Moist and tender vanilla cake paired with juicy strawberries and light-weight whipped cream frosting, that is a chic, show-stopping strawberry shortcake cake. It’s good for spring and summer season celebrations! Recipe features a how-to video!
Strawberry Shortcake for a Crowd
In case you’ve ever had conventional strawberry shortcake earlier than, you understand it’s a tasty however rustic and humble-looking deal with, manufactured from biscuits, whipped cream, and recent, macerated strawberries. I wished to do a barely extra spectacular and chic tackle this springtime deal with and in the end ended up with my model of strawberry shortcake cake that I’m sharing right now.
My recipe combines not-too-sweet vanilla cake with slight variations of the recent berries and chantilly cream you understand and love. It’s mild, completely candy, and completely superb with spring and summer season strawberries!
What’s to Love:
- The cake layers are moist, tender, and flavorful, thanks to a couple key substances like buttermilk and a mix of oil and butter.
- Technically strawberry shortcake cake may be made any time of 12 months, since we can be macerating our strawberries. This method makes even lackluster December strawberries style nice (although I actually should advocate my peppermint bark cake in case you’re on the lookout for a December cake!).
- Utilizing stabilized whipped cream frosting means our frosting holds its form with none weeping or melting. And the very best half is, it tastes unbelievable and is NOT in any respect too candy, like a buttercream might be.
- Just like my current ding dong cake, this recipe cake takes a smaller, individually-portioned deal with and turns it right into a party-ready dessert for a crowd!
Elements
Earlier than we begin our mixers, there are a couple of key substances on this strawberry shortcake cake recipe that I’d wish to briefly focus on.
- Buttermilk. Buttermilk provides taste and moisture to the cake layers. Whereas a few of my recipes want actual buttermilk, this recipe will work simply tremendous with my buttermilk substitute. It’s made with milk and vinegar or lemon juice, so simply accessible substances you would possibly have already got readily available.
- Oil + butter. I usually use a mix of oil and butter in my desserts (like my hummingbird cake and coconut cake I simply shared. This ensures moist (from the oil) and flavorful (from the butter) cake layers–the very best of each worlds. Avocado oil is my selection right here, however any impartial oil (like canola or vegetable) will work!
- Gelatin. This stabilizes our whipped cream frosting to assist it maintain its form and to maintain the cake sturdy and sliceable as potential.
- Heavy cream. Whipping cream or double cream may even work. This would be the base for our whipped cream frosting.
- Strawberries. I don’t advocate frozen strawberries–they are going to break down far an excessive amount of and make your strawberry shortcake cake soggy. Stick to recent berries. Since we’ll be macerating the strawberries with sugar, it’s okay in case your berries aren’t the brightest, juiciest berries; nonetheless, if you may get in-season, sun-ripened berries, these are clearly preferable!
SAM’S TIP: Room temperature eggs will incorporate into your batter far more simply than chilly ones (that means a extra uniform, tender cake crumb), so attempt to set yours out forward of time in case you can bear in mind to. In case you neglect, don’t fear! I’ve a straightforward trick that may mean you can rapidly deliver eggs to room temperature.
That is simply an summary of the substances I used and why. For the complete recipe please scroll right down to the underside of the submit.
Find out how to Make Strawberry Shortcake Cake
Make the Cake Layers
- Cream the butter, oil, and sugar collectively till effectively mixed.
- Add the eggs one after the other, ensuring every is integrated earlier than including the subsequent. Stir within the vanilla, then set your mixer apart for now. We gained’t want it once more till we make the frosting.
- Alternate including the dry substances and buttermilk. I do the dry substances in 4 components and the buttermilk in three, beginning and ending with the dry substances. Make sure that to make use of a spatula for this step so that you don’t over-mix your batter!
- Divide the batter into your pans, unfold into a fair layer and bake. In case you can’t match all three pans in your oven, it’s tremendous to let the third cake sit on the counter whereas the primary two bake. Additionally, watch out for hot-spots in your oven and rotate the pans throughout baking if wanted.
