CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY LAYER CAKE

Tyler requested a chocolate strawberry cake for his 11th birthday this year and this is what I came up with.  If you make this cake you can half the frosting recipe if you prefer to not cut your two cake layers in half.  (1lb butter, 1lb powdered sugar, 1/2 cup strawberry puree)

1 box chocolate cake mix, plus ingredient to make
*2lbs butter
2lbs powdered sugar
2lbs fresh strawberries
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Bake chocolate cake according to package instructions in two cake pans and allow to cool.

Pick out 8-10 of the largest, best looking strawberries and set aside.  Hull and chop the remaining strawberries.  Remove about 1 cup of chopped strawberries and puree.

Whip butter, powdered sugar and the strawberry puree together until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

Heat 1/2 cup of cream in the microwave for 1 minute.  Remove from microwave and add chocolate chips, stir well until all the chips have melted.  Allow to cool to room temperature.  Once cooled, dip the whole strawberries into the chocolate and lay on a paper plate.  Place the chocolate covered strawberries in the fridge to set.

To assemble the cake: fill a pastry bag with the frosting to decorate later.  Cut your two cake layers in half length wise so you end up with 4 layers.  Frost first layer with about 1 cup of frosting and top with 1/3 of chopped strawberries.  Repeat that last step 2 more times so that you have 3 layers of cake each topped with frosting and fresh strawberries.  Push each cake layer down so the fresh strawberries sink into the frosting and ensure the top of the cake is level as possible.  Top the cake with the last layer of cake and frost the entire cake, top and sides.

Pour the remaining ganache into a squeeze bottle (if you have one) and draw a circle around the outer edge of the cake drizzling some down the sides of the cake every inch or so.  Squeeze the remaining ganache from the bottle all over the top of the cake and use a spreader to evenly spread it out.  Place the cake in the fridge for about an hour or so to set the ganache.

Use your pastry bag to pipe 8 rosettes evenly around the top of the cake and top each rosette with a chocolate covered strawberry.

*I used salted butter for the frosting because I read several recipes that called for it.  The frosting tasted too salty to me and if I were to make this again I would use unsalted.