Description
A delightful strawberry cake featuring a tender strawberry-infused sponge layered with a homemade strawberry jam filling and topped with creamy whipped cream cheese frosting. Perfect for celebrations or any occasion that calls for a fresh, fruity dessert.
Ingredients
Scale
Cake
- 1 ¼ lbs 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 whites, room temperature preferred
- Food coloring (optional, 2 chocolate chip-sized drops of americolor gel “electric pink”)
Filling
- ⅓ cup (70 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- Strawberry pulp reserved from cake preparation
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
- Prepare the pans and oven: Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Spray two 8-inch round cake pans with baking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Make the strawberry juice: Place quartered strawberries in a blender and puree until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh sieve to collect 1 to 1 ¼ cups strawberry juice. Reserve the pulp alongside any remaining puree for the jam filling.
- Reduce the strawberry juice: Pour the strawberry juice into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until it reduces to ⅓ cup, about 10 minutes. Pour into a measuring cup to check, continuing to reduce if necessary.
- Mix milk with strawberry reduction and optional food coloring: Add ⅔ cup whole milk to the reduced strawberry juice and whisk together. Add food coloring if using and set aside.
- Combine wet ingredients: In a large bowl, beat together oil, butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until completely combined.
- Mix dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Alternate mixing: With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and the strawberry/milk mixture alternately to the wet ingredients, starting and ending with flour, mixing just until combined after each addition.
- Beat egg whites: In a clean, dry bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Fold in egg whites: Using a spatula, gently fold the beaten egg whites into the cake batter until fully combined. Avoid over-mixing.
- Bake the cake: Divide the batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake at 350F for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool the cakes: Allow the cakes to cool in pans for 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges to loosen 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 small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until thickened and boiling for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and refrigerate until fully cooled.
- Make frosting base: In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, ½ cup powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt until creamy and smooth.
- Whip cream: In a separate chilled bowl, beat cold heavy cream with remaining 1 cup powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.
- Combine frosting: Gently fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture on low speed until fully combined.
- Assemble the cake: Place one cake layer on serving plate. Use a piping bag to pipe a dam around the edge. Fill center with cooled jam filling.
- Top and frost: Place the second layer on top and cover the entire cake with the whipped cream cheese frosting.
- Chill and serve: Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- ¹ Cake flour can be substituted with 2 ⅔ cups (330 g) all-purpose flour if cake flour is unavailable.
- ² Use leftover egg yolks in recipes such as pound cake, chocolate pie, or creme brulee.
- For decorative red swirls, paint stripes of colored icing inside the piping bag before filling it with frosting.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 350 kcal
- Sugar: 38 g
- Sodium: 150 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 10 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 45 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 70 mg
