• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the dry cake mix and the malted milk powder.
  1 Box Vanilla Cake Mix, ¾ Cup Malted Milk Powder
• Add the milk, oil and eggs.
  1 Cup Milk, ½ Cup Canola Oil, 3 Eggs
• Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed.
• Grease and flour two 9” round cake pans.
• Divide the cake batter between the two prepared cake pans.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 24-26 minutes. Test cakes to be sure they are done. The center of the cake should bounce back when you touch it.
• Allow the cakes to cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then loosen the edges of the cakes with a knife.
• Invert the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cakes are completely cool, prepare the strawberry buttercream.

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the butter for 2-3 minutes, until it is nearly white in appearance.
  4 Sticks Salted Butter
• Add the vanilla, strawberry jam and malted milk.
  2 teaspoons Vanilla, ¾ Cup Strawberry Jam, 3 Tablespoons Malted Milk Powder
• Mix well.
• Slowly add the powdered sugar, a cup at a time.
  8 Cups Powdered Sugar
• If the buttercream is too stiff, add milk, a tablespoon at a time and beat the frosting between each addition.
  3-4 Tablespoons Milk
• Add enough milk so that the frosting can easily be spread on the cake.
• If you’d like, you can add a few drops of red food coloring to give a pretty pink color to the frosting.
  Few Drops of Red Food Coloring
• Place one cake on a cake plate.
• Spread a thick layer of frosting on top of the first cake.
• Then place the second cake on top.
• Frost the top and sides of the cake, smoothing the frosting as you go and making sure that the cake is even and level.
• Decorate the top of the cake with strawberry Whoppers, as desired. I placed a border of Whoppers along the bottom edge of the cake. For the top of the cake, I placed 3 clean and dry strawberries in the center, then covered the top with more of the strawberry Whoppers.
  5 Boxes Whoppers
• Refrigerate the cake until serving.