Preheat your oven to 350F and prepare your cake pans with baking spray & a round of parchment paper each. Place aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together into a large bowl. Reserve.

In a small mixing bowl, stir together the milk, sour cream, vanilla extract, and lemon zest. Place to the side.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, for about 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy. Beat in each of the 4 eggs individually, making sure the previous egg is well incorporated before the addition of the next.

Alternate adding in the flour mixture and the wet mixture into the creamed butter & sugar, blending well between additions. Start and end with the flour mix. I tend to scrape down the mixing bowl halfway through this process, to make sure everything comes together evenly.

Divide the batter between the cake pans (I use a large ice cream scoop for this) and smooth down the tops with an offset spatula.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick tester comes out clean from the center of each cake.

Allow the cakes to cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto a second rack and cool completely. Cake can be made ahead of time and plastic wrapped for up to two days, or frozen (wrapped tightly) for up to three months.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and lemon zest for 3 minutes.

Next, slowly add the powdered sugar in small batches while mixing on low speed, until incorporated. About 2 minutes.

Add the 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and whipping cream to the mixture and whip on medium-high speed until fluffy. About 4 minutes.

***Important Note: if you plan on making a bit of strawberry flavored icing, separate about 1/4 cup of icing at this point, and place in a small container. Take the 6 strawberries and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, and quickly puree in a blender. Add the puree to the small batch of frosting and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap. Chill until use.

If using yellow food coloring, add a drop or two to the remaining frosting in the electric mixer bowl, remembering that less is more! Mix on medium-high until blended.

Place your wrapped caked rounds into the freezer to firm up for 10 minutes. This helps with the frosting portion of the assembly.

Wash and core the pound of strawberries. Next, cut each into thin slices and reserve in a mixing bowl.

Trim any excess edges from the cake rounds and any dome-ing if necessary.

Using a cake board as a firm base, take a small offset spatula and dab a bit of the yellow frosting to the center of the board. Take your first cake round and place it face up on the board.

Apply a 1/4 inch thick layer of yellow frosting over the top of the cake and then lay the strawberry slices in a generous layer.

Place the second cake round, face down, on top of the first. Repeat the frosting & strawberry layer.

Next, lay the final cake round, face down, on top of the second round.

Now comes the crumb coat. Apply a heap of yellow frosting to the top of the cake and swirl around the top and spread down the sides to create the crumb coat. Using a scraper, spread the frosting evenly, but thinly. It doesn't have to be pretty! Try to fill the gaps between the layers.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 25 minutes.

After chilling, take the remaining yellow frosting and frost the cake evenly, using an offset spatula and cake scraper. I went with a more modern look and used a thicker coating, but you could pipe to your heart's content.

Swirl the strawberry frosting on the lower section of the cake and garnish with strawberries. I also used meringues to decorate as well, you can find the recipe here.

Keep this cake covered and chilled until an hour before serving.