This is a recipe I got from the First Magazine in 1992.

Tip:

Don’t remove the green hulls before rinsing strawberries.  The leaves keep the berries from absorbing water and getting mushy.

Serves 16

Ingredients

• 2-1/4           cups white flour
• 2                  cups sugar
• 1                  tbsp  baking powder
• 1                  tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4               tsp salt
• 6                  eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2               cup butter melted
• 3/4               cup water
• 1-1/2            tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4               tsp cream of tartar
• 1                  qt strawberries
• 2- 1/2          cups heavy cream

Directions

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Combine flour, 1 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large mixing bowl.
3. Separate eggs.  Combine the yolks, melted butter, water and 1 tsp of the vanilla.  With an electric mixer set at low speed, gradually beat egg yolk mixture into flour mixture until just smooth.
4. With clean beaters, beat egg whites with cream of tartar, at medium speed, until whites hold soft peaks.  Beat in 1/2 cup of the remaining sugar, adding it gradually.  Continue beating until whites hold stiff peaks.
5. With a rubber spatula, carefully fold the egg whites into the cake batter.
6. Pour into an ungreased 10” angel-food-cake pan.  Bake until a toothpick stuck in the centre comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes.  Cool.
7. Slice off the top 1/2 inch of the cake and set aside.  Cut a tunnel about 1 1/2 inch deep in the cake.  The cut should be about 3/4 inch from the centre and from the outside of the cake.  Remove cake with a fork to form a tunnel.
8. Hull and chop half the strawberries.  Beat heavy cream with remaining 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla until the cream holds stiff peaks.  Combine 1 1/2 cups of the whipped cream with the chopped strawberries.
9. Fill the tunnel with the strawberries-and-whipped cream mixture.  Replace the top of the cake.
10. Frost cake with remaining whipped cream.  Shortly before serving, hull and half the remaining strawberries.  Decorate the cake with the berries.