Strawberry Cream Chiffon Cake

slice of strawberry chiffon cake standing up on a plate.

This Strawberry Chiffon Cake is a show-stopping vintage dessert, with layers of light and airy sponge cake, fresh strawberries, and real whipped cream.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cake, strawberry

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 55

Cooling Time 1

Total Time 2 15

Servings

Calories 436kcal

Author Sara Garska

Cost $15

Equipment

Electric mixer or stand mixer
2 Mixing bowls
whisk
Tube cake pan

Ingredients

Chiffon Cake

2 ¼ cups cake flour
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup safflower oil
7 large egg yolks plus 9 egg whites
¾ cup whole milk
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Strawberry Filling:

2 pounds strawberries hulled and halved
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Pinch salt

Whipped Cream:

¼ cup confectioner’s sugar plus more for sprinkling on top of cake
2 cups heavy whipping cream

Instructions

Chiffon Cake Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.
Whisk together flour, ¾ cup sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together oil, egg yolks, and milk.
Whisk the flour mixture into the egg-yolk mixture.
Beat egg whites with mixer on high speed until frothy.
Add cream of tartar and vanilla to the egg whites and beat until soft peaks form.
Gradually add the remaining ¾ cup sugar, beating until soft glossy peaks form, or about 5 minutes.
Whisk 1/3 of the egg-white mixture into the cake batter.
Gently fold in the remaining egg-white mixture with a rubber spatula.
Transfer batter to an UNGREASED tube pan.
Bake until top of cake springs back when touched 52 – 55 minutes
Let cool upside down over a bottle for 1 hour. (Place the pan upside down, so that the neck of a bottle is inside the hole in the middle of the tube pan, holding it up).

To Make The Strawberries:

Combine strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt and let sit for one hour.

To Make The Whipped Cream:

Just before assembling, beat together the whipping cream and confectioner’s sugar until medium peaks form.

To Assemble The Cake:

Slide a paring knife around the edges of the cake pan to release the cake.
Cut the cake horizontally into 3 even layers with a serrated knife.
Transfer the bottom layer to a cake plate or cake stand.
Spread half the berries on top of the bottom cake layer and drizzle with soe of the strawberry juice.
Spread half the whipped cream over the berries.
Top with middle cake layer.
Spread with remaining berries and whipped cream on the middle layer of cake.
Place the final cake layer on top.
Refrigerate 1 hour
When ready to enjoy, sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar and serve with extra berries.

Notes

Nutrition Information is provided as an estimate only.

Cake flour

This recipe calls for using cake flour and not all-purpose flour. All-purpose flour has a higher protein count and isn’t milled as fine, so these two flours create different kinds of cakes. For this cake, cake flour will create the right kind of texture.

My cake ended up not looking perfect. I overcooked it a bit, the top was uneven, and it had a big crack in it. I was able to assemble it to look nice though by evening up the layers when cutting and using the whipped cream and berries to cover the problems.

If your cake is beyond fixing when you take it out, you could break it up and make a beautiful trifle with it. Or cut individual pieces that you top with the strawberries and whipped cream.

Cooling

This cake has an unusual step for cooling. You do NOT grease the pan and after you take it out of the oven, you turn the pan over the top of a bottle. Fortunately I had a bottle with a thin neck that worked.

This step is what creates the correct texture for the cake. The first time I made this cake I did grease the pan and when I turned it over, it fell out and the cake fell in parts to make it lopsided.

By inverting it over a bottle for an hour, the texture stays even.

Nutrition