combine the flours together
7. This is the most confusing direction: Beat in the flour and the milk/vanilla in an alternating fashion, in four sections. What this means is that you put in 1/4 of the flour, beat, then 1/4 of the milk/vanilla mixture, beat, then 1/4 flour, etc.
8. Divide batter among the pans and put them in the oven
9. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
10. Let them cool completely before frosting
Frosting
1. Beat everything together.
2. You can add more sugar if you want a thicker consistency, but keep in mind that it is already really sweet.

Variations:
So, the birthday cake has cocoa butter cream frosting per request of the birthday boy, but the original recipe is actually for vanilla. If you want cocoa, mix in 1/4 cup cocoa, taste it, and then add more if you want a stronger flavor.

I also mixed in chopped strawberries with the frosting I used to fill the birthday cake, because who doesn't love strawberries with vanilla and cream??