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This Strawberry Shortcake Cake is an easy twist on the classic dessert with layers of moist vanilla cake, juicy strawberries and fluffy whipped cream! The perfect dessert for fresh summer strawberries!
Looking for a traditional strawberry shortcake recipe? Try my strawberry shortcake recipe with homemade shortcake biscuits and whipped cream!
Homemade Strawberry Shortcake Cake
This post is sponsored by Challenge Butter, but all opinions are my own.
One of the best things about summer is the fresh berries and ever since I was a kid, strawberries have easily been my favorite. Strawberries and cream make the perfect combination and when paired with any kind of cake or biscuit, it’s a great summer treat.
This Strawberry Shortcake Cake takes the classic dessert using biscuits and turns it into a beautiful layered cake that is perfect for a summer potluck or BBQ – or even a strawberry-lover’s birthday. It’s actually an awesome way to enjoy strawberry shortcake because you don’t have to worry about making individual biscuits. Just bake the cake layers and layer with fresh strawberries and cream! Easy peasy!
How to Make Strawberry Shortcake Cake
There are three main elements to this cake. The moist vanilla cake, sugared strawberries and homemade whipped cream.
Vanilla Cake
This vanilla cake is light and moist with a great vanilla flavor. It uses equal amounts of butter and vegetable oil to give you a cake with a great buttery flavor and moisture that lasts for several days.
As I’ve mentioned before, a great quality butter goes a long way and I’m a big fan of Challenge Butter. It’s such a creamy butter made from the freshest milk and goes from farm to fridge in just two days. Plus, there aren’t any growth hormones, nor do they use any artificial preservatives, fillers or dyes. You know you’re getting a high quality butter when you get Challenge and it shows in it’s creamy texture.
The butter, oil and sugar are creamed together for several minutes, which adds air to the batter to give the cake it’s light texture. One of my favorite vanilla cakes!
Strawberries
Next are the strawberries. Fresh summer strawberries have the best flavor and I find that the best way to pick them out at the store is to smell them. I hold the package right up to my face. No shame here! Give me my yummy berries! If they don’t smell sweet and yummy, they won’t taste that way either.
Slice the strawberries and combine them with a little sugar, then let them sit for an hour or so. The sugar brings out the juices from the berries, which goes great drizzled over your cake. If you’re really into the juices, you could add even more sugar and let the strawberries sit a little longer.
Whipped Cream
You’re going to want to use a stabilized whipped cream, so that you’re cake doesn’t fall apart. I use powdered sugar to stabilize it and it will stay in place for weeks on end. Your cake won’t last long enough to see that, but with the powdered sugar added to your whipped cream, it will definitely make it stay put.
Tips for a Perfect Strawberry Shortcake Cake
- Be sure to cream the butter, oil and sugar together for the full amount of time. It adds air to the cake that helps it rise when baking.
- Do not over mix the cake batter. It can leave you with a dense, tough cake.
- The more strawberries, the better. Having some extra on hand to garnish cake slices with is never a bad thing.
- This is a cake that’s best when made fresh. The cakes can be baked a day ahead and the strawberries can be prepped ahead too. I’d make the whipped cream just before layering the cake though. Put everything together the day you’ll be serving it so that maintains its fresh look.
This Strawberry Shortcake Cake is what summers are made for! Fresh, light and delicious! You’ll want to make it all summer long!
Read transcript
More Great Strawberry Dessert Recipes
Classic Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry Shortcake Trifle
Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles
Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake
Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes
Strawberry Whipped Cream
No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake
Strawberry Layer Cake
Strawberry Cupcakes
Easy Strawberry Cheesecake
Strawberry Ice Cream Cake
Strawberry Cream Pie
Strawberry Shortcake Cake
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 14 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Strawberry Shortcake Cake is an easy twist on the classic dessert with layers of moist vanilla cake, juicy strawberries and fluffy whipped cream!
Ingredients
Cake Layers
- 2 1/2 cups (325g) all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (112g) unsalted Challenge butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups (310g) sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) milk
Strawberries
- 1 pound fresh strawberries
- 3 tbsp (39g) sugar
Whipped Cream
- 2 1/2 cups (600ml) heavy whipping cream, cold
- 1 1/4 cups (144g) powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
1. Prepare three 9 inch cake pans with parchment paper circles in the bottom and grease the sides. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).
2. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
3. Add the butter, oil, sugar and vanilla extract to and large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time. You should visibly see a change in color and texture.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until mostly combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
5. Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until mostly combined.
6. Slowly add the milk and mix until well combined.
7. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.
8. Divide the batter evenly between the cakes pans and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
9. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for about 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.
