A fluffy vanilla sponge cake filled with layers of whipped cream frosting and juicy strawberries. The classic flavors of strawberry shortcake in a rustic, yet elegant layer cake.
What tastes like a strawberry shortcake, looks like a beautiful layer cake, and is sure to impress anyone and everyone you serve it to?
Answer: STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE CAKE!
If you’ve been around these parts for a while you know that I absolutely love baking with strawberries (I kinda like drinking ’em, too). During spring and summer, there are always strawberries in our kitchen. They are my favorite fruit to bake with, and they go well in so many recipes.
CLASSIC STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE RECIPE
I’ve had a Strawberry Shortcake Cake on my summer “to-bake” list for years. My goal was to come up with a cake that had all the flavors of strawberry shortcake stacked high in a gorgeous layer cake.
My main criteria were that the recipe needed to be fairly easy, completely from scratch, and it needed to taste AMAZING (duh). I fully expected to have to play around with this recipe multiple times until I got it right, but, somehow this came out perfect – just the way I wanted it – on the first try.
Strawberry Shortcake Cake
- Vanilla Cake: I made three layers of a fluffy (almost sponge-like) vanilla cake. The cake layers are light, yet sturdy enough to hold our filling and topping. If you’d prefer a two layer cake, you can bake the cake in two pans, rather than three. Your layers will be slightly thicker than mine.
- Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting: Strawberry shortcake has to have whipped cream (and not the kind in a can or that questionable whipped topping in a tub). This is the real deal – freshly whipped cream, lightly sweetened with powdered sugar, and flavored with a touch of vanilla. In order to keep our whipped cream firm, I also add cream cheese to it. This stabilizes the cream and helps it hold its shape. You will have enough frosting to frost the sides of your layer cake, if you desire. I like the rustic look of leaving the sides exposed.
- Strawberries: Find the best strawberries you can and toss them with some strawberry jam (this makes them glossy and sweet). Strawberries go in between our cake layers, as well as on top of the cake. You can decorate the top of the cake however you like: I used a combination of diced strawberries and whole strawberries. I used thinly sliced strawberries for layering in between the cake (see below).
What I love about this cake is its versatility. It’s pretty enough to be served at a dinner party, yet casual enough to be part of a summer BBQ. If you know someone with a summer birthday, this cake would be extra pretty studded with candles and served to your loved ones. However/whenever you choose to make it – just make it! Grab those beautiful summer strawberries before they are gone.
- More STRAWBERRY RECIPES:
- Strawberry Cupcakes
- Warm Strawberry Crumb Cake
- Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie
- Strawberry Orange Margaritas
- Strawberry Jam
- Strawberry Crisp
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**RECIPE UPDATE SEPT 2018 – After a couple comments about the cake coming out too thin I made a few tweaks to the recipe to make the layers thicker, and a bit more forgiving. Each layer should come out to about 1-inch high when baked. I still kept the layers fairly thin to allow for easy stacking and filling.**
Strawberry Shortcake Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 cups cake flour*
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk preferably whole or 2%
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into pieces
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract optional, but highly recommended
- 4 large eggs
- 1 2/3 cups sugar
Filling and Topping:
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream chilled
- 3 cups sliced or diced strawberries divided
- 2 tablespoons strawberry jam
- additional fresh strawberries for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the bottoms of three 8-inch round cake pans with a circle of parchment paper, and spray the pans with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together.
- In a small saucepan, bring the milk and butter to a boil. Once boiling, immediately remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract and almond extract.
- In a separate bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until pale yellow, fluffy, and doubled in volume. This takes about 5 minutes - do not skip this step, this helps to make the cake fluffy. While still beating, slowly drizzle in the hot milk mixture. Beat in the flour mixture.
- Divide the batter between the prepared pans (I use a generous 2 cups of batter per pan). Bake for 14-18 minutes, or until the edges are light golden, the center springs back when lightly pressed, and a cake tester comes out clean. I recommend rotating the baking pans at least once during cook time. Set the pans on a rack to cool. Run the tip of a sharp knife around the edges of the cakes to loosen them, and turn them out of the pans (the layers will be fairly thin, about 1-inch high).
Filling and topping:
- Combine the strawberries and jam and set aside (these will be used for the filling and topping). Note: I sliced the strawberries for the filling (about 2 1/2 cups), and I diced the strawberries for the top of the cake (about 1/2 cup). Do both, or one or the other - your choice. You'll need about 3 cups total.
- For the whipped cream frosting: Combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment and mix on medium speed until smooth. While the mixture is still whipping, slowly pour in the heavy cream down the side of the bowl. Stop and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl periodically. Increase the speed and continue whipping until the cream can hold a stiff peak.
- Assembly: Place one layer of cake on a platter. Top with whipped cream frosting, then top with about 1 1/4 cups of sliced/diced strawberries. Place another layer of cake on top and repeat. For the third/top of layer of cake, top with whipped cream frosting, then place the remaining diced/sliced strawberries in the center. Decorate the outside with whole strawberries, if desired. I like to store this cake in the fridge to keep the frosting stable.
