White Layer Cake with Strawberry Filling

If you are looking for a show stopping cake, this white layer cake is perfect! With a delicious strawberry filling, the vanilla cake is topped with whipped cream frosting for a wonderful dessert center piece.

Strawberry Filled White Layer Cake

Let’s be honest, cake is never a bad idea, and this white layer cake is such a treat! Pretty straight forward to make, this vanilla cake is so light and fluffy and the fresh strawberry filling is, for want of a better phrase, the icing on the cake!

This is a great occasion cake that’s perfect to serve up for Christmas or Valentine’s and is an elegant birthday cake too.

For more show stopping cakes, be sure to check out my Black Magic Chocolate Cake and Velvet Chocolate Cake Recipe with Chocolate Ganache Icing.

How to Make White Layer Cake with Strawberry Filling

Be sure to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions!

For the strawberry filling

• Cook the strawberries in the cornstarch mixture with sugar and lightly mash them.
• Cook until the sauce thickens.
• Add lemon juice.
• Let cool and store.

For the whipped cream frosting

• Beat the whipping cream until thickened.
• Beat together the rest of the ingredients in another bowl.
• Add the whipped cream to the other ingredients until firm peaks form.

For the cake

• Sift the flour into a bowl, set aside.
• Cream together the butter, coconut oil, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• Mix in the egg whites.
• Slowly ad in the flour and buttermilk.
• Divide the batter into cake pans and bake.

To fill and frost

• Place a cake layer on a plate or cake stand and spread the frosting evenly on top.
• Add the strawberry filling.
• Add the next layer of cake and top again with the frosting and strawberries.
• Frost the sides of the cake.
• Arrange strawberry halves on top.

Make it ahead of time

Although it may seem like a lot to make it one go, you can either make it and serve it on the same day or make the different elements ahead of time and build it the day you want to serve it.

• Strawberry filling: Can be made up to 5 days ahead.
• Frosting: Can be made 6 hours ahead.
• Cakes: Make these 24hours ahead of time.

How long does it keep?

This white layer cake is best served within six hours of you constructing it. If you do have leftovers, keep them covered in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. It will dry out a little but it will still be pretty delicious!

Can you make this a 3 layer cake?

I made this a 2 layered cake, but you can easily turn it into 3 or even 4 layers. Use 3 8×3-inch aluminum pans for a 3 layer cake and 4 for a 4 layered. You can use the same amount of ingredients.

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If you make this recipe be sure to upload a photo in the comment section below or leave a rating. Enjoy!

Recipe

White Layer Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting and Strawberry Filling

4.57 from 103 votes

Author: Becky Hardin – The Cookie Rookie

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook: 40 minutes

Total: 1 hour

Serves16 people

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If you are looking for a show stopping cake, this white layer cake is perfect! With a delicious strawberry filling, the vanilla cake is topped with whipped cream frosting for a wonderful dessert center piece.

Ingredients

For the Strawberry Filling: (Make ahead 2 hours to 5 days ahead)

• ▢ 1 cup water
• ▢ 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• ▢ ½ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ 2½ pounds fresh strawberries washed, stemmed & divided
• ▢ 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• ▢ Red food coloring if needed and/or desired

For the Whipped Cream Frosting: (It may be made up to 6 hours ahead.)

• ▢ 16 ounces cream cheese softened
• ▢ ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar divided
• ▢ 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon almond extract
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon table salt
• ▢ 4 cups heavy whipping cream (1 quart)

For the White Layer Cake:

• ▢ 4 cups bleached cake flour, such as Swan’s Down (16 ounces)
• ▢ 8 ounces unsalted butter, pliable but cool, about 65°F (2 sticks)
• ▢ 2/3 cup virgin coconut oil, solid, room temperature (4 ounces)
• ▢ 2¼ cups granulated sugar (16 ounces)
• ▢ 2½ teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon kosher salt (half as much if using table salt)
• ▢ 1 cup egg whites (from about 8 large eggs), room temperature (8½ ounces)
• ▢ 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 teaspoon almond extract
• ▢ 2 cups cultured low-fat buttermilk, room temperature (16 ounces)
• ▢ 1 pound fresh strawberries washed, dried, hulled and halved

Instructions

For the Strawberry Filling:

• Rough-chop 1½ pounds (about 3 cups) strawberries.
• Halve the remaining 1-pound strawberries and reserve for the topping.
• In a large saucepan, whisk together water and cornstarch until smooth.
• Add strawberries, sugar and salt; stir well.
• Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring often. After the strawberries cook about 3 minutes, mash about half of them.
• Continue cooking and stirring the mixture until thickened, about 15 minutes.
• Remove from heat.
• Add lemon juice and stir well.
• If desired, add red food coloring; stir well.
• Pour mixture into a heat-resistance, air-tight refrigerator container. Cool to room temperature, stir, cover and refrigerate until ready to use (at least 2 hours and up to 5 days).

