Mr. Hunky's birthday was yesterday! Yesterday was also the three year anniversary of our first date. Yes, our first date was on his birthday, and I paid! We still have the parking garage ticket from our first date/Mr. Hunky's birthday too. It's pretty cute if I do say so myself.
When I became a part of Mr. Hunky's family they introduced me to what is now my absolute favorite cake. Ever. Fruit basket cake. Never heard of it huh? That's not surprising, a lot of people haven't heard of it. Let me tell you about it now. It's cake, whipped cream, and fruit all together in one happy bite of heaven. I was in utter disbelief when my local Safeway had absolutely no clue what a fruit basket cake was, so I took it upon myself to make my own for Mr. Hunky's birthday....so here it goes!
For the Cake:
{Okay, don't judge me.}
~1 Box of Yellow Cake Mix (and the ingredients that it calls for)
~2 Round Cake Pans
Split the cake batter between the two round cake pans and bake as directed on the package.
Remove from the oven and let them cool. Once the cakes are cool remove them from their cake rounds and place them on two separate plates. You may need to put them in the refrigerator or the freezer to cool quicker depending on how fast you prep the other ingredients.
For the Fruit:
~Blueberries
~Strawberries
~Banana's
~Lemon Juice
For the fruit you may use the desired amount of each that you prefer, add any that you may like, or take out what you dislike. These ingredients are extremely flexible! Slice your banana, cut your strawberries, and put all aside with your blueberries on a large cutting board.
Transfer 2/3 of the banana into a large bowl and shake drops of lemon juice over the top (be sure to stir!). This will help the banana's from browning. Once you have finished putting lemon on the banana's, add in 2/3 of the strawberries and 2/3 of the blueberries into the same bowl as the banana.
You can then repeat that process again (starting with the banana's and lemon juice) with the remaining amount of fruit in a smaller bowl.
Set the bowls aside for later use.
For the Whipped Cream:
~32OZ Container of Heavy Whipping Cream
~1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
~1/2 Teaspoon of Vanilla
You will need either a stand mixer or a lot of patience for this one, it took a while for my whipped cream to form! Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl or stand up mixer and beat (with a wisk or wisk attachment) on medium until the whipped cream turns from liquid to whipped creamy fluff!
Assembly:
Using your big bowl of fruit, pour about 1/3-1/2 of the whipped cream into the bowl and stir the fruit into it. Make sure that the whipped cream is fully mixed in with the fruit!
Next, take your frosting spatula and pour all of the fruit/whipped cream mixture onto the top of the first layer of cake. It will look like a lot of filling but just squish it down the best you can without any of it falling off of the cake!
When your whipped cream layer is complete, take your second layer of cake and place it on top of the whipped cream/fruit mixture. It will almost look like a giant (delish) ice cream sandwich!
Gently press the top layer onto the whipped cream/fruit mixture to make sure that it won't move as you are frosting the cake. You will then use your frosting spatula and frost the entire cake with whipped cream! Once it is as smooth as it is going to be, top with the remaining berries and enjoy!
