We celebrated my sister’s birthday a week early, when my family was all in town. And then, of course, for the actual day… we had to do a mini celebration again! Which meant: two cakes! She requested a chocolate-forward cake the first week, and then this strawberry birthday one the second week. Two very different vibes, but both very delicious. And I am always happy to have an excuse to bake two birthday cakes. Frankly, the more birthday cakes, the merrier.
My sister was describing her vision for this cake, and I realized it sounded pretty similar to the cake I baked for my niece’s second-and-a-half birthday just a month ago. Then Molly said, “Oh, that’s why this idea is coming to me so readily.” But of course, I had to make this one a bit more “adult-y” than the toddler version. That meant adding in some birthday crumb and strawberry jam. but keeping the bright pink, artificial strawberry frosting. Because that is my new favorite baking hack.
I’ve used that strawberry extract and clear vanilla extract combo so much in the past few weeks that I’ve deemed it Strawberry Shortcake Summer. Just for me, not in an Internet way. And for someone who likes strawberry shortcake (the flavor) so much, I have very little knowledge of what Strawberry Shortcake (the tv show) was ever about. I remembered it when writing this post and making my Strawberry Shortcake Summer declaration, and then I got sidetracked into figuring it out. So… please enjoy this deep-dive I did into a children’s tv show from 2003.
I remember, as a kid, thinking Strawberry Shortcake had a silly name and altogether seemed far too girly. I may have been oo quick in my assumptions though, because it sounds like the show/movies got pretty intense sometimes. This is the synopsis of Strawberry Shortcake: The Sweet Dreams Movie:
“Strawberry Shortcake and her friends notice that the strawberry crop is very small. She plans to plant a new garden, but Purple Pieman and his sister, Sour Grapes, arrive and announce plans to build a factory on the spot. He then invades Dreamland, and it is up to Strawberry and her friends to kick him out and set things right again.”
Which sounds like a wild ride if I’ve ever heard one. Purple Pieman and Sour Grapes sound like super villains, and it sounds like Strawberry Shortcake has to fight The Man for her small town interests. Talk about a Girl Boss. If you see this in my Leterboxd in the next few days, don’t be surprised.
I also found an episode of the show called Piece of Cake, where Strawberry and her friends want to put on a cooking show, and it is basically just them baking and filming and includes fairly in depth recipes and instructions. Are you kidding me? That would have been tailor-made for me as a kid. So maybe I missed out on the best TV show of all time?
Alright, sorry for that little children’s show detour. This isn’t even a strawberry shortcake cake. It’s just a very tasty funfetti vanilla cake with strawberry fillings. Sometimes I have a plan and sometimes I have no idea where a post is going to go.
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PinDescription
Layers of birthday cake, birthday crumb, strawberry frosting, and strawberry jam
Ingredients
For the birthday cake:
- 4 tablespoons butter at room temperature
- 1/3 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup grapeseed oil
- 2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
- 2 cups cake flour (or, 1 3/4 cup flour + 1/4 cup cornstarch)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup (or more) rainbow sprinkles
For the birthday crumb:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup cake flour (or, 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons flour and 1 tablespoon cornstarch)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons rainbow sprinkles
- 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
- 1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract
For the strawberry frosting:
- 1 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1.5 to 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1⁄8 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1–1 1/2 tsp Strawberry extract
- Pink food coloring, if desired
For assembly:
- Your favorite strawberry jam
Instructions
Make the birthday crumb:
- Heat the oven to 300°f.
- Combine the sugars, flour, baking powder, salt, and sprinkles in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until well combined.
- Add the oil and vanilla and paddle again to distribute. The wet ingredients will act as glue to help the dry ingredients form small clusters; continue paddling until that happens.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 300°f.
- Let the crumbs cool completely before using in a recipe or scarfing by the handful. Stored in an airtight container, the crumbs will keep fresh for 1 week at room temperature or 1 month in the fridge or freezer.
Make the birthday cake:
- Heat the oven to 350°f.
- Combine the butter, shortening, and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs, and mix on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes. scrape down the sides of the bowl once more.
- On low speed, stream in the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. increase the mixer speed to medium-high and paddle for 4 to 6 minutes, until the mixture is practically white, twice the size of your original fluffy butter-and-sugar mixture, and completely homogeneous. don’t rush the process. You’re basically forcing too much liquid into an already fatty mixture that doesn’t want to make room for that liquid. There should be no streaks of fat or liquid. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- On very low speed, add the cake flour, baking powder, salt, and the 50 g (¼ cup) rainbow sprinkles. Mix for 45 to 60 seconds, just until your batter comes together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Pam-spray a quarter sheet pan and line it with parchment, or just line the pan with a silpat. Using a spatula, spread the cake batter in an even layer in the pan. Sprinkle the remaining 25g (2 tablespoons) rainbow sprinkles evenly on top of the batter.
- Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes. The cake will rise and puff, doubling in size, but will remain slightly buttery and dense. At 30 minutes, gently poke the edge of the cake with your finger: the cake should bounce back slightly and the center should no longer be jiggly. Leave the cake in the oven for an extra 3 to 5 minutes if it doesn’t pass these tests.
- Take the cake out of the oven and cool on a wire rack or, in a pinch, in the fridge or freezer (don’t worry, it’s not cheating). The cooled cake can be stored in the fridge, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 4 days.
Once cake and crumb are cool, make the frosting:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft, about 1 minute.
- Add 1.5 cups of the confectioners’ sugar, the salt, and strawberry extract. Beat on low speed until the sugar is well incorporated. Add the pink food coloring, if using.
- Add another ½ cup sugar and the cream. Add more sugar as needed to thicken the frosting. Beat on medium speed until the frosting is smooth and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
Assemble your cake:
- Put a piece of parchment or a silpat on the counter. Invert the cake onto it and peel off the parchment or silpat from the bottom of the cake. Use the cake ring to stamp out 2 circles from the cake. These are your top 2 cake layers. The remaining cake “scrap” will come together to make the bottom layer of the cake.
- Clean the cake ring and place it in the center of a sheet pan lined with clean parchment or a silpat. Use 1 strip of acetate to line the inside of the cake ring.
- Put the cake scraps together inside the ring and use the back of your hand to tamp the scraps together into a flat even layer.
- Use the back of a spoon to spread one-third of the frosting in an even layer over the cake.
- Sprinkle some of the birthday crumbs evenly over the frosting. Use the back of your hand to anchor them in place.
- Use the back of a spoon to spread a healthy portion of strawberry jam over the top of the crumb, and try to spread it out over the top of the crumb without dislodging too many of them.
- Set a cake round on top of the jam, and repeat the process for layer 1.
- Nestle the remaining cake round into the frosting. Cover the top of the cake with the remaining frosting. Give it volume and swirls, or do as we do and opt for a perfectly flat top. Decorate with sprinkles or leftover crumb.
- Transfer the sheet pan to the freezer and freeze for a minimum of 12 hours to set The cake and filling. the cake will keep in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
- At least 3 hours before you are ready to serve the cake, pull the sheet pan out of the freezer and, using your fingers and thumbs, pop the cake out of the cake ring. Gently peel off the acetate, and transfer the cake to a platter or cake stand. Let it defrost in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours (wrapped well in plastic, the cake can be refrigerated for up to 5 days).
- Slice the cake and serve.
Notes
Adapted from and inspired by Milk Bar