Description
This vibrant and delicious Strawberry Cake features a moist cake infused with fresh strawberry puree, layered with a homemade strawberry jam filling and topped with a rich whipped cream cheese frosting. Perfect for spring or summer gatherings, the cake combines fresh fruit flavors with a light, fluffy texture and creamy frosting for an irresistible treat.
Ingredients
Scale
CAKE
- 1 ¼ lbs (570 g) strawberries, remove stems and quarter
- ⅔ cup whole milk
- ½ cup (118 ml) avocado, vegetable, or canola oil
- 4 Tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ¾ cup (350 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups (330 g) cake flour¹
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 large egg whites², room temperature preferred
- Food coloring optional (two chocolate chip-sized drops of Americolor gel “electric pink” food coloring)
FILLING
- ⅓ cup (70 g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
FROSTING
- 2 cups (475 ml) cold heavy cream
- 1 ½ cups (190 g) powdered sugar, divided
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 8 oz (226 g) cream cheese, softened
Instructions
- Preheat and prepare pans: Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare two 8-inch round cake pans by spraying with baking spray and lining the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Puree strawberries: Place quartered strawberries in a blender and puree until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a measuring cup to obtain 1 to 1 ¼ cups of juice. Set aside remaining pulp for jam filling.
- Reduce strawberry juice: Pour strawberry juice into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until reduced to ⅓ cup, about 10 minutes. Add ⅔ cup milk and whisk to combine. Add food coloring if using, then set aside.
- Mix wet ingredients: In a large bowl, beat together oil, softened butter, sugar, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until fully combined.
- Combine dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix batter: With mixer on low speed, gradually alternate adding the flour mixture and strawberry milk mixture to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour, stirring until just combined each time.
- Beat egg whites: In a clean, dry bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Fold in egg whites: Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the cake batter using a spatula until fully incorporated, being careful not to overmix.
- Bake cake: Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and bake at 350F for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then loosen edges and invert onto cooling racks to cool completely.
- Prepare jam filling: Combine reserved strawberry pulp, ⅓ cup sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and starting to boil, about 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and refrigerate to cool completely.
- Make cream cheese frosting: In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese, ½ cup powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt until smooth and creamy.
- Whip cream: In a separate chilled bowl, whip cold heavy cream with remaining 1 cup powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.
- Combine frosting: Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture at low speed until fully combined.
- Assemble cake: Place one cake layer on a serving tray. Use a piping bag fitted with a round tip to pipe a dam around the edge. Fill with the chilled jam filling. Top with second cake layer and cover entire cake with whipped cream cheese frosting.
- Chill and serve: Refrigerate cake until ready to serve; it keeps in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Notes
- You may substitute 2 ⅔ cups (330 g) all-purpose flour for cake flour.
- Use leftover egg yolks in recipes like pound cake, chocolate pie, or crème brûlée.
- For decorative red swirls in frosting, paint stripes of colored icing inside your piping bag before filling.
- Ensure egg whites are at room temperature for better volume when beaten.
- Line cake pans with parchment paper for easy removal and cleaner edges.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 420 kcal
- Sugar: 35 g
- Sodium: 170 mg
- Fat: 22 g
- Saturated Fat: 12 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 48 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 55 mg
