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This strawberry layer cake is the first dessert of the year; oh and it’s a good one! Tonya (one of the ladies in our church), made this cake for her son’s birthday. While chomping down my second slice; I asked her for the recipe. It was delicious and I’m sharing this goodness with you.
Also, I’ve finally tried the alternate way of making the biskvit cake layers and they turned out perfect (I believe this to be the a more “fool-proof” recipe. Oh and the strawberry/chocolate decorations were ridiculously easy (plenty of oohs and ahhs over the 3D chocolate); see the tutorial here.
Oh oh and one more thing; the beauty of this strawberry layer cake is that you can really easily cut everything in half (6 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour….blah blah) to make a smaller cake and it will turn out just as dang good.
Strawberry Layer Cake Ingredients:
12 large eggs, room temp, divided
2 cups granulated sugar, divided
2 cups all-purpose flour, divided *measured correctly
Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
16 oz cream cheese, softened at room temp
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Filling/Decor:
2 lbs Fresh strawberries (1 1/2 lbs to blend and put inside the cake and 1/2 lb to decorate)
Chocolate chips to melt and decorate the top; optional
Baking strawberry layer cake Layers:
If you’ve never made a European Sponge Cake, watch this video for the basic version and see just how simple it is!
Preheat oven to 350˚F.
1. Grease and line only the bottom of a 9×13″ cake pan with parchment paper (line 2 pans if you have 2). I have found that it’s best not to line or grease the sides of the pan or the cake becomes somewhat miss-shaped.
You will bake your cake layers separately so for each biskvit layer:
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together 6 eggs and 1 cup sugar on high speed for 10 minutes and it will be 3-4 times in volume
3. Sift in 1 cup all-purpose flour and use a spatula to gently fold it in just until well incorporated and no more clumps of flour remain. Scrape from the bottom of the bowl to make sure there aren’t any trapped pockets of flour, but don’t overwork the batter or it will deflate.
4. Transfer your batter to the lined baking pan and bake at 350˚F for 17-20 min or until top is golden and toothpick comes out clean.
(While the first layer is baking, start working on your second cake layer repeating steps 1-3 above). Remove baked cake from the pan by running a thin edged spatula around the sides to loosen it, then let it cool to room temperature before removing the parchment paper.
Strawberry Filling:
Cut strawberries into halves or quarters and place them in the bowl of a food processor; pulse 15 times or until the consistency of a chunky applesauce; set aside
Frosting:
Beat together cream cheese and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth (1 min). Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream and beat on high speed until fluffy (3 minutes)
Assembly:
1. Cut each cooled cake layer in half. Place the first layer on your serving dish (this cake is too big and heavy to transfer so put it on the dish you’re serving it on).
2. Spread the first layer with 1/3 of the strawberry puree. Spread just a thin layer of frosting (just a thin layer or you won’t have enough to frost the sides in the end) on the second half and place it over the first layer so the strawberries and cream are hugging. Repeat with the next layers.
So the order from the bottom up is: cake; strawberry; cream; cake; strawberry; cream;cake; strawberries; cream; cake; cream (frost the top and sides with remaining frosting)
Decorate the top with fresh strawberries and chocolate (see chocolate decorating tutorial here
Strawberry Layer Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 12 large eggs, room temp, divided
- 2 cups granulated sugar, divided
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
Frosting:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 16 oz cream cheese, softened at room temp
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
Filling/Decor:
- 2 lbs Fresh strawberries, 1 1/2 lbs to blend and put inside the cake and 1/2 lb to decorate the top
- Chocolate chips to melt and decorate the top; optional
Instructions
Baking the Cake Layers: Preheat oven to 350˚F.
- Grease and line only the bottom of a 9x13" cake pan with parchment paper (line 2 pans if you have 2). I have found that it's best not to line or grease the sides of the pan or the cake becomes somewhat miss-shaped.
