Angel Food Cake with a Strawberry Cream Center

My childhood friend and her family were coming to visit a couple of weeks ago and her oldest son was turning nine. Which is difficult to believe but its true. It feels like it was just yesterday that his mom and I met. We met we were 12! Its so cliche to say time flies, but it does, it really does!!

Anyway, I digress. So they were going to be traveling on his birthday and arriving into town just in time to go out for a birthday dinner. She had said her son wanted strawberry shortcake so I offered to make one for him. I wanted to do a different take on it though, which could be going out on a limb. You never know with kids if they will be thrilled or disappointed that they didn't get exactly what they asked for. The one thing you do know is that they will probably tell you precisely what they are thinking about it, so I knew in a few short hours that I would find out if it was a hit or a miss.

I had looked through some recipes to get an idea. I liked a few concepts but needed to change a few things. I came up with one that worked well and was pretty simple. So if you are in the mood for a twist on a classic try this.

By the way, the birthday boy said "it was not what he was wanting, but it was better"! Whoo, saved my the second comment. :)

Ingredients:

1 Angel Food Cake (store bought works great)

6 ounces of cream cheese

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/4 tsp almond extract

Red food coloring

2 cups sliced strawberries (divided-1 cup filling, 1 cup for decorating)

1 (12 ounce) carton of whipping cream

gelatin (read packet for stabilizing amt and instructions)

Instructions:

• Cut a 1 inch slice off top of the cake; set aside. Make a tunnel by carefully hollowing out the bottom leaving a 1 inch shell all around. Cut or tear the removed cake into small cubes.


• Be cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in milk and lemon juice until smooth. Stir in extract and food coloring to desired pinkness. Stir in cake cubes and strawberries. Refrigerate.


• Whip your fresh cream adding the gelatin for stability ( I use electric hand beaters to whip fresh cream, just be careful that you don't overwhip. Once firm peaks begin to form, you can stop).


• Fold 1 cup of whipped cream into strawberry cream mixture.


• Fill tunnel with mixture, replace top.
  
• Spread remaining whipped topping over top and sides of cake.


• Decorate sides and top of cake with remaining sliced strawberries.


• Refrigerate overnight if possible or at least 4 hours.

Enjoy!