Instructions: Bake and cool cake layers.

For the strawberries, reserve 6 perfect berries and leave the hulls intact. Rinse, hull and slice the remaining berries. Combine them with the sugar and lemon juice in a bowl and let them macerate for a few hours. When ready to assemble the cake, drain the berries, reserving the juice.

For the whipped cream, combine all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip cream until it holds a firm peak.

To assemble, place one of the cake layers on a platter or cardboard and spread with whipped cream. Spread with the drained strawberry filling, then with another thin layer of whipped cream. Place second layer on and mask outside of cake with whipped cream. Press the sliced almonds against the side of the cake.

To decorate, pipe 12 rosettes of the remaining whipped cream at the top border of the cake. Decorate each rosette with a halved strawberry, cut side up.

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