This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This luscious strawberry shortcake cake has soft, spongey cake layers filled with juicy strawberries and the fluffiest whipped cream frosting. It’s a light and fresh layer cake that’s perfect for warmer weather!
This strawberry shortcake cake is a cross between traditional strawberry shortcake and a fluffy homemade layer cake. It’s filled with whipped cream and juicy strawberries, giving us all those classic flavors we know and love. The cake is rich and buttery, made with cake flour and lemon juice for the softest crumb.
This cake is SO GOOD! Two slices were demolished in 5 minutes. With warmer weather on the way, this light, fruity strawberry shortcake cake is perfect for all your summertime shindigs.
Why You’ll Love This Strawberry Shortcake Cake Recipe
- Soft cake layers. With a few simple techniques and the right ingredients, the batter bakes into a cake that’s ultra-moist and oh-so-soft. You’ll love the way that every bite melts in your mouth!
- Strawberry pie filling. Instead of fresh strawberries, I fill this cake with strawberry pie filling. It’s sweet and tangy and totally winning next to the pillowy whipped cream.
- Homemade whipped frosting. Also, a moment for the frosting!? All it takes is 4 ingredients to make the perfect whipped cream frosting from scratch. It’s smooth, creamy, and just sweet enough.
- Easy to assemble. Even if you’re new to making layer cakes, I promise, you can make this strawberry shortcake cake! It’s super easy to prepare the cakes and assembling is a breeze.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here are my notes on what you’ll need to make this easy strawberry shortcake cake. Scroll down to the recipe card for a printable list of ingredients.
- Cake Flour – Cake flour is lower in protein than all-purpose flour, with a lighter, more velvety texture. It’s the best choice for vanilla cake recipes, where you’re after a soft, fluffy crumb.
- Dry Ingredients – Baking powder and salt.
- Milk and Butter – You can use whole milk or 2% milk, whichever you prefer, and salted or unsalted butter.
- Vanilla – For the best flavor, stick with pure vanilla extract.
- Lemon Juice – Similar to making buttermilk, the acidity in the lemon juice thickens the milk in the recipe. It enriches the flavors of the cake and gives it a hint of tang.
- Eggs – Brought to room temperature before you start. Don’t skip this step!
- Strawberry Pie Filling – I use Lucky Leaf pie filling, but choose your favorite canned or jarred filling from the store.
- Whipped Cream – You’ll make homemade whipped cream from fridge-cold heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. If you’d prefer, you can use store-bought stabilized whipped cream, or Cool Whip.
- Fresh Strawberries – For garnish.
How to Make Strawberry Shortcake Cake
This moist strawberry layer cake comes together in just a few steps. Let’s walk through them here! You’ll find printable instructions in the recipe card below the post.
- Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk together cake flour with baking powder and salt.
- Mix the wet ingredients. Combine milk and butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil. Then, take the pan off the heat and stir in the lemon juice and vanilla.
- Combine. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together. Slowly add the cooled milk mixture until it’s well combined. Finally, fold in the dry ingredients.
- Bake. Transfer the cake batter to two greased 9” springform cake pans. Bake the cakes at 350ºF for 15-18 minutes. Move the cakes to a cooling rack and release them from the pans.
- Make the frosting. Meanwhile, combine whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate the ingredients for 30 minutes. Afterward, beat the frosting into stiff peaks.
Assemble the Cake
- Create the layers. Once the cakes are cooled, you’ll slice one of the two cakes horizontally through the middle. You’ll be left with 3 round cake layers.
- Stack the cakes. Starting with one of the thinner layers, spread frosting over top. Add the second thin cake layer over the frosting. Top this with strawberry pie filling, and finally, the third cake layer.
- Frost the cake. Use the remaining frosting to frost the top of the cake. I like to garnish this strawberry shortcake cake with fresh berries.
- Chill. Chill the finished cake in the fridge for 1 hour before slicing and serving.
Tips and Variations
Keep these final tips along with some easy recipe variations in mind when making this strawberry shortcake cake:
- Use room-temperature eggs. Your eggs must be at room temperature before you add them to the batter. Very important! If you forget and need to quickly bring your eggs to room temperature, place them in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for 5-10 minutes.
- Don’t overmix. Overmixing the cake batter can lead to a dense, tough cake. Make sure to only mix the dry ingredients into the batter until they’re just combined.
- Don’t overbake. If you leave your cakes in the oven too long, they’ll end up dry and crumbly. Test the cake for doneness by sticking a toothpick into the center. If it comes out clean, your cakes are ready to come out.
