Preheat oven to 350 F. Add eggs and sugar into electric mixer bowl. Beat on high for 10 minutes.
Remove bowl from mixer (if using stand or kitchen aid mixers) and add sifted flour. Mix very gently with a whisker, working from the bottom to the top of the bowl until all flour is incorporated.
Divide the batter evenly into two 9” spring pans greased with unsalted butter. Bake both in the oven for 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from the oven. Cool for 5 minutes in pans before removing onto a cooling rack.
While the cake is cooling prepare your Jell-O first, so it has plenty of time to cool. Into a small sauce pan add 3 cups of cold water. Bring it to a boil. Remove from the stove, add jello and stir until dissolves. Or you can also make it to package instructions except add one cup cold water only (No pictures, since this is simple to do). Set aside for the Jell-O to cool.
Instruction for the cream (inside the cake):
Into a small bowl add sour cream, cool whip and confectioners’ sugar. Start beating on low (unless you want to stand in the white cloud of sugar dust), then increase mixer speed to high. Beat on high for 2-3 minutes (depends how powerful your mixer is). Set aside until ready for it.
Preparing Strawberries:
Wash each strawberry thourally. Dry each of the strawberries with paper towel. Cut each side of the strawberry. Slice the middle of the strawberry in half if it’s too thick. Set aside until ready.
Assembling the Cake:
Place one sponge cake onto a cake platter. Spread ¼ of the cream on the bottom layer of the sponge cake. Then place the middle pieces of the cut out strawberries.
Spread just enough cream on top of the strawberries just to cover them (less than you already used to spread under the strawberries). Place another layer of sponge cake on top of the cream with strawberries.
Place a ring from spring form pan, hugging tight the top layer of the sponge cake. Place toothpicks into the bottom of the top sponge cake to support the form. Spread the rest of the cream onto the top layer of the sponge cake. Make sure you are pressing the cream to the sides to cover the gap between the spring form and the cake layer. Lay out the sides cut out of the strawberries.
Jell-O needs to start thickening, but still thin enough so it can be easily pourable (I like to place it into a large plate with cold water to speed up the proses). Pour Jell-O carefully onto a spoon first so the Jell-O does not hit the cream hard (otherwise you will have cream floating on top of the Jell-O). Place the cake into a fridge for 6-8 hour or ever nigh so the Jell-O and cream can set.
Next day remove the cake from the fridge. Separate the Jell-O from the spring from by cutting along the pan with a thin knife. Remove the form.
Instructions for the cream (outside the cake):
Into a small bowl add cool whip, confectioners’ sugar and lemon drops. Start mixing it slowly, gradually increasing the mixing speed and mix it until combined for about 2-3 minutes.
Decorating the cake:
You can actually decorate the cake anyway you want it. This cake is always gets decorated this way in Valya’s Taste of Home Kitchen. I start from the side of the cake. I used Wilton 17 attachment, pressing out wavy strips from the bottom of the cake to the top. I used Ateco 87 attachment to make ribbon on top of the Jell-O, and Wilton 17 for the floor of the cake and the top of the cake.
Place the cake into the fridge for the top cream to set for couple of hours. If I am planning to make this cake for Sunday, I start making the first refrigeration stage on Friday and the second on Saturday. I like to give plenty of time for the cake to get moist. The cream made out of sour cream will make sponge cake moist the longer (about 2-3 days) you keep the cake in the fridge the moister the cake will be. I always make this cake on the platter that has the top cover top that closes tight.