- Let the desserts cool utterly earlier than frosting.
Prep the Strawberries
- Prep your strawberries. We’ll reserve some for the highest of the cake after which chop the remainder into small items.
- Toss the chopped strawberries with sugar, then set this apart to macerate (which simply means letting them develop into good and juicy).
Make the Frosting
Stabilized whipped cream is a little more concerned than my traditional selfmade whipped cream, however it works effectively right here to maintain the layers from sliding and for retaining the cake sturdy, so it’s my most popular selection with this cake.
- Whisk the gelatin and water collectively till absorbed. Set this apart when you begin the whipped cream.
- Beat the cream, sugar, and vanilla till thickened. Don’t let the combination even go to mushy peaks, simply let it get barely thicker. We’ll whip it to stiff peaks in a minute.
- Microwave the gelatin simply till it’s liquid once more, and provides it a whisk. Slowly drizzle the gelatin into the cream combination along with your mixer on low pace.
- Whip the cream on excessive pace till it’s thick, fluffy, and has reached stiff peaks.
Take care to concentrate to the cues within the written recipe and observe the steps fastidiously so that you don’t find yourself with little gelatin lumps in your frosting, that’s the worst!
Meeting
- Degree your cooled desserts (advisable, as any dome on high will make it tough to fill with strawberries and stack correctly), then add a skinny layer of frosting to the primary layer and pipe a frosting dam across the edge. I used the Ateco 848 tip for this, however even only a Ziploc bag with a nook minimize off would work tremendous right here. Simply make certain the dam is tall sufficient to carry within the berries!
- Add your macerated strawberries on high, pouring off any juices beforehand. Add one other layer of cake, then repeat this course of.
- Clean a skinny, even layer of frosting across the whole cake for a semi-naked look.
- Embellish with frosting swirls and your remaining strawberries. I used an Ateco 848 for piping the dollops, however any giant star tip will work. Let the cake chill earlier than serving, then take pleasure in!
SAM’S TIP: Pressure the juice out of your berries earlier than including them to the cake, in any other case you should have a messy, soggy cake!
Incessantly Requested Questions
I like to recommend having fun with inside two days, however you would possibly be capable to stretch it to 3. The issue is the fruit could make the cake layers soggy as they sit, so it actually doesn’t preserve for too lengthy.
Sure, in fact! Whipped cream is conventional with strawberry shortcake, in order that’s why I used a whipped cream frosting right here. Nonetheless, the frosting from my chantilly cake or strawberry cake would additionally style nice on this recipe and mimic the sunshine texture of the whipped cream. I do personally suppose one thing like a traditional buttercream could be a bit too wealthy right here, however that’s, in fact, a matter of desire.
Sure! Due to the whipped cream frosting and recent fruit, this cake must be refrigerated. Make sure that to retailer your cake in a sealed container so it doesn’t dry out within the fridge.
In case you’re on the lookout for one other spring/summer season cake, my lemon blueberry cake is all the time an enormous hit!
Get pleasure from!
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Strawberry Shortcake Cake
Servings: 12 servings
Energy: 620kcal
Stop your display from going darkish
Directions
Cake
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Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and put together three 8” spherical cake pans by greasing the perimeters and lining the bottoms with parchment paper.
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In a big mixing bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer), use an electrical mixer to cream collectively butter, oil, and sugar till creamy and effectively mixed.
½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, ½ cup (120 ml) impartial cooking oil, 1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
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Add eggs, one after the other, stirring effectively after every addition.
4 giant eggs
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Add vanilla extract and stir till mixed.
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
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In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk collectively flour, baking powder, and salt.
