Strawberry Crunch Cake (VIDEO)

Strawberry crunch cake decorated with fresh strawberries .

5 from 5 votes

Strawberry Crunch Cake (VIDEO)

You are going to fall in love with this easy-to-make delicious Strawberry Crunch Cake! Inspired by the legendary frozen Strawberry Shortcake Ice cream bars this cake tastes just like that ice cream transformed into an amazing cake! It's a moist 3-layer sponge, full of fresh fruity strawberry flavor with a yummy light cream cheese frosting, and then beautifully decorated with tasty strawberry crunch!

Prep Time1

Cook Time30

Waiting time1

Total Time2 30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 1190kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Strawberry reduction

135 g Strawberry puree Fresh or frozen
30 g Granulated sugar
8 g Fresh Lemon juice

For the 3 Strawberry cake layers

190 g Unsalted butter room temp
170 g Granulated sugar
3 Eggs room temp
1 tablespoon Vanilla bean paste pure paste, eg. Nielsen Massey
300 g All purpose flour sifted
½ teaspoon Pinch of salt
2 teaspoon Baking powder sifted
100 g Whole milk room temp
90 g Strawberry reduction room temp
Pink food coloring Silikomart or Wilton
Natural Strawberry extract

Cream cheese frosting

900 g Cream cheese full fat eg. Philadelphia
300 g Mascarpone full fat
150 g Powdered sugar sifted
1 tablespoon Vanilla bean paste pure paste, eg. Nielsen Massey

Strawberry Crunch

215 g Golden Oreos
21 g Freeze dried strawberry
36 g Unsalted butter Melted but not hot. Butter is needed to create the bigger chunks, can be left out if aiming for a more crumble texture

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

For the Strawberry reduction

Place strawberry puree, sugar and fresh lemon juice into a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring the strawberry mixture to a boil while stirring occasionally
Lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes to allow the reduction to thicken up and become concentrated. Once it coats the back of a spoon, remove it from the heat and let it cool

For the Strawberry sponge layers

Heat the oven to 170 C / 338°F (no fan) and prepare 3 baking pans
Mix food coloring and strawberry extract into room temp milk, then mix it with the strawberry reduction. This is your "wet ingredients"
Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together, this is the “dry ingredients”
Cream room temperature butter and sugar together in a stand mixer until pale and fluffy then beat the eggs in, one at a time, finally mix in the vanilla extract
Add the wet and dry ingredients gently into the whipped mixture (butter+sugar+egg) in 4 steps: first, add half of the wet, then half the dry, then the remaining wet, and then the remaining dry. Make sure you finish with the dry ingredients.
Pour the cake batter into 3 different baking pans
Bake them for 20 min or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Let them cool on a cooling rack before frosting

Frosting

For the frosting whip mascarpone, cream cheese, vanilla bean paste and powder sugar until smooth and fluffy, this will only take a few minutes. Use a hand mixer and do not over beat as it can become runny

Strawberry Crunch

Start with the melting butter in the microwave, then let it cool slightly while preparing the crumbs
The Crumble can be made either in a food processor, or in a ziplock bag beating it with a rolling pin until the cookies and strawberries are evenly broken up not leaving any big chunks
Then, add a good pinch of salt to balance the sweetness. Add melted but not hot butter to the mixture.
Once the crumble is placed in the fridge the butter cools off and acts as a binding agent creating bigger chunks. Use a plate or sheet pan to spread the crumble out before placing it in the fridge to set

Assemble and Decoration

Start building up the cake from the bottom to the top (red) and spread the frosting in between the layers equally. I suggest 200g frosting per layer, use a digital scale to measure
If at any point the frosting gets soft or the cake gets unstable, place it into the fridge to chill then only after continue
Once all the layers are assembled, place the cake into the fridge for min 30min to set
On a turntable apply your first crumb coat around the cake. then let it set for min 30min refrigrated
Cover the cake completely on the top and all sides with the strawberry crunch. Then, chill the cake one last time for 30min in the fridge before decorating with the remaining cream cheese frosting
Pipe the decoration on top of the strawberry cake using a piping bag with a Wilton 1m nozzle tip. Add fresh strawberries on top for more decoration and freshness.
Store the cake in the fridge however let it come to room temp for 30-60min before serving for the softest, most moist texture

Video

Notes

Ingredient notes:

Measure your ingredients with a Digital scale for accuracy
While preparing the sponges, make sure all ingredients are at room temperature
Use high-quality 82% fat content European butter and the best quality vanilla for the frosting
For the best strawberry flavor do not omit the natural strawberry extract. The Crunch cake recipe needs the extract to develop more flavor
When using food coloring, avoid cheap supermarket liquid food coloring and aim for high-quality gel or powder food coloring that creates a bright color without needing to use a lot of it.

Baking technique notes:

Make sure you read my Expert tips section above to maximize your success. A short recipe alone is not able to cover all the necessary details, and science behind baking.
While baking the sponge layer, remember not to overbake it. Over-baked sponge cake can become too dry
Cream cheese frosting is very easy to overwhip. When whipping the frosting stop as soon as the mixture reached a fluffy consistency (will take 1-2 minutes). It won´t get stiffer after this point, in fact, if you overbeat it, it will get only runner, then it will break
Chill the sponges before assembling
During assembling, if at any point the frosting feels soft, the cake feels unstable during assembling, place it into the fridge for 1h to chill then continue with the next layer

Nutrition