Instructions

1. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper circles. Use Wilton bake even strips to keep cakes level with no waste! Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a small bowl, whisk egg whites with ¼ cup of the buttermilk. Set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, combine cake flour with baking powder and salt. Set aside.
5. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with granulated sugar, for 2-3 minutes until creamy (scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
6. Beat in almond extract.
7. Add the dry ingredients slowly until combined. Slowly add in the egg mixture, beating until well blended.
8. Finally, beat in the remaining buttermilk.
9. Pour batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake for 25-28 minutes until lightly browned and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
10. Remove from oven and cool in pans 5 minutes. Then invert onto a parchment paper lined wire rack (to keep cake from sticking). Cool completely.
11. For the frosting, beat butter with powdered sugar, milk, and almond extract. Beat for about 4 minutes until fluffy. Remove about 1 cup of the white frosting and set aside.
12. To the remaining frosting, add in the crushed freeze dried strawberries until blended.
13. To assemble. Lay one cake layer on cake plate. Spread WHITE almond frosting over the top only. Add the fresh, diced strawberries and ¼ cup of the sliced almonds.
14. Top with the second layer of cake. Using an offset spatula, spread the remaining strawberry frosting over the sides and top (feel free to use a piping tip to add swirls if desired).
15. Once all the frosting has been applied, use your hands to press the remaining sliced almonds into the side of the cake. To give it a beautiful finish, I only added almonds to the bottom third. If desired, add one fresh strawberry to the top!
16. Keep cake covered until ready to serve. Can be refrigerated if desired. ENJOY.