3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon desk salt
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Add a couple of fourth of the dry substances to the butter combination and use a spatula to softly fold into the batter till principally mixed. Add roughly a 3rd of the buttermilk and gently stir in till mixed. Proceed to alternate including the dry substances and buttermilk till each have been mixed into the batter. You should still have some small lumps within the batter, that is tremendous. Don’t use an electrical mixer for this step and take care to not over-mix the batter.
1 ¼ cup (300 ml) buttermilk
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Evenly divide your batter between ready cake pans and bake on the middle rack of preheated 350F (175C) oven for 24-26 minutes. As soon as desserts are completed baking, the tops ought to spring again if evenly touched and a toothpick inserted within the heart ought to come out clear or with a couple of moist crumbs.
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Enable desserts to chill of their pans for 10-Quarter-hour earlier than working a knife across the edges of the desserts to loosen them from the pan then fastidiously inverting onto a cooling rack to chill utterly earlier than frosting.
Strawberries
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Put aside about ½ pound (226g) of strawberries for adorning the highest of your cake and slice in half lengthwise. These can be for adorning the highest of your cake.
2 lb (907 g) strawberries
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Chop remaining strawberries into small items (¼ – ½”, about 1cm) and toss in a medium sized mixing bowl with sugar, use a spatula to stir collectively. Put aside when you put together your frosting.
3 Tablespoons (40 g) granulated sugar
Whipped Cream Frosting
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In a small, microwave secure dish, whisk collectively gelatin and chilly water till all gelatin is absorbed. Put aside.
1 ½ teaspoons unflavored gelatin, 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) chilly water
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In a big mixing bowl (ideally a calming steel bowl) use an electrical mixer to mix heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat till combination has thickened, however cease earlier than reaching mushy peaks.
2 ¼ cups (540 ml) heavy whipping cream, ¾ cup (94 g) powdered sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
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Your bowl of gelatin ought to have solidified by this level. Microwave it for 5-10 seconds, simply sufficient to liquify it once more (it shouldn’t be scorching), and whisk till easy.
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With mixer on low pace, drizzle liquid gelatin into cream combination till mixed. Slowly enhance mixer pace to excessive and proceed to beat till you have got reached stiff peaks (combination can be thick and fluffy and can resemble Cool Whip in consistency).
Meeting
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As soon as desserts are utterly cooled, stage them if needed.
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Switch frosting to a big piping bag fitted with a big spherical tip or closed star tip (I just like the Ateco 848).
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Place one cake layer on cake plate and unfold a skinny even layer of frosting over the floor. Pipe a dam of frosting across the fringe of the cake.
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Use a slotted spoon to layer half of your chopped strawberries into the middle, draining the strawberries of extra juices earlier than layering them into the cake. High with the subsequent layer of cake and repeat. High with the final layer of cake and unfold a fair layer of frosting on the highest, and a skinny, even, semi-naked layer across the sides.
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Use remaining frosting to pipe swirls across the high fringe of the cake and prepare reserved strawberries excessive of the cake.
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Place cake in fridge to sit back for not less than half-hour earlier than slicing and serving.
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Serving be aware: the cake may be messy to slice, I like to recommend a serrated knife and utilizing your hand or a bench scraper to assist the aspect of the cake when slicing. If any berries fall out, simply spoon them off the cake platter on high of your slice!
Notes
Storing
This cake is greatest served the identical day it’s made, however could also be saved in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 2 or 3 days.
Vitamin
Serving: 1serving | Energy: 620kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 8g | Fats: 36g | Saturated Fats: 17g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 4g | Monounsaturated Fats: 13g | Trans Fats: 0.4g | Ldl cholesterol: 128mg | Sodium: 239mg | Potassium: 251mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 42g | Vitamin A: 1022IU | Vitamin C: 45mg | Calcium: 160mg | Iron: 2mg
Dietary info is predicated on third-party calculations and must be thought-about an estimate solely. Precise dietary content material will fluctuate based mostly upon manufacturers used, measuring strategies, cooking technique, portion sizes, and extra.
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