Strawberry Cream Cake
This Strawberry Cream Cake combines delicious layers of vanilla cream cake, fresh juicy strawberries, and a creamy whipped cream/cream cheese filling. It’s also super easy to make and it’s the perfect refreshing and light summertime dessert!
I originally created this recipe after a friend of mine mentioned that she might want to enlist me to make a cake with strawberries for a birthday in her family. She wanted something light and something without an abundance of sweet frosting, so I went to work in the kitchen.
I wanted to make a cake with a rich flavor and a fine crumb, and a filling or frosting that wasn’t overly sweet. Therefore, I reached for my cake flour, some whipping cream, and pure vanilla extract. There’s nothing more flavorful and moist than a cream cake. I made a creamy light filling with whipped cream and cream cheese and tucked lots of fresh strawberries between the layers and on top. Done!!
WHY YOU SHOULD USE CAKE FLOUR
The cake filling starts with cake flour. Cake flour has been sifted more times than regular all-purpose flour and sifted to a finer texture. I sifted it again with the other dry ingredients. See how light and fine-textured it is? This creates a cake that is a little more light and airy. If you want to lighten up the texture of a cake, make sure to use cake flour. If you want a dense cake, such as a pound cake, use regular all-purpose flour.
If you don’t use cake flour on a regular basis, chances are you aren’t going to have any in your pantry, but don’t worry. In a pinch, you can make your own, and you can make just 2 cups or whatever amount you need for a recipe. See my post on Homemade Cake Flour Substitute.
FLAVOR
You might be surprised to know there’s no butter, sour cream, oil, or buttermilk in this cake, only pure whipping cream, vanilla, and eggs.
EASY STEPS
- Sift together dry ingredients and set aside.
- Beat whipping cream until stiff and set aside.
- Combine eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl.
- Mix in the dry ingredients.
- Fold in the whipped cream.
- Transfer batter to 2 cake pans and bake.
FILLING
The filling is made of cream cheese, vanilla, powdered sugar, and whipping cream.
- Whisk the whipped cream until soft peaks form and set aside.
- Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and sugar.
- Fold in the whipped cream.
If you love strawberries, you might want to check out this recipe for Fresh Strawberry Glaze Pie, another great Summer recipe!
The recipe was originally posted in May 2016.
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PrintStrawberry Cream Cake
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 40
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: cake
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Strawberry Cream Cake combines vanilla cake, fresh juicy strawberries, and a creamy whipped cream/cream cheese filling. It’s the perfect refreshing and light summertime dessert!
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
For the Filling
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 package cream cheese, 8 ounce, softened
- 1 stick real butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the Fruit
- 1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
For the Cake
- Grease and and lightly flour two 9″ rounds of wax paper and the sides of two 9″ cake pans.
- Sift the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, whisk the whipping cream on high speed until stiff peaks form and set aside.
- In a separate bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, mix the eggs on medium speed, until they are very light and lemony in color. Add the sugar and vanilla and mix for about one minute on medium speed.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix just to incorporate.
- Lightly fold in the whipped whipping cream on low speed or with a spatula.
- Divide batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for approximately 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of cakes comes out with moist crumbs on it.
- Let cakes set for about 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of cakes and invert them to a cooling rack. Peel the wax paper from the bottoms of cake layers and let cake layers cool completely.
For the Filling
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, whisk the whipping cream and powdered sugar on high speed until stiff peaks form and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, using the paddle or whisk attachment, mix the cream cheese and butter together on medium speed, until very light and creamy, and there are no lumps remaining in the cream cheese. Mix in the vanilla.
- On low speed, lightly fold in the whipped cream from the first bowl.
- Place the first cake layer, on a cake plate. Spread one-half of the filling over the layer, then one-half of the strawberries, and repeat on the top of the cake.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
- Additional strawberries can be used for garnish if desired, and blueberries are a great addition to the strawberries.
- Try this cake with fresh peaches when they are in season. It is excellent!
My cake batter came out really thick. I made homemade cake flour. It was not runny at all. But scoopable batter. I know I used the right ratios…
Hi Anne, This is a thick cake batter. There is no oil or butter.
I made this for my family for Easter. They loved it will be doing it again.
Hi Sylvia, I’m glad it was a hit. Happy Easter!
From my understanding, I’m I suppose to split the cakes and to make stackable layers with them ?
Hi Lyndon, I did not split the layers in this recipe but you certainly can. Many people do with this type of cake.
Hi Cindy, I have King Arthur I bleached & unenriched cake flour. Will that work or should it be bleached?
Hi Kim, Either one will work fine.
Hi Cindy, I made this today (Memorial Day) and it was so delicious. My family loved it!! I made zero changes and cannot wait to make it again.
Can you use a hand mixer for this? Also, is this something I could possibly do as a sheet cake?Kristi
Made this today for the 4th of July! Me and my family agree it’s the best cake we’ve had!
Hi Caitlyn, I’m so glad you and your family liked it. 🙂
Instructions state cut side up, but don’t have you cutting the cake. Confused. Thanks. Looks delicious though
Hi Kathy, Hi Kathy, Thanks so much for bringing that to my attention. I corrected it. 🙂
I made it and it is delicious. I won’t make as much whipped cream next time I had quite a bit left over. I did pile it on too.
Hi Cathy, Yay…I’m so glad you liked it!! 🙂
I had a flavor profile in my head so I searched key ingredients and found this. It nailed everyone of my tastebufs as I thought it would! I subbed half the vanilla for almond extract in both the cake and filling and I mixed the berries into the filling. My 1st and only strawberry cream cake recipe
Hi Shelly, I’m so happy you liked it. 🙂
Can this recipe be doubled? Some work very nicely but others don’t….My granddaughter wants strawberry cream cake for her college graduation and I need a cake for 50 people.
Hi Linda, Yes, but I recommend mixing two separate cake batters. Don’t double one batter. Then use 4 9-inch cake pans for the two cakes. You can also slice each layer in half, making thin layers like in a torte.
Why does it say in the filling description: “The filling is made of cream cheese, vanilla, powdered sugar, and whipping cream.” But how to make the filling there has butter listed. Is butter to be used or not?
Hi Jackie, There is 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter in the recipe, and it’s added in step #2 of the instructions. Happy baking! 🙂
Can you make this cake a day in advance. And if so could you do the frosting/filling also in advance?
Thank you
Hi Rita, Yes, you sure can. Happy baking! 🙂
HI Cindy~ I made this cake using 4 egg whites and 2 whole eggs. I adjusted this because I wanted a whiter cake… My batter was super thick and didn’t look quite like your pictures… the texture was not as fine as I was hoping with lots of big air bubbles. The flavor is spectacular!!! I will try it again tomorrow using whole eggs as it calls for. Wish me luck!
Thanks for a great white cake recipe.
Hi Sandy, Yes…please let me know how it turns out. Good luck!! 🙂
I do not see the oven temp for this recipe
Hi Karin, It’s in step #1 on the recipe card instructions. It’s 350 degrees. Happy baking! 🙂
Hi Cindy! I made this cake last year and did not change a thing, it was a hit…so good!! However, it could be my bad memory but why don’t I remember using butter in the filling? Has the recipe been modified? Just curious but seriously does not change how amazing this recipe is..
Hi Kimberly, No I haven’t modified it. The butter is just in the filling. I might modify it in the future with updated pictures, but the recipe won’t change. Happy 4th!! 🙂