The Ultimate Strawberry Shortcake!

This cake looks difficult.  It’s not.  And it’s the most luscious strawberry vanilla cream cake ever. It’s made with a moist vanilla cake—a cream cake–strawberries, and whipped cream.

This started out as a strawberry shortcake, strawberries and whipped cream on a vanilla cake.  It’s just how we stacked them.  Plus, we added meringue power so you can show them off all afternoon. Oh, and cake is a simple 9×13-inch cake that we cut in half to make two layers. The strawberries peeking out were sliced thin with a strawberry slicer.

Yes, it’s the ultimate strawberry shortcake.  Go ahead, show this off to your family and friends.

About the Cake

There are three parts to the cake plus a dusting of chopped nuts (optional)—the cake, the whipped cream frosting, and the strawberries.

It’s made with a Vanilla Bean Baby Cake mix.  It’s a cream cake, so there’s pudding in the mix, making it a denser cake. It’s the perfect complement to whipped cream and strawberries. And it’s moister and denser than the cakes you make from mixes you find at the store.

It’s baked in a 9×13-inch pan.  The edges are trimmed back about 3/8-inch and then the cake is sliced in two to make two layers.

The frosting is simply whipped cream with meringue powder added to retard melting.  It was applied with a round pastry tip.

Whipped cream frosting is luscious, but it only holds up well for a day or so.  If you want it to last longer, use buttercream.  (This cake was originally designed as a strawberry shortcake. It makes a wonderful shortcake.)

The filling is a layer of whipped cream with sliced strawberries on top.  The berries were sliced with a strawberry slicer to get nice slices of uniform thickness.

It’s the thinly sliced strawberries between the layers that really completes this cake and makes it scrumptious. To get the evenly sliced strawberries, we used our strawberry slicer. It’s much faster and easier than using a knife, and all you have to do is put the strawberry in the middle, press down, and you have nice clean, uniform slices in no time.

How to Make the Cake

Ingredients

• 1 Vanilla Bean Baby Cake mix
• Fresh strawberries
• Vanilla cheesecake whipped cream frosting (recipe below)
• Finely chopped nuts (optional)

Directions

1. Make the cake according to package instructions in a 9×13-inch pan. When you pour the batter into the pan, push some of the batter to the edges to get a cake of uniform thickness.
2. Cut the cake in half to make two layers. Trim the edges. Lay one cake on the other to test for “fit”. If the top of the cake isn’t horizontal, try turning to reverse the fit.
3. Make the whipped cream frosting and spread a layer on one of the cake halves. Add a layer of sliced strawberries.
4. Carefully invert the other half of the cake on top of the frosted half and frost the top with the remaining whipped cream frosting (the cake in the image was frosted with a pastry bag and round tip).
5. Top with finely chopped nuts and more strawberries.

Vanilla Cheesecake Whipped Cream Frosting Recipe

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons meringue powder
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream (Darigold 40% fat or equal)

Directions

1. Cream the sugar with the cream cheese.
2. Add the vanilla, meringue powder, and heavy whipping cream. Whip until very stiff peaks form and it stands almost like buttercream frosting.

Baker’s Note: Whipped cream frosting is better if used the same day.

Strawberry Tips

When strawberries are good, use them every chance you get. Use them on cereal, on cake, with milk and honey—even on chocolate ice cream.  They’re good on everything from salads to shortcakes.

Use a Strawberry Slicer. You’ll cut your prep time in half and your presentation will be prettier with a strawberry slicer.

Use a Straw. A plastic straw is the quickest, best way to hull strawberries.  You’ll waste less berry than with a knife and they’ll look better too.