Fresh Strawberry Sheet Cake will never, ever get old. It’s a very simple cake to make and my goto white cake. Topping it with strawberries and whipped cream makes it a great summer cake that can feed a crowd.
It’s also been Spane’s favorite birthday cake since he was a little one and everything he touched had to have Barney on it. Today, I made it for more kids celebrating birthdays at the Summer Kids Wellness Classes at HealWithin International.
I have been baking this care for many years, and it never disappoints. When I was working at Dean Witter (now Morgan Stanley) in Beverly Hills, one day I brought it for a friend’s birthday. Pretty soon, a VP came up to me and told me they would pay me to make this as the official monthly birthday cake. I’ve been making kids of all ages happy for a long time! I’ve written about this cake before, and you’re more than welcome to read about 1-2-3-4 cake.
Making Fresh Strawberry Sheet Cake
There are a couple of ways to go about making this cake. You can get large strawberries, stuff them, dip them in chocolate and put them on the outside of the cake, piping on a border and leaving the center flat. This cake also does well as a 4th of July flag cake when you include blueberries. If you want to get really fancy and have about 50 people to feed, then double the batter amount and make two sheet cakes. Put whipped cream and thinly sliced strawberries as filling, and top the cake as you wish.
A Word About Sifters
There are two kinds of sifters, the crank variety, and squeeze. I have had both, and I prefer the crank kind. The squeeze variety can get very tiring if you have a lot of dry ingredients to sift. Pictured is the one I use:
Email Me the Recipe
Fresh Strawberry Sheet Cake
Equipment
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Ingredients
For the Cake
- 4 egg whites
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 egg yolks, separated
- 1 cups Milk
- 2 ⅔ cups sifted cake flour
- 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, real , not imitation
- 1 tablespoon almond extract
For the Topping
- 2 ½ cups whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 2 dozen fresh strawberries
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 °F (177 °C). You can use either a large jellyroll pan or three 9-inch cake pans.Grease the pan and line it with wax or parchment paper. Grease the wax or parchment paper as well.
- 2 2/3 cups sifted cake flour, 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon saltIt's important to sift the flour first before measuring it. This DOES NOT mean putting it in a bowl and slapping a whisk at it a few times. This means using a real *sifter. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Separate the eggs, one bowl with the yolks, another with the whites.
- 4 egg whitesPut the whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until they are stiff but not dry. Put them in another bowl and wipe out your stand mixer bowl.
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, 2 cups sugarCream the butter well, then add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
- 4 egg yolksAdd the egg yolks one at a time.
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon almond extractAdd the extracts.
- 1 cups MilkAlternate adding the milk and flour one third at a time, scraping the bowl as needed. Beat the batter until it comes together, don’t overbeat it.
- Stir a third of the egg whites into the batter to loosen it. Fold in remaining egg whites carefully. Keep folding until you cannot see any large pieces of white.
- If you are making round cake layers, divide the batter between the prepared pans. Otherwise, pour into a 15 x 10 cake sheet pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on racks.
- Remove cake from pan and cool on a serving dish. Wash out the stand mixer bowl.
For the Topping
- 2 dozen fresh strawberriesWhile the cake is cooling, hull the strawberries and slice them in half. You probably won’t use all the berries.
- 2 1/2 cups whipping cream, 3 tablespoons powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon VanillaMake sure the cake is completely cooled before proceeding. When the cake is cooled, pour the whipping cream into the stand mixer bowl and add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Whip the cream until it comes to stiff peaks.
- Spread some of the whipped cream on the cooled cake, making sure to leave enough cream to pipe around the sides.
- Place the strawberries on top of the cream, cut side down.
- Put the remaining cream into a piping bag and pipe the whipped cream around the outside of the cake.
So kind of you to bake this for our last day of wellness classes celebration. Absolutely delicious.
The kids loved the cake and it was such a delight having you with us.
Thank You
Liza
Founder of HWI
It was my pleasure!