Happy Birthday to my husband

I think this is the best cake I ever made! It is a recipe from the King Arthur Flour website. It was easy and delicious. My husband requested a vanilla cake with vanilla butter cream and strawberry filling. This recipe made two very tall 8" layers so I sliced them in half to make four layers. I thought I had more strawberries but I guess we ate more that I realized. It would have been nice to have more for the filling, oh well, it was still great.
Here's the hard part; I have always wanted to make a french meringue butter cream. I had a Martha Stewart recipe filed away for future use and this was the moment. Martha said to beat the egg whites and sugar in a double boiler until they reached 160 degrees. I fould it very difficult to beat this and take its temp at the same time. While beating, the pot kept moving off the burner and I was afraid it would fall off the stove causing serious injury to the beater, namely, me. I also got a blister on my hand which is a sign I need a new whisk.The mixture kept getting stiffer and stiffer but the temp was rising soooo slowly. At 140 degrees I gave up and removed the bowl from the double boiler and place it under the kitchen aid whisk. The whole thing had to get thrown out, it was so thick and chunky. I definitely have to find another recipe which doesn't require 160 degrees. Could that have been a misprint? I made regular butter cream instead which was, as always, wonderful!
Everyone loved the cake and I could not have been prouder. Even the birthday boy, who typically does not eat cake, ate some!