Strawberry Shortcake Cake
By Mark Beahm, head baker at Hjem Kensington, a Danish café in London, from https://www.simplyrecipes.com/

The ultimate summer dessert that's nearly as easy to make as strawberry shortcakes, but fit for a celebration.

I wanted this cake to resemble the flavors and textures of the strawberry shortcakes I grew up but with wow factor. To pull it off, I needed cake layers that were sturdy enough to stack, buttery like a scone or biscuit, but still nice and tender like a layer cake.

For the ideal shortcake cake layers, I relied on the reverse creaming method popularized by Rose Levy Berenbaum. This method mixes the softened butter directly with the dry ingredients before adding the liquid followed by the eggs. The butter coats the flour, preventing cake-toughening gluten from forming.

It's a seemingly backward method that I knew would achieve the sturdy yet tender cake I had in mind. The cakes have a lighter crumb with more spring. It is tight like pound cake, but not dense. It’s velvet soft and practically creamy.

A crucial element of strawberry shortcake is, of course, a big dollop of homemade whipped cream. I did not want to give that up when converting this dessert into a layer cake. What makes whipped cream so enticing—its light and fluffy creaminess—is what makes it unruly in a tall layer cake. Stabilized whipped cream, which is whipped cream made with the addition of a stabilizing ingredient, was the answer. It doesn't compromise any of the creaminess but makes a sturdier filling. It also lasts longer than regular whipped cream, which tends to melt quickly. My stabilizer of choice in this case is cream cheese, which also adds a subtle tanginess that is superb with strawberries.

Swap Out the Strawberries

Strawberries are one of the first fruits of summer, and can be fleeting. If you love shortcakes, you can extend the season by macerating the same weight of other fresh fruits. I find macerating works on berries or stone fruits. Here are some delicious ideas:

• Peaches: Macerate peeled or unpeeled sliced peaches with the sugar. Try flavoring the whipped cream with rum extract.
• Cherries: Pit cherries and cut them in half. Macerate the cherries with the sugar and add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the cherries for a subtle note of spice. Try it with bourbon whipped cream: substitute 1 tablespoon of bourbon for the vanilla extract.
• Plums: Macerate peeled or unpeeled sliced plums with the sugar and add the grated zest from half of an orange.

Strawberry Shortcake Cake Recipe

Preheat the oven:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour three 8-inch cake pans or two 9-inch round cake pans. If desired, line the bottom of the pans with parchment rounds.

Tip: If you only have two 8-inch cake pans, you can bake the three layers in batches. Let the cakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a rack to cool. Wash one of the pans, then lightly grease and dust it with flour. Pour in the remaining batter and bake.

Combine the dry ingredients;
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

Add the butter and buttermilk:
Add the butter and mix on low speed until the mixture looks sandy, about 2 minutes.

Pour in the buttermilk and vanilla extract. Mix on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Then increase the speed to medium and continue mixing for 30 seconds.

Add the eggs:
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed until fully combined. Scrape the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula after each addition. After adding the last egg, mix on medium-high speed for 30 seconds. The batter should be smooth and thick.

Transfer the batter to cake pans:
Divide the batter evenly among the pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. If you have a kitchen scale, each layer should weigh about 15 ounces (425g) for three 8-inch layers, or about 22 1/2 ounces (640g) per layer for two 9-inch layers.

Bake:
For 8-inch cakes, bake for 21 to 24 minutes. If you’re baking two 9-inch layers, bake for 28 to 33 minutes. The edges should just be starting to pull from the sides of the pan and turning golden brown. A toothpick inserted into the center of one of the layers should come out clean.

Cool the cakes in the pan for 5 minutes. Run an offset spatula or butter knife around the edge of the cakes to loosen them from the pan, then carefully turn them out onto a rack to cool completely.

1 (2 to 3) layer cake

Note: This recipe makes three 8-inch layers or two 9-inch layers. If you only have two 8-inch pans, you can still bake three layers by baking them in batches. The baking times for both options are included in the recipe.