Thoroughly wash, dry, and finely dice the strawberries. Set aside. Investing in a food chopper is one of the best thing's I've done. I'll add a link to the one I use in case you'd like to get one! Pour the cream into a large bowl or stand mixer. Whisk using a hand mixer or the whisk attachment, on medium speed until the cream beings to thicken.
Add in the pudding powder and icing sugar.
Whip to soft peaks. The cream will be fluffy but not completely stiff. When scooped up with a whisk, the cream will. not drip off the whisk, but it also won't hold it's shape as it would at stiff peaks.
Add in the mascarpone cheese, salt and vanilla extract.
Whisk until well combined.
Pour one cup of the milk into a shallow bowl.
Dip the lady fingers in to the milk, one at a time, for 2 seconds per side. Be careful not to soak them too much or the cake will be wet and soggy.
Place the lady fingers into the baking dish, until the bottom of the dish is covered.
Spread a third of the mascarpone cream over the lady fingers.
Spoon over half of the diced strawberries over the mascarpone cream.
I skip adding pistachio cream to the first layer, if you prefer add one layer here. Heat the pistachio cream in the microwave for 20 seconds to soften it up and make it easier to drizzle.
Lay another layer of soaked lady fingers over the strawberry layer, repeat the previous step.
Place one final layer of soaked lady fingers over the second layer of strawberries/pistachio cream.
Spread the remaining third of mascarpone cream over the lady fingers, drizzle horizontal lines of pistachio cream across the cake about 2cm apart. Using a wooden skewer or chopstick, make vertical lines 1 1/2 inches apart in the same direction.
Repeat making vertical lines, in the opposite direction, in between the lines made in the previous step to create a lovely design.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 and up to 12 hours.
Before serving, remove from the refrigerator and garnish with strawberries as desired.