Soft Strawberry Cake

IMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.

Ingredients

Strawberry Filling/Reduction

▢ 3 cups (600 g) fresh strawberries - hulled and halved
▢ ¾ cup (150 g) white granulated sugar - see note 5 if you have very sweet strawberries
▢ 1 tbsp lemon zest - about the zest of 1 lemon
▢ ¼ cup (60 g) fresh lemon juice
▢ 3 tbsp (22 g) cornstarch - also known as cornflour
▢ 2 tbsp water

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

▢ 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
▢ 4½ cups (570 g) icing sugar - also known as powdered sugar/confectioners sugar
▢ 1½ cups (335 g) cream cheese - cold, firm type not spreadable
▢ ¼ cup (65 g) strawberry filling/reduction - made in the first step of this recipe
▢ 2 tsp strawberry essence/extract
▢ 1 tsp vanilla essence/extract

Instructions

Strawberry Filling/Reduction

Place the strawberries, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice in a large fry pan and place over a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once the strawberries are soft, using a potato masher, mash the strawberries well. Allow the mixture to reduce for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Combine the cornstarch with the water and mix until the cornstarch is no longer lumpy. Add it into the strawberry mixture while continuously mixing to avoid lumps forming.
Reduce for another few minutes and then take it off the heat. You should have about 2 cups. It's okay if it's not exact, but if you have a lot more than 2 cups, then you will need to reduce the mixture further.
The filling needs to cool before you move onto the cake. To speed up the process, spread the filling out onto a wide dish and refrigerate for 30 minutes. You can also make this the day beforehand to save time.

Strawberry Cake

Preheat oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 4 if you don't have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release).
In a bowl, sift together your flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
In a small bowl combine 3/4s of a cup (195g) of the strawberry filling, milk and gel food colour. Mix until well combined. Set aside for now.
In another bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine - see note 2), cream together for 3 minutes until light and creamy.
Add in egg whites in 3 batches on a low-medium speed, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between each batch).
Add in half of your strawberry/milk mixture from earlier, strawberry essence/extract, vanilla and white vinegar. Mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
Finish off by adding in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the remaining strawberry/milk mixture, and fold it in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold it into the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 3). If your batter seems a little dull in colour, then you can add another drop of red gel food colouring.
Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins, and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting with the strawberry cream cheese buttercream recipe below.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream your butter for a few minutes until it's light and fluffy. Either use a hand mixer or stand mixer on a medium high speed. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
Add in the icing sugar in 3 batches while mixing on low. Ensure that each batch of icing sugar is mixed into the butter well before adding in the next batch.
Next add in your cold cream cheese, strawberry essence/extract and vanilla. Mix just until the frosting is smooth. Avoid over-mixing (see note 3).
Add in a 1/4 cup (65g) of the strawberry filling we made earlier, and mix that in until just combined. You can add additional colouring in at this point too if you prefer.

Assembly

OPTIONAL: Begin by trimming off all the caramelised edges on the top, bottom and sides of the cake layers. Also level the tops if the cake layers have a slight dome.
Place your first cake layer onto your cake stand, and spread out a generous amount of the frosting on top.
Place some of the frosting into a piping bag with a 1A round tip, and pipe a border/dam around the edges of the cake layer to hold in our strawberry filling. I like to pipe a double border so its high enough to get all the remaining filling in. Fill the middle with the remaining strawberry filling we made earlier.
Place the next cake layer on top and cover the top and sides with more frosting. If you have a cake scraper, you can use it to smooth out the sides. I like to do a little bit of piping on the top with the remaining buttercream in my piping bag (using the same 1A piping tip) and finish off with fresh strawberries on the top.

Notes

Note 1. You can use cake flour in replacement of the all purpose flour and cornstarch in this recipe (325g total required).

Note 2. If using a stand mixer, then use the paddle attachment for the initial mixing, but continue to do the last step by hand as stated in the recipe.

Note 3. By gently folding in the ingredients, it prevents too much gluten from forming, thus giving us a softer cake. Only mix until the strands of flour have disappeared and the batter is uniform.

Note 4. In this recipe I use an oven with the fan function turned on. The fan forced function cooks cakes/cupcakes faster, so if your oven doesn't have a fan option, then you will need to increase the baking temperature to 175°C (347°F) so that the cake/cupcake bakes at the same rate as mine 🙂

Note 5. If you have very sweet strawberries then you can reduce the sugar by about a quarter cup (50g). Once you've finished making the strawberry filling, then taste it and if it's a little too tart you can add additional sugar.

Note 6. Red gel food colouring is optional, but I would recommend it as the cake layers lose colour when they bake and end up with a dull colour.

Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.

Ingredients ½x1x2x

Strawberry Filling/Reduction

Strawberry Cake

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Instructions

Strawberry Filling/Reduction

Strawberry Cake

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Assembly

Video

Notes

Nutrition

Ingredients