Red Velvet Cake: Make Something Special for Mom

I think mothers are amazing. My friends and relatives who are mothers are amazing. My mother is amazing. In fact, I never knew how amazing I could be until I became a mother.

If you have a mother or know a mother, you should tell her on Mother’s Day that she’s amazing.

Until I became a mother I had no idea the amount of selflessness it takes to always let someone else have the last piece of cake, to stay up all night with your sick child and go to work the next day, to virtually give up any hope of ever watching prime-time television again—and to settle in to a life that will be more giving than taking. 

I always put “ability to multitask” on my résumé but until I joined The Motherhood, I had no idea the skill set required, not to mention the lack of training that would be provided. Mom’s juggle laundry, dishes, baths, grocery shopping and cooking. They wipe runny noses, change stinky diapers, put band-aids on pretend boo-boos, plan birthday parties and play dates, some days with a scant four hours of sleep. Seal Team 6 has got nothing on mom.

Yeah, yeah, I’m sure you help out a lot too Dad, and I don’t want to split hairs about who does more—otherwise I’ll have to bring up breastfeeding, and we really don’t want to go there. We know everything we do is all part of the job we signed up for and we really do love it.

And even if you tried to do more, we probably wouldn’t let you anyway. Yes, we really are that amazing.

Dads and kids, this recipe is for you. Send mom to the spa and when she comes home surprise her with a red velvet cake. It’s really easy, it’s pretty and mom will love the effort that you put into it.

Step 1: Read this entire recipe first. Go to the grocery store (, , ).

Step 2: Buy one box of red velvet cake mix, three containers of Cool Whip and one container of strawberries. You’ll need some sugar, which Mom probably has at home.

Step 3: Go home and make the cake according to package instructions exactly. You should have two cakes. When the cakes are done, cool the cakes completely then with a serrated knife gently trim all around the cakes and the top of the cake to remove the crusty part so all that’s left is the cake part. Make sure the tops of the cakes are even and flat (as much as possible).

Step 4: Trim the green tops off the strawberries (save a few whole strawberries to put on the top of the cake) and slice them into pieces. Add half a cup sugar. Grab a potato masher and mash the strawberries and sugar until it’s syrupy. Then add one container of the Cool Whip. Mix all together.

Step 5: Spread the strawberry cool whip mixture all over the top of one of the cakes. You’ll probably have some extra.

Step 6: Set one cake on top of the other (strawberry whipped cream mixture should be in the middle). Now open up the second container of Cool Whip and frost the entire cake. Decorate anyway you want. Place the remaining whole strawberries in the center or place all along the edges of the cake.

Step 7: If you had extra of the strawberry whipped cream mixture, serve it on the side if you want extra because it’s really yummy.