- No cake flour? You can substitute cake flour with all-purpose flour in a pinch. Another option is to turn regular flour into a cake flour substitute using cornstarch! Measure out 1 cup of flour, scoop out 2 tablespoons, and replace them with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. You can use this ratio to scale your substitute as needed.
- Add a garnish. Top this strawberry shortcake cake with sugared champagne strawberries for a fun, shimmery twist. You can also drizzle over some homemade strawberry sauce.
Serving Suggestions
This shortcake cake is a delicious after-dinner treat with a cup of coffee or tea. I love a warm cortado or a creamy homemade London fog. It’s also the BEST cake to bring out for dessert at a backyard BBQ in the summer, paired with scoops of strawberry ice cream. And if you’re looking for the perfect dessert to serve for Mother’s Day or Easter brunch, the fresh strawberry flavors in this cake pair great with a sunrise mimosa or rosé float!
How to Store
- Refrigerate. Store this strawberry shortcake cake in an airtight container or cake carrier in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Freeze. While I don’t recommend freezing the frosted cake, the cake layers can be frozen before assembling. Wrap them tightly in a double layer of plastic wrap, with sheets of parchment paper between the cakes. Freeze for up to 2 months and defrost the layers in the fridge before assembling the cake.
More Easy Cake Recipes
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It
Strawberry Shortcake Cake
This luscious strawberry shortcake cake has soft, spongey cake layers stacked with juicy strawberry filling and the fluffiest whipped cream frosting.
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup milk
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature (very important!)
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 container fresh strawberries,, halved
For the Filling
- 1 (21 oz.) can of strawberry pie filling, (I used Lucky Leaf)
For the Whipped Frosting
- 2 cups cold heavy cream
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Position the rack in the middle of the oven.
- Lightly grease 2 (9-inch) springform cake pans with baking spray and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk cake flour, baking powder and salt; whisk until combined.
- Set a small saucepan over medium-high heat and add milk and butter; bring to a boil.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and lemon juice. Set aside to cool.
- In your mixer’s bowl, combine eggs and sugar; beat until pale yellow, fluffy, and doubled in size.
- With the mixer on, slowly pour in the cooled milk mixture (I suggest stirring the milk mixture before adding to the mixer); mix until well incorporated.
- Turn off mixer and gently fold in the flour mixture.
- Spread the batter in the prepared pans and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Remove from oven and set pans on a cooling rack.
- Snap open the springform pans and turn out the cakes; let completely cool.
Make the Frosting
- In the meantime, prepare the frosting. In a mixing bowl, combine the whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- When chilled, beat the frosting until stiff peaks form.
Assemble the Cake
- When cakes are completely cooled, cut one of the cakes crosswise so you end up with 3 round layers. One will be bigger than the other two.
- Spread half of the whipped frosting over one of the thinner cake layers. Add the second thin cake layer over the whipped frosting.
- Spread the strawberry pie filling over the cake. Top with the last cake layer.
- Spread the rest of the whipped frosting over the cake. Top with fresh strawberries. Chill finished cake in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Serve.
Notes
Cake Recipe heavily adapted from Food Network.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 248kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 104mg | Sodium: 159mg | Potassium: 87mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 755IU | Vitamin C: 1.3mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 0.2mg
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
Did you make a recipe? Leave a rating
Lovely!! I think I need to run back to the store for more strawberries!
Yay I’m not the only one who can’t cut a cake, although you’d never know from your pictures! I’m totally in love with this cake! Strawberries, light, fluffy, moist cake, and whipped cream…dreamy!! Pinned.
LOL!! :))) Thank goodness we’re not alone! I can make a goooood cake, but decorating it?? Or cutting it??? That’s for the pros! 😉
This definitely looks so mouthwatering and that’s the point right? Who cares how imperfect it looks? I feel relieved when I learnt that I’m not the only food blogger who has preblems with cake decorating and slicing. Pinning this beauty!
Oh my gosh this is absolutely beautiful and ALMOST to pretty to eat.
This is beautiful, Kate. What an awesome dessert for the 4th!
What a masterpiece! This is stunning and you have mad skills, girlie!! 🙂 pinned!
It’s a pretty cake even if the cake layers are uneven. I can relate to that problem. I’ve tried sticking toothpicks all around the cake at the right level and then cutting with a sharp knife above them. NOT easy when you’ve made a mudcake and end up sawing through the cake while resting the edge on your chest. 🙂
As to the blue layer … no blueberries?
It looks delicious, and your slice looks better than my cake slices usually do. I’m not much on presentation, as why make it pretty if you’re going to eat it? It’s not like you’re going to wear it, or hang it on the wall…
Beautiful and so festive! Pinned!
This might be the most gorgeous cake I’ve ever seen!