Strawberry 'Shortcake' Layer Cake - Food duch*ess (2024)

It doesn’t get better than whipped cream, fresh strawberries, and cake! This gorgeous cake is basically Strawberry Shortcake but in layer cake format! The Strawberry ‘Shortcake’ Layer Cake features 2 buttery and tender Victorian sponge cake layers that are sandwiched over a thick layer of mascarpone whipped cream and juicy, fresh macerated strawberries! The Strawberry ‘Shortcake’ Layer Cake is finished off with more mascarpone whipped cream and strawberries, creating a dessert that is both delicious and stop-in-your-tracks gorgeous!

Please note that Victorian Sponge Cake is not a typical ‘sponge’ cake – it’s texture is buttery, tender, with a fine crumb (like a lighter pound cake).

Making the Sponge Cake

1.Combine butter and sugar: Add butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl, or stand mixer, and beat until smooth, combined, and fluffy.

2. Add eggs and vanilla: Add eggs, one at a time,ensuring that you fully incorporate each before adding the next one. Addvanilla and incorporate fully.

3. Combine dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisktogether the flour, salt, and baking powder.

4. Add dry ingredients to wet: Add the dry ingredientsto the bowl with the wet ingredients, and beat until just combined.

5. Bake: Add the batter to the 2 prepared cake pans, smoothing it out evenly, then place into the oven to bake. I prefer to use light colored baking pans, as it reduces the likelihood that the outside of the sponge cake overbakes!

What is mascarpone?

Mascarpone is an Italian cream cheese. It is smooth intexture, like cream cheese, but is rather neutral in flavor, unlike tangy creamcheese. Mascarpone is high in butterfat which gives in a creamy, butterytexture and flavor. I like to think of mascarpone as basically super thickcream, and as such it works well in a variety of way and recipes. It can beadded to pasta, to provide creaminess and thickening, or it can be added inplace of whipped cream in a dessert – truly so versatile! In this StrawberryShortcake Cake recipe, the mascarpone is used in conjunction with whipped creamto make the filling. Whipped cream, by itself, is very fragile and will beginto weep after only a few hours and completely lose it’s shape and structure veryquickly. Whipped cream, therefore needs a friend of some sort, to keep it rigidandin shape, so to say. That iswhere mascarpone comes in. Mascarpone acts as a stabilizer for the whippedcream, providing it structure and therefore longevity.

How to make the mascarpone whipped cream for the Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Making the mascarpone whipped cream topping for the StrawberryShortcake Cake is super simple! Start by adding the cold heavy cream to a bowlor stand mixer, then throw in the confectioners sugar and vanilla. Beat thismixture until the whipped cream has formed stiff peaks. Then simply add in themascarpone, and continue to beat until the mascarpone is well incorporated andthe texture is smooth.

It should be noted, however, that you will need to keep thisStrawberry Shortcake Cake needs refrigerated once the Mascarone Whipped Cream isadded. Whipped cream does not like heat of any sort, and will VERY quickly melt(even after being stabilized by the mascarpone) if any heat is present!

What is and how to macerate strawberries?

Macerating strawberries is a process used to soften strawberries, as well as pull their liquid out slightly to create a syrup. The process of macerating strawberries sounds a lot fancier and more complicated than it actually is – to put it simply, macerating strawberries really only involves sprinkling sugar over cut strawberries and letting them sit for 15 minutes to half an hour! After this time the strawberries will be sweet, slightly softened, and will be sitting in their own strawberry syrup! These macerated strawberries can then be layered into the Strawberry Shortcake Cake and the accompanying syrup can be drizzled over top of them, as well!

How Much Flour?

As this Victorian sponge cake does not have any liquid in the batter to help hydrate it, it is extremely crucial that the flour is measured properly. Too much flour in the batter will result in a cake that is dry, hard, and doesn’t rise well. I prefer to measure the flour in grams on a kitchen scale rather than volumetrically. Volumetric measurement is wildly inaccurate and can have a huge variance, and therefore a ton of room for error – which can effectively ruin any baked good!

If you do not own a kitchen scale, ensure you are using proper volumetric measuring practices. To measure flour correctly, use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup, then level off with a straight edge. Do not pack the flour into the cup, or scoop with the measuring cup straight from the bag/container.