For the Whipped Cream Frosting:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the whipping cream on medium-high speed until thickened. Add ½ cup confectioners’ sugar and whisk until very stiff peaks form. Set aside.
• Place cream cheese, ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, almond and salt in another mixing bowl. Whisk on medium-high speed for 4 minutes, scraping downs the sides as needed, until creamy and fluffy.
• Add the whipped cream and whisk, on low speed, until fully incorporated.
• Increase the speed to medium-high and whisk until light and fluffy and the mixture has firm peaks.
• Keep refrigerated in an airtight container up to 24 hours

For the White Layer Cake:

• Adjust the oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325°F.
• Line 2 (if making a 4-layer cake) and 3 (if making a 3-layer cake) 8×3-inch aluminum cake pans with parchment and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
• Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl; set aside.
• Add butter, coconut oil, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment. Set the mixer to low to moisten, then switch to medium speed and cream until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping as needed.
• With the mixer running, add egg whites, one at a time.
• Add vanilla and almond extracts and mix 30 seconds.
• Scrape down the bowl and paddle.
• Set mixer to low speed and slowly add one-third of the flour, followed by one-third of the buttermilk. Mix just until each addition is roughly incorporated. Add the remaining flour and milk, alternately, one-third of each at a time. Mix just until smooth.
• Turn off the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape all dry ingredients from the bottom. Mix on low speed just until dry ingredients are incorporated.
• Divide batter evenly between the prepared cake pans and bake about 40 minutes or until the cakes internal temperature registers 210°F. The cakes should be pale, brown around the edges and firm. A toothpick inserted in the middle of each cake should come out almost clean – with just a few crumbs attached.
• Transfer cakes to a wire rack and cool 15 minutes. Remove cakes from the pans and remove the parchment. Return them to the wire racks to cool completely.
• If not serving the cake within a couple of hours, wrap the cake layers tightly with plastic wrap up to 24 hours ahead. Keep the frosting and filling refrigerated until ready to frost.

To fill and frost the cake:

• If the Whipped Cream Frosting is too stiff to spread, leave it on the counter for about 15 minutes, stir or beat it for a few seconds and it should be good as new.
• Place one cake layer on a plate or cake stand and spread about 1½ cups Whipped Cream Frosting on top. Spread it evenly while building a ½-inch “barricade” of frosting around the edge to keep the filling from leaking out.
• Add about ½ cup Fresh Strawberry Filling in the middle of the frosting and spread it out evenly to the frosting “barricade”.
• Add the next layer of cake and add the filling and frosting as before.
• After adding all the layers, frost the sides of the cake with Whipped Cream Frosting.
• For the top of the cake, arrange halved strawberries as desired.
• Refrigerate until ready to serve and serve within 6 hours.
• Enjoy!

Last step! Don’t forget to show me a pic of what you made! Upload an image or tag me @thecookierookie on Instagram!

Becky’s tips

• Adapted by Susie Gall
• For the base White Layer Cake we used Stella Parks’ recipe for White Mountain Layer Cake, and in my humble opinion, it is the BEST white cake recipe – ever! I am not exaggerating or kidding. It is phenomenal. Thank you, Stella Parks! You can find her book HERE.
• Don’t over mix the cake batter, the dry ingredients should be just combined.
• Divide the cake batter evenly between the tins so that the layers cook all the way through at the same time.
• Serve the cake within 6 hours of making it.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 822kcal (41%) Carbohydrates: 77g (26%) Protein: 10g (20%) Fat: 54g (83%) Saturated Fat: 35g (219%) Cholesterol: 146mg (49%) Sodium: 408mg (18%) Potassium: 401mg (11%) Fiber: 3g (13%) Sugar: 48g (53%) Vitamin A: 1671IU (33%) Vitamin C: 59mg (72%) Calcium: 153mg (15%) Iron: 1mg (6%)

Did You Make This?I want to see! Be sure to upload an image below & tag @thecookierookie on social media!

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