- You will bake your cake layers separately so for each biskvit layer: in the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together 6 eggs and 1 cup sugar on high speed for 10 min. it will be 3-4 times in volume.
- Sift in 1 cup all-purpose flour and use a spatula to gently fold it in just until well incorporated and no more clumps of flour remain. Scrape from the bottom of the bowl to make sure there aren't any trapped pockets of flour, but don't overwork the batter or it will deflate.
- Transfer to lined baking pan and bake until top is golden and toothpick comes out clean 17-20 min.
- (While the first layer is baking, start making your second cake layer repeating steps 1-3 above)
- Remove baked cake from the pan by running a thin edged spatula around the sides to loosen it, then let it cool to room temperature before removing the parchment paper.
Strawberry Filling:
- Cut strawberries into halves or quarters and place them in the bowl of a food processor; pulse 15 times or until the consistency of a chunky applesauce; set aside.
Frosting:
- Beat together cream cheese and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth (1 min). Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream and beat on high speed until fluffy (2-3 minutes).
Assembly:
- Cut each cooled cake layer in half. Place the first layer on your serving dish (this cake is too big and heavy to transfer so put it on the dish you're serving it on)
- Spread the first layer with 1/3 of the strawberry puree. Spread a very thin layer of frosting on the second half and place it over the first layer so the strawberries and cream are hugging. Repeat with the next layers. So the order from the bottom up is: cake; strawberry; cream; cake; strawberry; cream;cake; strawberries; cream; cake; cream (frost the top and sides with remaining frosting).
- Decorate the top with fresh strawberries and chocolate (see chocolate decorating tutorial below)
Hi. If I’m making this cake for Sunday can I put it together Saturday ?
Hi Kira, yes, making it one day ahead will work, and we store this in the refrigerator if making ahead due to the cream cheese.
Natasha, have you ever made this using frozen strawberries for the filling? Strawberries are not in season now, but I’d love to make this for a friend’s March birthday.
Hi Enid, that would work just fine, but you may need to add just a little bit of sugar if the strawberry purée is very tart.
This cake was absolutely delicious! I made it for my daughter’s 19th birthday this past week. My son is already requesting it for his birthday in March! The only thing I found is that I didn’t have enough frosting. I was able to do the layers which were thin and about 1/3 of the cake. So, next time I would do 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, 24 oz cream cheese and keep the 3/4 cup sugar. I don’t like my frosting overly sweet. It was probably the best cake I have ever made!
Wow-what a great feedback, Michelle. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. We really appreciate it!
the cake was delicious with crushed strawberries on top; but the problem I have any I am sure thousands of people now is what topping can I use instead of something with fat…no cream cheese, no whipping cream etc. I have Pancreatitis. I am missing the wonderful whipping cream on the top.. Do you have any ideas what I can put on top that might satisfy??? Please any help would be appreciated.
Thanks for your awesome feedback, Kerry. I haven’t tried any other substitute for the cream. If others have tried something else please feel free to share it with us!
Try whipped coconut cream.
Coconut cream also is high in fat, I wouldn’t sub with that if you have pancreatitis. Maybe nonfat/lowfat Greek yogurt sweetened with honey? I have also seen recipes for whipped Greek yogurt where nonfat Greek yogurt is whipped with a couple tablespoons of cream, like this one: https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/minimal-monday-whipped-yogurt/
I have kitchen aid 5 quartz ..so can i make in single batch?I mean can 1 whip 12 eggs at a time
Absolutely a hit! This cake is super delicious, fun and fluffy! I have made it several times as the original, and also with blackberry, blueberry and raspberry mixed and now with mango. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!
You’re welcome, Elisa! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
The video that is referenced to watch includes baking powder in the cake mix but this recipe does not include it. Should I include the baking powder?
Hi, the video is for the round strawberry cake that we have posted and we have in recent years started adding a little baking powder just for more consistent results. It will work both ways.
