What is one of the best tasks to find yourself needing to accomplish on a summer day? I’m guessing this: angling a large mouthful of light, fluffy, not-too-sweet (but just sweet enough) strawberry shortcake into your mouth. Likewise, a similarly great task would be angling a second bite of that same strawberry shortcake into your mouth.

This is one of my very favourite recipes, and I think you will love it too! If you decide to make it, I’m quite sure that it will become a staple go-to recipe for your collection. It’s a perfect spring or summer dessert, and a completely delightful birthday cake. It’s also a winner since it can be made in several variations!

What You’re Probably Thinking:

“Naomi, that cake is huge.” 

Yup, I know you’re probably thinking that the cake in these pictures is a little excessive in size, and you might be right! I’m going to say you can blame that decision on my upbringing. Growing up in a large family, I have a really hard time making small cakes, or small quantities, of pretty much anything. (Much to the concern of my grocery budget and likely also my waistline.)

Today I’ll keep things more realistic for you and share this recipe as a smaller, more normal sized cake. Additionally, I’ll include the instructions for how many times it should be multiplied to make the big one, since that may have been what attracted you to check out this recipe in the first place! 

If you decide to make the large version, the pictures will hopefully help to show you how to handle large, fragile sheets of cake without breaking them. Please let me know in the comments if you need clarification on the process in any way!

To make this recipe, you shouldn’t need anything more than a standard, well-equipped kitchen as well as the ingredients of the cake itself. Just in case you want to make sure you’ve got it all, however, I’ll note a few of the main kitchen necessities below:

You Will Need:

• 2 cake pans
  (8″ rounds, 9” rounds, OR 11″x15″ jelly roll pans)
• Parchment paper
• Electric mixer or Stand mixer
• Large mixing bowls
• Paring knives, for prepping strawberries
• Cooling racks
• Serving plate or cookie sheet (for the largest size)

Print

Strawberry Shortcake

This is a favourite spring and summer time recipe - light, creamy, and bursting with the taste of fresh strawberries. This recipe makes one 8" or 9" round cake, serving about 8 people.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Canadian

Keyword shortcake, strawberry, strawberry shortcake

Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 8 people

Author Naomi

Ingredients

• 8 large eggs separated
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 lemon (or orange) grated rind and juice
• 2 tsp unflavoured gelatine
• 3 Tbsp cold water
• 3 cups heavy whipping cream
• 4 cups strawberries washed and chopped

Instructions

1. Lightly grease and line the bottom of two 8" or 9"in round cake pans with parchment paper. (I usually trace the base of the pans with pencil on the paper, cut the circles out with scissors, and then stick them to the bottom of the greased pans).

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Beat the egg yolks until light; add the sugar and beat until lemon coloured and thick.

4. Add the flour, salt, and grated rind and juice of the lemon or orange.

5. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into the batter gently, until just incorporated. (Little wisps of white are ok- better to do that than over mix the batter! The egg white is what gives your cake structure, since there is no leavening in this recipe.)

6. Divide the batter into prepared pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until just starting to become golden and the cake springs back when lightly touched. (You can also stick a toothpick in and test it that way if you prefer - it should come out of a fully baked cake clean.)

7. When the cakes are done, run a sharp knife around the edges to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Allow the cakes to rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks (removing the parchment from the underside) to finish cooling completely.

8. While the cakes are cooling, wash and chop the strawberries; set aside.

9. In a heatproof cup/mug, sprinkle the gelatine over the 3 Tbsp. cold water. Bring a bit of water to a boil in a small saucepan, and then set the cup into the water on the stove. Stir the mixture until completely dissolved and no longer grainy looking. Remove from the heat and set aside.

10. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Reduce the speed to low, and gradually add the gelatine mixture (do not scrape out the cup - only add what pours in easily, and soak the cup to be washed later). Once the gelatine has been added, increase the mixing speed, and whip until stiff peaks form.

11. Set one round of the cake on a serving plate. In a large mixing bowl, combine half of the cream with half of the strawberries. Spread the mixture over the first layer, and top with the second layer of cake.

12. Spread the remaining cream on top and decorate with the rest of the strawberries. Chill until serving, at least 2 hours.

Recipe Notes

1. The cake pictured in this recipe is an extra large one, made to serve about 30 people. To make a cake this size, you will need to do 4x this recipe, with the cake baked in 2 jelly roll pans (11x15 sheet pans) lined with parchment paper.
2. This cake is best served the day it is made.

This cake is easy to adapt as well; if you aren’t really a strawberry person, no problem! Check out these suggestions for a little variety on this super-simple recipe:

Substitutions:

• FRUIT:
   – Add or substitute your favourite fresh fruit or berries for the filling and topping. I’ve done peaches and raspberries before (which is super pretty), assorted berries, or assorted berries and kiwi slices.
  
• SPONGE CAKE:
  – If you prefer, feel free to omit the citrus, or swap it out for lime zest for a little twist!
  – Add a bit of cornmeal with the flour (I would do about ¼ cup for this recipe) to give the sponge cake a bit more texture. I really enjoy it this way!

(STEP 1)

(STEP 5)

(STEPS 6&7)

(STEP 11)

(STEP 12)

This cake can also be prepped and then cut into smaller segments. This way you can make individual mini cakes, like I did way back in my early blogging days (when my blog went by a different name). Check out This Old Link to see what that looked like if you need some inspiration!

Thanks for stopping in! May your strawberry shortcake dreams come true. Mine certainly have.

Bye for now!

Naomi

P.S. One tip! If you’re making this to bring somewhere, I find it super helpful to make the cake in a large disposable baking pan. It doesn’t look as pretty, but this will make transportation and refrigeration much easier!