This high altitude strawberry chamomile cake has two layers of soft and fluffy vanilla cake, flavored with chamomile tea, layered with homemade strawberry rhubarb compote and honey orange buttercream.
You might also love these recipes for earl grey tea cake, Charlotte cake with fresh berries, and one layer mixed berry shortcake.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Soft, Fluffy, Moist. The vanilla cake base, flavored with chamomile tea, has the perfect cake texture. It’s soft, stays moist for days, and is just so good with the layers of jam and buttercream.
Beautiful Summer Flavors. The chamomile (which is subtle), works so well with all the other flavors of vanilla, strawberry, rhubarb, orange, and honey. This cake is seriously delicious.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Cake Flour. For a soft, light texture, you should use cake flour, which has a lower percentage of protein than all-purpose flour.
- Chamomile Tea. You can use either loose tea leaves or tea bags – just open up the bags to add the dry tea directly into your cake batter.
- Strawberries + Rhubarb. Fresh or frozen fruit works equally well – I usually buy bags of chopped frozen rhubarb at my local Sprouts, when I can’t find fresh rhubarb.
- Orange. You’ll need a navel orange – you’ll be using just the zest, not the juice.
- Honey. Since chamomile tea and honey go so well together, I added a bit of honey to the buttercream.
Instructions
Chamomile Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F, position a rack in the center of the oven, and spray the bottoms of two 9-inch round cake pans with non-stick baking spray. Line the pans with circles of parchment paper, and spray the paper, too.
- Into a large bowl, sift the flour to remove any lumps, then add the sugar, baking powder, salt and chamomile tea. Whisk until evenly distributed.
- In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, buttermilk (or milk + lemon juice), melted butter, oil and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk until combined, about 10-15 seconds. A few lumps in the batter are okay; take care not to over mix. Divide the batter between the cake pans. Tap a few times against the counter to pop any large air bubbles.
- Bake the cakes for about 27-30 minutes, or until a cake tester or a toothpick comes out clean, and the tops spring back when lightly touched.
- Set the pans on a wire rack, cover them loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting. When ready to frost and assemble the cake, remove the cakes from the pans, and peel the parchment paper off the cakes.
Strawberry Rhubarb Compote
- In a saucepan, combine the chopped strawberries, rhubarb, sugar and vanilla.
- Over medium heat, bring the fruit to a boil. Let it simmer, stirring frequently, to evaporate the excess liquid. As it gets thicker, you may need to reduce the heat to medium low, so it doesn’t splatter too much. The fruit will break down as it cooks – no need to mash it. Continue to simmer, stirring frequently, until the water has evaporated, the compote is thick and jammy, and you have about 1 – 1 1/8 cups of compote. This process of reducing the compote may take 30 minutes, or longer.
- Refrigerate until completely cooled, before assembling the cake. You can make the compote the day before, or several days in advance, keeping it refrigerated until needed.
Honey Orange Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for one minute until smooth.
- With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder, salt, vanilla, and orange zest, mixing until thick and combined.
- Increase speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl down several times, until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to “stir”, and add the honey, mixing for one more minute. Only add the milk, one tbsp at a time, if needed for a thinner consistency.
Assembly
- Place one of the cooled cakes on a serving plate or cake pedestal. If the cake is not perfectly flat, even with a slight rounded dome on top, you must use a sharp knife to slice off a thin layer of the domed top, to perfectly level the cake with a flat surface. If you don’t do this, you’re in danger of the slippery compote sliding off the cake.
- Since this is a naked cake, you can brush the cake with two tbsp of milk to help keep it moist.
- Spread half the strawberry rhubarb compote over the cake, to the edges.
- Fit a disposable 16-inch piping bag with tip 1M, fill half full with the buttercream, and pipe rosettes over the compote.
- Repeat the above steps with the second layer of cake, compote and buttercream.
- Decorate the top of the cake with fresh strawberries.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Leftover cake should be stored in an airtight container or cake carrier, at room temperature, for up to one day, or in the refrigerator for up to three days. Let cold cake come to room temperature for several hours before serving.
You can make just a vanilla cake, without the chamomile tea, by simply leaving out the loose tea leaves – no other adjustments needed.
If you don’t have buttermilk, you can combine regular whole milk (1 1/2 cups) with 1 tbsp lemon juice.
To make the compote without the rhubarb, you can replace the rhubarb with the same amount of strawberries, and cut the sugar in half. I recommend making the compote one day in advance, and refrigerating it until needed, to give it plenty of time to chill before assembling your cake.
The honey in the buttercream is optional – leave it out if desired.
