This angel food cake recipe is adapted from The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook. Double it, as you will stack the two cakes, but make it in separate bowls and bake it in separate pans, as it doesn’t divide well.

For the cake:

1 cup flour

1 and 1/2 cups sugar

12 large egg whites, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 and 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Whisk flour and 3/4 cup sugar in a mixing bowl. Add salt and vanilla to egg whites and beat with a whisk or electric beater until they are just frothy. Sprinkle cream of tartar on top, and continue beating until they form stiff, glossy peaks. Add the remaining sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, then fold in the dry ingredients gradually. Scoop the batter into your un-greased angel food cake pan. Bake 40 to 45 minutes.

Place cake still in the pan upside down on a bottle or metal funnel to keep from crushing the top. If your pan has legs, set it directly on them. Let the cake cool thoroughly for 1 and 1/2 hours. This helps the cake retain its structure. Remove from the pan with a knife.

For the filling:

This is a basic French pastry cream, adapted from The Food of France, a Williams Sonoma collection cookbook. You spread it between the layers of the two cakes along with the sliced strawberries. It makes a bit more than you need, but with all those leftover egg yolks, you really have nothing to lose. Served plain with strawberries, any extra makes a delicious treat.

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 tablespoons flour

2 and 1/4 cups whole milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon butter

Whisk together egg yolks and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Put milk and remaining sugar into a heavy bottomed saucepan, and heat over medium flame. Add cornstarch and flour to the egg mixture, and whisk well. When milk is steaming and comes almost to a boil, whisk a bit of it into the eggs to temper them (so they don’t burn and cook in chunks). Pour the eggs back into the milk, whisking constantly, and bring back to a boil. When thick enough to spread, remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Scrape into a mixing bowl, press plastic wrap against the top of the cream (this will help prevent it forming a skin) and refrigerate until needed.

For the frosting:

This French crème chantilly is similar to American whipped cream, but is much thicker and holds its shape better on a cake. The key is to chill a metal mixing bowl and the beaters for at least an hour before you begin, and to use heavy rather than whipping cream.

2 cups heavy cream

roughly 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, or to taste

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pour all ingredients into a well-chilled metal mixing bowl. Begin beating at low speed. As the mixture begins to thicken, gradually increase speed. Beat until cream is very, very thick, almost to the point where it would separate into butter and buttermilk and retains its shape even when transferred to another bowl. Refrigerate until needed.

Assemble the cake:

1 quart fresh strawberries

Slice 1 quart strawberries; set aside. Place one cake on a serving platter. Spread top with pastry cream and sliced strawberries, being careful not to spread too close to the edges as the top cake will squirt any extra cream and berries out. Place second cake on top, sticking with wooden skewers as necessary to keep in place (don’t forget about these when you cut and serve it!). Frost the whole cake with crème chantille, and decorate with sliced strawberries on top.