High Altitude Strawberry Shortcake Crunch Cake
This strawberry shortcake crunch cake has three layers of soft buttery vanilla cake, filled with fresh strawberry compote and frosted with cream cheese buttercream. The strawberry cookie crumbles pressed onto the cake give it a flavor and texture that's reminiscent of classic strawberry shortcake ice cream bars.
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
- 6-inch Round Cake Pans (x2)
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- Food Processor or Ninja
Ingredients
Strawberry Filling
- 1 lb fresh or frozen strawberries
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
Cake
- 2 cups cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
- 4 oz block cream cheese, cold
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ tbsp meringue powder (optional)
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Crumble
- 7 vanilla sandwich cookies (or golden Oreos)
- ½ oz freeze dried strawberries
Instructions
Strawberry Filling
- Wash, hull and dice the strawberries, then combine with the sugar in a saucepan. Let sit for 20-30 minutes until juicy.
- Bring the strawberries to a boil over medium heat, then continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the strawberries are thick and jammy. If the fruit starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, reduce the heat to medium low and continue simmering, stirring frequently, until the filling is reduced to about 1 cup.
- Refrigerate the strawberry compote until well chilled.
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray two 6-inch round cake pans (preferably with a 3-inch depth) with non-stick baking spray.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Separately, whisk together the melted butter, milk, sour cream, eggs, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until well combined.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake the cakes for about 30-35 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pans on a cooling rack, let cool for 15 minutes, then turn the cakes out of the pans. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and cool the cakes completely before frosting and assembling the cake.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cold cream cheese for 1 minute to smooth it out. Add the softened butter and beat for several minutes until smooth, then beat in the vanilla extract.
- In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder, corn starch and salt. With the mixer on low, add the sugar mixture by spoonfuls.
- Turn the speed up to medium and whip for 3-5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl down several minutes, until light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 1 more minute.
Crumble
- With a small food processor or a ninja, pulse the cookies (both the cookie and the filling/frosting) until coarse and crumbly. I don't like to make the crumble too fine. Scrape the cookie crumbs into a bowl.
- Now add half of the freeze dried strawberries to the food processor, and pulse until finely ground. Save the other half of the freeze dried strawberries for decorating the top of the cake.
- Add the crushed freeze dried strawberries to the cookie crumbs and toss together to combine.
Assembly
- If needed, slice a small portion of the domed tops off the cooled cakes, using a a sharp, non-serrated knife. Then split the two cakes so that you have four layers.
- Place one of the cake layers on a cake decorating turn table or a cake plate, open crumb side facing up.
- Spread half of the chilled strawberry compote over the cake, stopping 1/2 inch from the edge.
- Place a second layer of cake on top of the strawberry filling. Spread a thin layer of the buttercream over the cake.
- Place a third layer of cake on top, and spread with the remaining half of the strawberry compote.
- Place the fourth layer of cake on top, open crumb side facing down. The layers should alternate as follows: cake, strawberry filling, cake, buttercream, cake, strawberry filling, cake.
- Frost the cake all over with a thin "crumb coat" of buttercream, then chill the cake for 30 minutes.
- Frost all over with a final coat of buttercream. You can smooth it out, but it doesn't need to look perfect.
- Before the buttercream crusts over, press handfuls of the crumble mixture all over the cake.
- If you have extra buttercream, pipe some swirls on top of the cake using a piping bag and a large open star tip (such as tip 1M). Decorate the top with freeze dried strawberries.
Notes
Instead of making the strawberry compote, you can save time by using a good quality, store bought strawberry jam or fruit preserves.
Store the leftover cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Let come to room temperature before serving.
The cookie crumbles will only be crunchy initially, but will soften on the leftover cake.
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