Naked cakes tend to dry out more quickly, simply because they lack the layer of buttercream around the edges which keeps in moisture. I like to brush the baked and cooled cakes with two tbsp of milk (on each cake) to add extra moisture, as I assemble the layers.
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High Altitude Strawberry Chamomile Cake
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- 9 Inch Round Cake Pans (x2)
- 16-inch Disposable Piping Bag (plus tip 1M)
Ingredients
Chamomile Cake
- 3 ¼ cups cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 3 chamomile tea bags, opened so you can use the loose tea (around 3 tbsp tea leaves)
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups whole buttermilk, room temperature
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted, and then cooled for 10 minutes
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Strawberry Rhubarb Compote
- 8 oz fresh or frozen strawberries, hulled and chopped
- 6 oz fresh or frozen chopped rhubarb
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp meringue powder (optional)
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- zest of one navel orange
- 2-3 tbsp honey
- 1-3 tbsp milk or cream, only if needed for consistency
Instructions
Chamomile Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F, position a rack in the center of the oven, and spray the bottoms of two 9-inch round cake pans with non-stick baking spray. Line the pans with circles of parchment paper, and spray the paper, too.
- Into a large bowl, sift the flour to remove any lumps, then add the sugar, baking powder, salt and chamomile tea. Whisk until evenly distributed.
- In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, buttermilk (or milk + lemon juice), melted butter, oil and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk until combined, about 10-15 seconds. A few lumps in the batter are okay; take care not to over mix. Divide the batter between the cake pans. Tap a few times against the counter to pop any large air bubbles.
- Bake the cakes for about 27-30 minutes, or until a cake tester or a toothpick comes out clean, and the tops spring back when lightly touched.
- Set the pans on a wire rack, cover them loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting. When ready to frost and assemble the cake, remove the cakes from the pans, and peel the parchment paper off the cakes.
Strawberry Rhubarb Compote
- In a saucepan, combine the chopped strawberries, rhubarb, sugar and vanilla.
- Over medium heat, bring the fruit to a boil. Let it simmer, stirring frequently, to evaporate the excess liquid. As it gets thicker, you may need to reduce the heat to medium low, so it doesn't splatter too much. The fruit will break down as it cooks – no need to mash it. Continue to simmer, stirring frequently, until the water has evaporated, the compote is thick and jammy, and you have about 1 – 1 1/8 cups of compote. This process of reducing the compote may take 30 minutes, or longer.
- Refrigerate until completely cooled, before assembling the cake. You can make the compote the day before, or several days in advance, keeping it refrigerated until needed.
Honey Orange Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for one minute until smooth.
- With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder, salt, vanilla, and orange zest, mixing until thick and combined.
- Increase speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl down several times, until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to "stir", and add the honey, mixing for one more minute. Only add the milk, one tbsp at a time, if needed for a thinner consistency.
Assembly
- Place one of the cooled cakes on a serving plate or cake pedestal. If the cake is not perfectly flat, even with a slight rounded dome on top, you must use a sharp knife to slice off a thin layer of the domed top, to perfectly level the cake with a flat surface. If you don't do this, you're in danger of the slippery compote sliding off the cake.
- Since this is a naked cake, you can brush the cake with two tbsp of milk to help keep it moist.
- Spread half the strawberry rhubarb compote over the cake, to the edges.
- Fit a disposable 16-inch piping bag with tip 1M, fill half full with the buttercream, and pipe rosettes over the compote.
- Repeat the above steps with the second layer of cake, compote and buttercream.
- Decorate the top of the cake with fresh strawberries.
Notes
- Leftover cake should be stored in an airtight container or cake carrier, at room temperature, for up to one day, or in the refrigerator for up to three days. Let cold cake come to room temperature for several hours before serving.
- You can make just a vanilla cake, without the chamomile tea, by simply leaving out the loose tea leaves – no other adjustments needed.
- If you don’t have buttermilk, you can combine regular whole milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice.
- To make the compote without the rhubarb, you can replace the rhubarb with the same amount of strawberries, and cut the sugar in half. I recommend making the compote one day in advance, and refrigerating it until needed, to give it plenty of time to chill before assembling your cake.
- The honey in the buttercream is optional – leave it out if desired.
- Naked cakes tend to dry out more quickly, simply because they lack the layer of buttercream around the edges which keeps in moisture. I like to brush the baked and cooled cakes with two tbsp of milk (on each cake) to add extra moisture, as I assemble the layers.
- Cakes with jam or compote between the layers can easily slip and slide. I highly discourage trying to transport this cake in your car once it’s assembled. If you’re making this to take somewhere else, I recommend packing all the individual components and assembling it on site.
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