Strawberry Shortcake Cake
Hubby and I went strawberry picking the other day. I actually had never gone, but we’ve been going through SO MANY strawberries recently that I thought it would be a good idea. We went with our friends K and A. We drove out to Tougas Farms on Saturday morning. We started with some warm fresh out of the fryer strawberry donuts. They were delicious with just a hint of strawberry. Hubby and I also split a strawberry slush. It was basically just some strawberries blended with some ice. It was very refreshing.
We did get rained on in the middle of our strawberry picking adventures. It wasn’t anything horrible but we did get a bit wet. Hubby and I came home with ~12 pounds of strawberries. We figured we’d be able to eat our way through about 6 of those pounds, but to go through the rest, I’ve decided to highlight even more strawberry recipes this week. So today I’m kicking off a second Week of Strawberry recipes. Be sure to check back each day to see what I’m doing with all these fresh strawberries.
The first thing that these freshly picked strawberries went in to was a cake. Hubby announced this year that he was going to make me a cake for my birthday. I was honestly shocked. Hubby has never baked anything in his life. Growing up with him mom being a great cook and baker, then living with me, he’s never been in a position to need to bake something himself. So I was very excited to see how it went.
Hubby asked that I give him a few recipes from my to-bake list and he’d choose from there. I gave him three cake recipes that didn’t look too complicated. He chose this Strawberry Shortcake Cake recipe from The Pioneer Woman. He baked the cake the night before and wrapped it in saran wrap and put it in the fridge. The next day, after our fresh strawberries were washed and dried, he continued with the filling and frosting.
This cake was very tasty. We took leftovers to work and I kept having people stop by to thank me for the cake. I had to correct them and tell them that Hubby had made it (we work in the same building). I have to admit, Hubby’s cake was awesome. I might commission him out to do some baking for me more often! I was in the kitchen giving him tips, but he did it all himself. Even the frosting of the cake.
This cake did get pretty soggy on day 3. I would definitely serve it the same day you put the strawberry filling in the cake. Definitely let it set for a while so the strawberry filling soaks into the cake layers. The second day, it was also delicious.
Two Years Ago: Inside Out Stuffed Peppers and Ropa Vieja
Check out my SECOND week of Strawberry Recipes HERE
Strawberry Shortcake Cake
Yield: 12
Ingredients:
For the Cake
1 1/2 cup flour
3 Tbsp corn starch
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
9 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cups greek yogurt, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
For the Frosting
1/2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 pound powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla
1 pound strawberries
Directions:
For the Cake
Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and corn starch.
Cream 9 tablespoons butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing 1 minute after each addition. Add yogurt and vanilla and mix until combined. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just barely combined.
Pour into greased and floured 9-inch cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until no longer jiggly. Remove from cake pan as soon as you pull it out of the oven, and place on a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely.
Stem strawberries and slice them in half from bottom to top. Place into a bowl and sprinkle with 3 tablespoons sugar. Stir together and let sit for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, mash the strawberries in two batches. Sprinkle each half with 1 tablespoons sugar and allow to sit for another 30 minutes.
For the Frosting
Combine cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and dash of salt in a mixing bowl. Mix until very light and fluffy.
Assemble the Cake
Slice cake in half through the middle. Spread strawberries evenly over each half (cut side up), pouring on all the juices. Place cake halves into the freezer for five minutes, just to make icing easier.
Remove from freezer. Use a little less than 1/3 of the icing to spread over the top of the strawberries on the bottom layer. Place the second layer on top. Add half of the remaining icing to the top spreading evenly, then spread the remaining 1/3 cup around the sides.
Leave plain or garnish with strawberry halves.
Cake is best when served cool. Store in the fridge.
Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I always loved fig newtons too 🙂 I have never thought of making my own. Now I know where to find a great recipe 😉
I am going to have to make these. As well as making them with some blackberries.
These look amazing and waaaay better than the store bought brand.
My husband loves fig newtons – just added this to my ever growing list of things to make!
I liked Newtons until they messed with the recipe…Maybe this version will be yummier.
I love the idea of making these at home! I still buy Newtons from time to time…they’re so nice and wholesome.
You are so creative! My family loves Fig Newtons….can’t wait to make these!
My boyfriend and I were just talking about fig newtons this evening! I was saying how much I loved them but hadnt had them recently.. and heres a way to make them myself!
I moved to the US when I was 15 so I didn’t grow up eating fig newtons but I liked them at my very first bite. I’m sure the homemade version is so much more gourmet 😉 Your pics make it look like raspberry filling which I bet would be amazing!!
These bring me back to my childhood! Only, these look infinitely more delicious and decadent. The Blue-Eyed Bakers must make these soon!
They look fantastic, and I’ve never actually been that much of a Fig Newton fan. Love the polka dot background for the pics too.
I love fig newtons. Hopefully, I can find my figs around here so I can try these.
http://www.lindaslunacy.blogspot.com
Congratulations on making one of the top food blogs!
Jonathan
Gluten Free
I was always a fig newton-lover as a kid too! Glad I wasn’t the only one and these homemade ones look fantastic!
I did make these and loved them! I did just what you suggested and used a little less of dough for that amount of filling and just made some grape jam filled ones with the rest of the dough. They came out perfect! Thanks for sharing!
http://ouritaliankitchen.blogspot.com/2010/10/fig-newtons.html
When you say scoop out the seeds and pulp–I am assuming you mean, use the seeds and pulp and discard the skins? Recipe looks good. I’m planning to make these tomorrow!
When you say scoop out the seeds and pulp–I am assuming you mean, use the seeds and pulp and discard the skins? Recipe looks good. I’m planning to make these tomorrow!
When you say scoop out the seeds and pulp–I am assuming you mean, use the seeds and pulp and discard the skins? Recipe looks good. I’m planning to make these tomorrow!
When you say scoop out the seeds and pulp–I am assuming you mean, use the seeds and pulp and discard the skins? Recipe looks good. I’m planning to make these tomorrow!
When you say scoop out the seeds and pulp–I am assuming you mean, use the seeds and pulp and discard the skins? Recipe looks good. I’m planning to make these tomorrow!
When you say scoop out the seeds and pulp–I am assuming you mean, use the seeds and pulp and discard the skins? Recipe looks good. I’m planning to make these tomorrow!
Laurel, Mikey & Quinn – Yes, scoop out the flesh and seeds and discard the skins. Let me know how they turn out!
Thank you for posting this! Great recipe and I want to try with different fillings. I used strawberry for mine – yummy!
In response to the dough ratio, I made it the way you posted but ended up with very thin dough once it was rolled out to 12×16 inches. I think you should leave it doubled.
Hi, I want to make raspberry newtons and am finding it very hard to get an easy recipe online… think I could use this dough with raspberry jam?
beantownbaker — May 16th, 2013 @ 8:41 am
You could definitely use raspberry jam for the filling!
I made them with 3 different fillings: strawberry jam, blueberry pie filling and vanilla cream. All came out very tasty, and also last freezing nicely.
A few comments:
1. The dough was not easy to deal with, even after cooling. It was sticky and fell apart easily.
2. With the first roll I made, I sliced it to cookies and separated them on the baking pan before baking. All of the Jam oozed out. The other ones I sliced but didn’t move the pieces, and it came out well.
3. I think in order to taste like real newtons they lack some oats/cereal. Any Idea of how to add some to the dough?
beantownbaker — June 10th, 2013 @ 1:10 pm
I would think you could grind up some oats and replace some of the flour with the ground up oats. If you try it, I’d love to hear how they turn out!