10. To make the strawberries, wash them and cut the stems off, then slice them.
11. Add the sliced strawberries and sugar to a large bowl and toss together. Set in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours to let the sugar bring out the juices from the berries. The longer it sits, the more juices you’ll have.
12. When you’re ready to put the cake together, make the whipped cream. Add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl and whip on high speed until medium to stiff peaks form.
13. To build the cake, place the first cake layer on a cake plate or other serving platter. Add a layer of whipped cream. I used Ateco tip 808 to pipe dallops around the outer edge of the cake, then filled it in. You could also just spread a layer of whipped cream.
14. Add about half of the strawberries on top of the whipped cream.
15. Add the second layer of cake, another layer of whipped cream and another layer of strawberries.
16. Add the final layer of cake, then finish it off with some whipped cream swirls and fresh strawberries. If you have any leftover juices from the sliced strawberries, you could also drizzle that on top or serve it with the cake slices.
17. Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve. The cake layers and strawberries can be made up to a day ahead, but the cake is best if layered together the day it’ll be served.
Keywords: strawberry shortcake cake, strawberry vanilla cake, how to make strawberry shortcake cake, strawberry cake recipe
Enjoy!
Hi !
Can you make this cake vegan? Looks amazing
Gaby
I don’t really know anything about vegan baking, so I’m not sure. I’m sorry!
I made this recipe for Easter and it was a huge hit, everyone was obsessed with it. I’m going to make it again this weekend and was asked if it was possible for me to make it a chocolate cake instead! If possible, how would you recommend I go about adding in the coco? I’m a beginning baker so I don’t wanna just wing it!
I’m so glad it was a hit! I’d suggest taking a look at this cake and using that for the chocolate layers.
Hi Lindsay, thank you for sharing your recipe. I am thrilled to make this for my husband’s birthday 😊. I would like to ask, what whip cream are you using, is it dairy or non-dairy whip cream? Thanks a lot and keep safe.
I use regular dairy heavy whipping cream.
Hi Lindsay! Do you think this recipe would work as a sheet cake? I’m thinking of making this for a potluck with around 30 people, thought a round cake may be a bit more difficult to portion out than a sheet cake.
It would work well as a large sheet cake, like a 12 x 18. I find that as a 9 x 13 cake, it gets a little dense.
Can I use cake flour instead of all purpose .?
I haven’t tried it, but I assume it’d be fine.
I just made this cake a couple days ago. And needless to say after 2 days it was completely gone. Now, my family and friends are asking me to make it again. It was a easy recipe to follow. And it came out beautifully. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. It’s now a regular part of my baking recipes. I luv it😍
★★★★★
Wonderful! I’m so glad to hear it was a hit!
Hi! You are my favorite dessert blogger and people think I’m a professional baker when I make your cakes because your recipes are amazing! Quick question, I’m making this now for Father’s Day and and I noticed that for half a cup of butter you wrote 168g and for oil it was listed as 120g. I am lazy and weigh everything rather than getting out measuring cups/washing them. LOL I am used to both butter and oil being 14g a tablespoon, making half a cup 112g. Could there be a mistake? TIA!
I only have two 9 inch pans, how should I save the batter while I wait? Any tips or thoughts? 😃
★★★★★
You can just let it sit at room temperature until the other ones are done and then bake it. That should be fine.
Hi Lindsay! This cake looks sooo good! Would love to try it this summer. Strawberries are my favourite too 🙂
Gorgeous cake and it looks so good!
Wow love,
you are incredible
i made this yesterday and took it to my Gran’s it reminded her of summer holidays in her childhood!
Thanx your twins are gorgeous😍
★★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Meilani
I made this and it’s very good and pretty. How can I make the cake a bit more moist? Do I just add more oil?
On another note do you have an email I can write to you to tell you how your recipes and baking have been a Blessing during a very very very difficult time in my life. Your recipes have been my sanity.
You could try replacing a little bit more of the butter with a little bit more oil. I’m glad you enjoyed the cake!
And yes, I’d love to hear from you. lifeloveandsugar@gmail.com
OMG, this cake looks scrumptious……I’m going to try to make it for Mother’s Day, I guarantee it will be a hit!
★★★★★
Is it ok to put less sugar
You could reduce the sugar but keep in mind that sugar doesn’t just sweeten things. Sugar also adds moisture. So if you were to leave some out, your cake could end up a little more dry.
Can i use 2 9 inch cake pans rather than 3, to get bigger layers?
Sure.
This cake looks delicious, Lindsey! I’ll have to try it out this summer! 🙂
I hope you enjoy it!
Heyy the bottom keeps burning 🥵