My Strawberry Shortcake Cake recipe is so famous, I made it for my pal Al Roker’s 70th birthday on the Today Show. It’s that good boos. My vanilla cake layers are fluffy, moist and sweet. I add sweetened sliced strawberries to the layers along with homemade whipped cream. It’s a straight up hit! Check out my tutorial video below.
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Video Tutorial
How to Make Strawberry Shortcake Cake
Make the Cake
Step 1: In your mixer bowl, add oil and butter and beat for 2 minutes on high speed. Slowly add in sugar and beat on high speed for an additional 4-5 minutes until very pale yellow and fluffy. Next, add eggs, one at a time, combining well after each addition and scraping down the sides as needed.
Step 2: Turn your mixer down to its lowest speed, and slowly add flour into batter in two increments then baking powder, salt and baking soda. Be careful not to over beat once you add your dry ingredients.
Step 3: Lastly, mix in sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract, scrape down sides and mix until just combined and turn off mixer.
Step 4: Evenly pour cake batter into prepared baking pans and place in oven to bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out mostly clean with a few crumbs but don’t over bake!)! Remove cakes from oven and rest in pans for 10-15 minutes. Invert cakes from pans onto cooling racks until cooled.
Make the Strawberries and Whipped Cream
Step 5: While cake layers cool, stir strawberries together with warmed jam and sugar. Once combined, pop the berries in the fridge.
Step 6: Add heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla to your mixer bowl. Whip on high speed until medium to stiff peaks have formed.
Assemble
Step 7: Add first cake layer to the center of your serving cake plate. Spread a third of your whipped cream to the layer with an off-set spatula.
Step 8: Then add some strawberries along with juice on top of the whipped cream.
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Step 9: Carefully add your next layer of cake. Repeat with another spread of whipped cream and strawberries.
Add the final layer of cake then finish with whipped cream and add final strawberries or even a few fresh strawberries if you want for garnish. Drizzle on any remaining strawberry juices on top of the cake. Refrigerate the cake until you are ready to serve it up. Best served the day it is assembled.
Strawberry Shortcake Cake Recipe
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Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour sifted
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/4 cup sour cream room temperature
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
For the Strawberries
- 3 cups diced fresh strawberries
- 2 tbsp strawberry jam warmed
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
For the Whipped Cream and Assembly
- 3 cups heavy whipping cream cold
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Whole strawberries for garnish
Instructions
For the Cake
- Start by preheating your oven to 325°F then liberally spray 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with non-stick baking spray or grease with butter and flour. You can also line with round parchment paper circles.
- In your mixer bowl, add oil and butter and beat for 2 minutes on high speed. Slowly add in sugar and beat on high speed for an additional 4-5 minutes until very pale yellow and fluffy. Next, add eggs, one at a time, combining well after each addition and scraping down the sides as needed.
- Turn your mixer down to its lowest speed, and slowly add flour into batter in two increments then baking powder, salt and baking soda. Be careful not to over beat once you add your dry ingredients.
- Lastly, mix in sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract, scrape down sides and mix until just combined and turn off mixer.
- Evenly pour cake batter into prepared baking pans and place in oven to bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out mostly clean with a few crumbs but don’t over bake!)! I personally start checking the cakes around 16 minutes just to be sure since everyone’s oven is different.
- Remove cakes from oven and rest in pans for 10-15 minutes. Invert cakes from pans onto cooling racks until cooled.
For the Strawberries
- While cake layers cool, stir strawberries together with warmed jam and sugar and pop in the fridge.
For the Whipped Cream
- Add heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla to your mixer bowl.
- Whip on high speed until medium to stiff peaks have formed.
To Assemble
- Add first cake layer to the center of your serving cake plate. Spread a third of your whipped cream to the layer with an off-set spatula then sprinkle a third of your strawberries on whipped cream.
- Carefully add your next layer of cake. Repeat with another spread of whipped cream and strawberries.
- Add the final layer of cake then finish with whipped cream and add final strawberries or even a few fresh strawberries if you want for garnish. Drizzle on any remaining strawberry juices on top of the cake. Refrigerate the cake until you are ready to serve it up. Best served the day it is assembled.
Notes
Storage
If you’ve made it this far, you’ve put a lot of work in and I’m sure y’all are not looking to waste that. A frosted cake will last 3-4 days at room temperature. Just be sure either use a cake cover or an overturned bowl to protect the cake. If you prefer refrigeration or freezing, tightly wrap the cake in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. In the fridge, the cake will last 3-4 days. In the freezer, 3 months.Nutrition
Recipe Tips
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Make sure the butter, eggs, sour cream and milk are brought to room temp so the batter is smooth before baking. Leaving the eggs and butter out a few hours before starting is the best move.
- Don’t Overmix: When I add the dry ingredients, I like to sometimes turn off the mixer and stir by hand so I don’t overmix and make the cake too dense.
- Whip Cold!: For the whipped cream, make sure the heavy cream is cold and the bowl is cold so those peaks stick.
- Stabilize: If you plan on having this cake in a non-cold environment, I suggest stabilizing the whipped cream with a little cornstarch so it doesn’t melt down so quickly.
- Cool Completely: Before you assemble, make sure the layers are completely room temp so the cream doesn’t melt off the cake boos.
Recipe Help
Yep for sure boos. You can refrigerate the layers or even freeze them up to 2 months ahead then thaw and assemble.
Not necessarily. The layers don’t bake up perfectly flat but they bake up flat enough since the style of decorating is more rustic. It doesn’t have to be perfect boos.
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absolutely delicious! This will be the new and only strawberry shortcake I will use in the future, i added strawberry cream cheese to the buttercream. Divine!
Ooo love that idea!!
Holy smokes! I made this for Mother’s Day, 2024 and what a hit- 16 people and not a crumb left at the end of the day. I have to say, I love any cake that uses Swiss buttercream, there is just no other frosting that compares (OK maybe Italian buttercream)- I doubt I will ever make American buttercream again, unless I am just feeling lazy :).
I don’t necessarily like strawberries, but this recipe caught my eye and since I was hosting MD for my 94 year old mom and 89 year old MIL, who both love strawberries- I figured; It’s not about me this year- my Mother’s Day of being spoiled will come in due time. For now, it’s about the mothers I fortunately still have in my life.
Thank you for posting this recipe, it was truly delicious and so beautiful to present. It was the show stopper of the meal!
Awe, thank you so much, Patrice!! So happy to hear that everyone loved it!
I love this cake. I have made it several times. Can you bake this in a 12x 18 pan? Would I need to double the recipe?
You will need more batter for sure since that pan is a higher volume. Also the bake time will be different as well. I also suggest lowering to 310 to ensure that it bakes a bit flatter.
Can I use this recipe with 2 9″ pans instead?
You can, but you will have a lot of batter leftover even using two 9″ pans.
Omg, I got so into this recipe I started writing it down, now I’m at the butter cream and there’s no way without a processor and a prayer could I make this? Maybe just the cake.
Do you have a hand mixer? You can make the buttercream with a hand mixer in a bowl.
Hi can I use whipped cream instead of buttercream?
of course.
This cake is absolutely delicious! The cake part was yummy and not super moist like regular cake but I liked that because it compliments the frosting nicely. I’ve baked many, many cakes so I’ve heard of Swiss buttercream but it always kind of intimidated me, this recipe however explained it clear and simple and, holy moly, it is sooooo amazing! I did have a whole large Tupperware left over so I guess I’ll have to make something else to use it up! Thanks