Chocolate-covered Strawberry Cake

Total Time: 40 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 16
• 1 (18 ounce) box betty crocker supermoist cake mix
• 1 (3 ounce) package strawberry gelatin
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups medium-large strawberries (18-20 strawberries)
• 1/2 cup vanilla baking chips
• 1 teaspoon shortening or 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup seedless strawberry jam
• 1 (1 lb) container betty crocker rich & creamy milk chocolate frosting

Recipe

• 1 heat oven to 350 (325 for dark or nonstick pans). grease bottoms and sides of two 9-inch round cake pans with shortening and lightly flour, or spray with baking spray with flour.
• 2 in large bowl, mix cake mix and gelatin. beat in water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally (batter will be lumpy). pour in pans.
• 3 bake as directed on box for 9-inch round cake pans. cool 10 minutes. remove from pans to cooling racks. cool completely, about 1 hour.
• 4 meanwhile, rinse strawberries and dry on paper towels (berries must be completely dry). line cookie sheet with waxed paper. in 1-quart saucepan, melt vanilla baking chips and shortening over low heat, stirring frequesntly, remove from heat.
• 5 dip lower half of each strawberry into vanilla chip mixture; allow excess to drip back into saucepan. place on waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. regrigerate until coating is firm, about 30 minutes, or until serving time.
• 6 split each cake horizontally into 2 layers. on serving plate place top of 1 layer, cut side up; spread with 1/3 cup of the jam. add bottom half of layer, cut side down; spread with 1/3 cup jam. add top of second layer, cut side up; spread with remaining 1/3 cup jam. add bottom of remaining layer. frost side and top of cake with frosting. arrange dipped strawberries around top of cake. place 5 strawberries on top of cake. store in refrigerator.