We love this cake! I make it every year for my oldest daughter’s birthday. She will be 6 on Saturday. How do you think this recipe will hold up as cupcakes? I’m planning to fill them with a combo of the strawberries and cream. Thanks!
Hi Sunny, I’m so glad you loved the cake! To be honest I haven’t tried this recipe for cupcakes but it’s a good thought! I’m not sure how much it will stick to cupcake wrappers though.
Does this cake need to be refrigerated or is it ok to sit out?
Hi Michelle, yes, we store this in the refrigerator due to the cream cheese.
16oz of cream cheese….is that by weight or volume? Canadian bakernhere and all of our cream cheese is sold by grams I want to be sure I’ve bought enough!
Hi Allanah, I added metric measurements on this recipe for you. If you click “metric” you will be able to see that in grams.
Thank-you!
I made the cake and it came out really dense and “eggie” tasting. Any ideas on what I did wrong? I didn’t beat the sugar and eggs for 10 mins. Was that my mistake?
Hi Sadie, It’s likely because you did not beat it long enough. Also, if you overblend it, it can become flat because the batter relies on the volume of the eggs to rise and be fluffy. Also, don’t wait to bake it or you may lose volume on the counter.
I have 2 old pan, the bigger one is around 8.5*11 inch.
Can I use that pan for this recipe?
And I’m a total beginner, so not sure about cutting the cake into half. How do you think if I make 3 cake, and stack them, to get a 3 layer cake?
This is the 3rd recipe I’m going to try for my son’s birthday… hopefully this recipe brings me some confidence…
Hi Susan, I think it should fit into two 8.5×11 inch pans if their walls are around 2″ tall. Since I don’t have those same pans and haven’t experimented baking them in smaller pans, I can’t give you exact baking times and you will have to experiment. If you do bake them in 2 smaller pans, the 2 layers will be taller and you will need to bake a little longer.
Hi Natasha,
First, thank you for sharing this recipe and nice tutorial!
I bought today 9*13 inch pan, practiced 3 times. Cake decoration still needs practice, but taste was very good! This recipe is by so far the best one.
Something still need your advice though.
1) the cake is slightly too sweet for me. How much sugar I can reduce, and still keep successful result?
2) when transferring to baking pan, 2 out of 3 times, I found many big dry flour pockets at the bottom of bowl. How to improve?
3) the cake is big and heavy (I didn’t dare to slice it). It always got broken when I tried to stack it on top of another one. Do you have advice or tutorial on how to stack large cake?
4) is it possible to add strawberry flavor also in the cake?
Big THANK YOU again!
Happy New Year! and looking forward to your help!
Hi Susan, it would still work well with 1 3/4 cup sugar in the cake base – possibly even 1 1/2 cups. Make sure when stirring that you scrape from the bottom of the bowl since heavy pockets of flour can sink down to the bottom. I would let the cake layer cool completely to room temperature before trying to stack. I haven’t tried adding strawberry flavor to the base so I can’t say for sure if that would work.
Thank you! 🙂
Hi Natasha,
Is it possible to make a big batch of the cake batter in one time?
Hi Pauline, several of our readers have reported doubling this recipe with no issues.
Update: made this a few days ago for my nephew’s birthday, hit was a bit! I only had one piece, so today I made another for my family. Such a simple dessert, I use two round pans, single batter, but double all the insides. It’s a toss up between a strawberry shortcake and a cheese cake.
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review Charisse!
I made this awesome dessert for my nephew’s birthday, was it a bit. Moist and tasty,not overly sweet like so many cakes. The only problem was I didn’t make one for my family! I will most definitely be making this again. I made two 9 inch cakes, but doubled everything else. Thanks for posting it so that the world could make such an easy dessert with so much flavor.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
Made this tonight and a few comments. I’m in Denver but didn’t know how to adjust recipe for 5000 feet.