Andrea Salazar says
Can the frosting recipe be used for 24 cupcakes?
Celebrating Sweets says
I have only used this frosting on this cake, I have not tried it on cupcakes. Because this is a whipped cream frosting it is less stable than a typical buttercream. If you decide to try it, I recommend keeping it cool and consuming it within an hour or so, because it will start to deflate.
Rees says
If i were to put these into 3 6 inch pans instead, would I bake them for double the time?
Celebrating Sweets says
Probably not double, but they will need some additional time in the oven. Start checking them around 18 minutes, then every two minutes or so until they are done. Use a toothpick to check.
Sam says
Can I make this frosting the night before? Or will it not be as good? I dont want to assemble the cake until tomorrow but I thought it might be helpful to have the topping ready to go. I’ve never made a cake like this before. Thank you!
Sam says
Also, can I eliminate the cream cheese? I’m not a huge fan if it! But I want to try this first, just figured I would ask if you recommend not using it. Thanks again!
Celebrating Sweets says
If you make it the night before you will likely need to whip it again in the morning since it might deflate overnight. Also, the cream cheese acts as a stabilizer, without it you’re basically making whipped cream. It will be much softer and it won’t hold up quite as well. You’ll want to assemble and consume the cake within a short period of time since the the cream cheese isn’t thickening the frosting.
peggy says
Per one cup of whipping cream add 4 tablespoons of white chocolate instant pudding, 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar and up to two tablespoons of milk. It will stabilize the whip cream for 24 hours and acts like a buttercream frosting. I saw this in another recipe and it worked beautifully. The sponge cake was in the frig before we ate it of course.
Elaine says
Can I use a foil pan to bake in this and is the parchment paper necessary?
Celebrating Sweets says
A foil pan? I’m not sure as I haven’t tried that. I recommend the parchment paper because the cake is very delicate and it prevents sticking. If you choose to try it without make sure you grease the pan really well.
Asia W. says
I don’t have two 8in pans I have two 9 in and I also have a deep 8in pan. Could I put this in the deep pan and just slice it? Or one 9in pan and slice it?
Celebrating Sweets says
I think two 9-inch pans should work. You’ll likely need to increase the bake time by a couple minutes. Enjoy!
Donna says
Is the recipe above the “updated version”? I want to be sure I’m making the one with the thicker layers. Can the cake be assembled the night before serving ? Will the frosting hold it’s shape being that it has cream cheese in it? And would perhaps adding some clear piping gel also help stabilize the frosting?
Celebrating Sweets says
Yes, that is the updated version. The layers are still fairly thin (as pictured) and that is on purpose to help the cake from getting too high after assembling it.
I recommend making the cake the day it will be served, refrigerating it and removing it from the fridge about an hour before before serving. The frosting does hold up better than regular whipped cream (because of the cream cheese) but if you are looking to make it one day ahead, you can try adding the gel stabilizer to firm it up even more. I have not worked with that product before so I can’t say for sure.
Enjoy! -Allison
Katy says
I made this for my husband’s birthday recently. The taste came out good but the cake itself was firm and not fluffy or soft/spongy the way i would’ve liked it to be. This was my first time using a cake flour to make a homemade cake. , I’ve always used all-purpose flour cake box mix. I feel like all-purpose flour makes cake softer especially when using vegetable oil. Your recipe said you generously used 2 cups of the cake mix per pan and we use only 2 pans and still did not have enough for two cups each. Also the cake took longer than 18 min. in our oven. I’m trying to figure out what went wrong since I followed all your directions. Maybe you can help me figure it out?
Celebrating Sweets says
Hi, Katy. Did you eat the cake straight from the fridge? Like most cakes when it is chilled the cake is more firm, and less soft than when it is room temp. Also, you mentioned that you used 2 pans instead of 3; since your layers were thicker than mine and needed to be baked longer, there is a chance that they were overbaked slightly .
Lastly, it is really important that the eggs and sugar are beaten until they double in volume (step 4). Are you positive that you did that? This adds volume to the batter, so if you felt like the batter was a little short, that could have been a factor.
This cake is fluffy, but it is not super soft. If it was too soft and delicate (like a cake mix) it would be difficult to hold up to the juicy berries and the whipped cream frosting.
Hopefully that helps a bit. Thanks for sharing your experience. 🙂
Shelly says
I attempted this cake for my mothers birthday and the concept and frosting are great but I had to resort to a box came mix. I followed the directions exactly and was amazed how big the egg/sugar mixture was. I was worried about the comments of the layers being thin so I increased the ingredients 50% just in case. I had enough batter for 2 generous cups for each pan so I added an extra 1/4 cup and then had one jumbo cup cake.
The layers were extremely thin and I didn’t care for the texture. It was very eggy to me and the sponge was very firm. The flavor was ok but I’m not a huge almond extract fan but I didn’t think that small amount would have an impact but it did, so be mindful if you don’t care for almond extract. If you still attempt this one.