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Strawberry Shortcake Cake

by Katerina Petrovska

4.75 from 4 votes

Jun 30, 2014, Updated Feb 09, 2026

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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

• 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. 

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!

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4.75 from 4 votes

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

by Katerina Petrovska

This luscious strawberry shortcake cake has soft, spongey cake layers stacked with juicy strawberry filling and the fluffiest whipped cream frosting.

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cooling Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 to 14 servings

Ingredients 

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For the Cake

• ▢ 1½ cups cake flour
• ▢ 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¾ cup milk
• ▢ 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ▢ 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• ▢ 3 large eggs, at room temperature (very important!)
• ▢ 1¼ cups granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 container fresh strawberries, halved, used for garnish

For the Filling

• ▢ 21 ounces can of strawberry pie filling, (I used Lucky Leaf)

For the Whipped Frosting

• ▢ 2 cups cold heavy cream
• ▢ ½ cup powdered sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

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Instructions 

Make the Cake

• Prep. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and position the rack in the center. Lightly grease 2 (9-inch) springform cake pans with baking spray and set aside.
• Combine the dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt until combined.
• Heat the milk and butter. Set a small saucepan over medium-high heat and add the milk and butter; bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and lemon juice. Set aside to cool.
• Mix the ingredients. In your mixer's bowl, combine the eggs and sugar, and beat until pale yellow, fluffy, and doubled in volume. With the mixer on, slowly pour in the cooled milk mixture (I suggest stirring the milk mixture before adding it to the mixer); mix until well incorporated.
• Add the dry ingredients. Turn off the mixer and gently fold in the flour mixture.
• Bake. Divide the batter evenly 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.
• Cool the cakes. Remove the pans from the oven and set them on a cooling rack. Snap open the springform pans and turn out the cakes; let them 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. Then, remove it from the fridge and beat the mixture with your mixer until stiff peaks form.

Assemble the Cake

• Make the cake layers. When the cakes are completely cooled, cut one of the cakes crosswise to end up with 3 round layers. One will be bigger than the other two.
• Add the frosting. Spread half of the whipped frosting over one of the thinner cake layers. Add the second thin cake layer over the whipped frosting.
• Add the strawberry filling. Spread the strawberry pie filling over the cake. Top with the last cake layer.
• Finish, chill, serve. Spread the remaining whipped frosting over the cake. Top with fresh strawberries. Chill the finished cake in the fridge for at least 1 hour before cutting and serving.

Notes

Cake Recipe heavily adapted from Food Network.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 422kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 95mg | Sodium: 143mg | Potassium: 193mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 40g | Vitamin A: 759IU | Vitamin C: 29mg | Calcium: 93mg | Iron: 1mg

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.

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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.

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