I pureed the strawberries too long. Be careful. Mine came out too liquidy. I also whipped the cream cheese too long so it was too runny. Flavor of cake was good but a little too sweet for me. I’ll cut sugar next time.
Horizontally cutting the cake proved a challenge. Difficult to make it level given how thin each cake was. Id like a conversion to a round pan with each cake thicker so it can be divided in two more easily. Plus a round cake is more appealing to me than a sheet cake.
Overall it is a good strawberry cake that I’ll make again.
Hi Natasha,
Could you recommend a frosting that would work well with this cake that would hold up to heat? I’ll be transporting it about 2 hours and may not have fridge space when I get to my destination. Thanks so much in advance!
Hi Lisa, this particular frosting does not hold up well in the heat. The recipe for cupcake frosting is slightly stiffer while still maintaining that cream cheese flavor profile which melds well with this cake. I would suggest keeping it refrigerated as long as possible and transporting it in a cooler if possible, out of sunlight.
Hello! I am having some trouble when making the sponge cake part of the recipe. This is my 3rd attempt at the sponge cake but every time I get a similar result. I followed the recipe, however, after the cake has cooled there is a rubbery bottom. I’ve looked everywhere for advice but I can’t find anything. Please help!?
Hi Epifania, the main culprit of a rubbery bottom is under-beating the eggs and sugar. You should beat it it until when you pull up on the batter, it forms a thick ribbon that stays on top of the batter for a couple seconds as it lands on the top. If it’s watery, it won’t rise properly. I hope that helps. Also, be sure to bake right away in a preheated oven.
Is there any baking powder in this recipe? There is in your European Sponge Video.
Hi Carolyn, we used to never add baking powder and the cakes still rose since they rely on the volume of the eggs as leavening. We added baking powder in recent years for a little more consistent results and to ease peoples minds about having an additional leavening in the cake.
Thanks for responding so quickly. I’m going to make this for my family gathering for Mother’s Day. I’m assuming I can bake the cakes a couple of days ahead and assemble the day of.
Hi Carolyn, yes that will work to make the cake layers ahead and assemble the day of.
Hi Natasha. I am making this cake right now. Is there a reason that the cakes are so sticky? I barely was able to cut them. I assembled the whole cake and it looks fine. Will I be able to cut it tomorrow without sticking and braking the pieces ?? I am afraid. Also, can I put it in refrigerator overnight? Without cover? Thanks.
Hi Elena, I wonder if maybe it is due to high humidity? I would suggest baking an extra 2-3 minutes. I would keep the assembled cake covered in the refrigerator so it doesn’t absorb any other food smells and doesn’t get dry on the outside. I haven’t had any issues with the cake sticking or breaking into pieces after it is assembled and sliced. I hope you love the cake!
Natasha, the cake was delicious and easy to slice. Thank you very much! We actually live in the mountains, no humidity here at all, so I am not sure why it was so sticky in the beginning…:)
Elevation does affect the recipe and may have caused that stickiness! I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
Hi natasha, would this cake hold up well if i make it into 3 cake rounds instead of 2? Meaning i would do 1 and a half of the recipe to get 3 layers. I need a taller cake for a party
Hi Yanna, yes I think that would hold up well, but it might overwhelm your mixer to put in that many eggs. It might work in a larger 6 Qt stand mixer and you would need to increase the mixing time for the eggs and sugar to get the right volume.
Hi Yanna! I haven’t tested that but I think that could work. Since the cakes will be shorter and smaller you will need to adjust the bake time.
The cake video (linked) includes baking powder, but you omitted that in this recipe. Reason?
I found the answer in any earlier response:
natashaskitchen (June 24, 2017):
“Hi Jennifer, I started adding baking powder in the past few years for slightly more consistent results (and because people were concerned the cake wouldn’t work without baking powder, although traditionally this cake relies on the volume of the eggs for leavening). It would be safe to add 1/2 tsp of baking powder to each layer of batter, but the recipe will still work without it.”
I hope you found that helpful!