Description
A delicious and moist strawberry cake featuring fresh strawberry puree, a sweet jam filling, and whipped cream cheese frosting. Perfect for celebrating special occasions or enjoying a fruity dessert.
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 (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
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 pans and oven: Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Spray two 8″ round cake pans with baking spray and line bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Make strawberry puree and juice: Place quartered strawberries in blender and puree until smooth. Strain through fine mesh sieve to get 1 to 1 ¼ cups of juice. Reserve the remaining pulp for jam filling.
- Reduce strawberry juice: Pour juice into small saucepan over medium heat and cook until reduced to ⅓ cup, about 10 minutes. Pour into measuring cup to check. Return to heat if more reduction needed.
- Mix milk with strawberry reduction: Add ⅔ cup whole milk and whisk together with reduced strawberry juice. Add food coloring if desired. Set aside.
- Combine wet ingredients: In large bowl, beat oil, softened butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract until fully combined.
- Combine dry ingredients: In separate bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Combine mixtures: With mixer on low, alternate adding the flour mixture and strawberry/milk mixture to the butter mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Mix until just combined after each addition.
- Beat egg whites: In clean, dry bowl, beat egg whites on high until stiff peaks form.
- Fold egg whites: Gently fold egg whites into cake batter by hand until fully incorporated without over-beating.
- Bake: Divide batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake at 350F for 28 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or with few moist crumbs.
- Cool cakes: Let cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes. Run knife around edges to loosen and invert onto cooling rack to cool completely.
- Prepare jam filling: Combine reserved strawberry pulp, ⅓ cup granulated sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt in saucepan. Cook over medium heat to boil while whisking constantly until thickened, about 5-10 minutes. Transfer to bowl and refrigerate to cool completely.
- Make frosting base: Beat cream cheese, ½ cup powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt until smooth and creamy.
- Whip cream: In chilled bowl, beat heavy cream with remaining 1 cup powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.
- Combine frosting: Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture on low speed until fully combined.
- Assemble cake: Place one cake layer on serving tray. Using piping bag fitted with round tip, pipe a dam around edge. Fill inside with jam filling.
- Top and frost: Place second cake layer on top. Cover entire cake evenly with whipped cream cheese frosting.
- Chill and serve: Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Keeps refrigerated up to 5 days in airtight container. Enjoy!
Notes
- ¹You may substitute 2 ⅔ cups (330 g) all-purpose flour for cake flour.
- ²Use leftover egg yolks in recipes like pound cake, chocolate pie, or creme brulee.
- For decorative red swirls in frosting, paint icing stripes inside piping bag with a food-safe brush before filling it.
- Make sure egg whites are beaten stiff but not dry to retain airiness in cake batter.
- Use parchment paper in pans to prevent sticking and ensure easy removal of cakes.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 380 kcal
- Sugar: 35 g
- Sodium: 180 mg
- Fat: 20 g
- Saturated Fat: 10 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 40 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 50 mg
