Strawberry Shortcake Cake
What’s better than strawberry shortcake? An entire Strawberry Shortcake Cake, of course! Bursting with fresh strawberries, this new recipe from Twin Cities food blogger greens & chocolate is the perfect addition to a summer barbecue.
Every year for my son’s birthday (okay, so for the last 2 years) we get donuts for breakfast and then head out of town to go strawberry picking. His birthday usually falls right in the middle of strawberry season, which works out great.
This year, for his third birthday, the weather did not cooperate. It was in the 90s with a real feel of 100+ degrees. Not exactly the ideal weather to be in a shadeless field picking strawberries. Especially not with a toddler and a baby.
So, we kept the tradition of getting donuts because there’s no right or wrong weather for donuts, but we opted for plan B, which was going to the beach. This ended up being the best idea. We stayed cool in the water while having a great time as a family.
However, I missed out on my big strawberry haul. Usually when we get home from our strawberry picking I keep some out for snacking and baking a few treats, and then I freeze the rest for smoothies for a few months. Luckily, I was able to stock up on strawberries at Lunds & Byerlys!
This cake is my solution to making strawberry shortcake for a crowd. The cake is pretty dense, resembling a shortcake. I sliced it in half so I could sandwich whipped cream and strawberries between the two layers, again similar to a shortcake. The great thing about this cake is that it can be assembled ahead of time (which is actually preferred) and served to a crowd, as opposed to individually assembling shortcakes.
This light Strawberry Shortcake Cake would be great for any summer potluck or barbecue!
Strawberry Shortcake Cake
Makes approximately 12 pieces of cake
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the cake:
½ cup shortening (or unsalted butter) at room temperature
1 ¼ cups white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup whole milk
For the whipped cream:
1 pint heavy whipping cream
⅓ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla paste (or vanilla extract)
16 ounces strawberries, stems removed and diced
Directions
- Heat oven to 350 F.
- Grease a 9×13 baking dish well with butter or cooking spray and dust with flour.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined.
- Add vanilla extract, beating until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder until combined.
- Add ½ of the flour, beat until just combined, then add ½ cup of the milk, beating until just combined. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture and milk until combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake at 350 F for 30-33 minutes, until lightly golden and baked through.
- Let cool completely.
- While cake is cooling, make the whipped cream. Place heavy whipping cream in a large bowl and beat with electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
- Fold in powdered sugar and vanilla.
- Once the cake is cool, remove the cake from the baking pan and place on a baking sheet. Slice cake in half so there is a top and a bottom. Carefully place the bottom layer back in the pan.
- Spread 2 cups of the whipped topping on top of the bottom layer and sprinkle with half of the strawberries.
- Place top layer on top of strawberries and spread with remaining whipped topping and strawberries.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve. Then cut into slices and enjoy!