Kitchens Family Strawberry Cake

This recipe belongs to my grandmother-in-law and is loved by the whole Kitchens clan. It's a messy, huge, super sweet cake, but it's good. If you're not making it for a large group, try cutting it in half and only making it two layers, not four.

Cake:
2 c sugar
1 c milk
1 c butter
3 c flour (sifted) or less
4 eggs
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 t vanilla

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating 1 minute after each egg. Combine dry ingredients and add mixture alternately with milk. Grease and flour 2 9 inch round pans (spring pans work best). Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Icing: (home-made spreads better than store bought)
1 stick butter
1/3 c shortening
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 lbs powdered sugar
splash milk
3 large containers frozen, sliced strawberries in juice (large=15 oz or so)

Cream butter, shortening and vanilla. Add sugar and milk alternately until smooth and not grainy nor watery. Do not mix in strawberries - they are to be used in assembling.

Assembly:
Cut both cakes in half to form 4 layers. Place one layer on a large plate, cut side up (something with a ledge of some sort to keep the juice from spilling). Add 1/4 of strawberries and juice. Spread icing on top of strawberries. Place another layer of cake on top and repeat until all cake layers have been used and covered. Ice the entire cake at the end. This will be a very messy and not altogether beautiful cake. Place in a refrigerator overnight. (The Kitchens say overnight, I say no more than 6 hours.)

Serve and enjoy with lots of milk!