The Ultimate Strawberry Layer Cake With Claire Saffitz | Dessert Person
This cake is my platonic ideal of a spring or summer dessert- uncomplicated, light and fruit forward. It’s a hybrid of two other strawberry desserts I like quite a bit, the french layer cake known as fraisier and a classic strawberry shortcake. This cake is now my vehicle of choice for fresh berries and their juices. Follow along as Claire Saffitz makes the ultimate Strawberry Layer Cake.
#clairesaffitz #strawberry #shortcake
Special Equipment:
9-inch springform pan or 9-inch cake pan with 2-inch sides, stand mixer
CORNMEAL CAKE:
Butter for the pan
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal (2.6 oz / 75g)
1 cup buttermilk (8.5 oz / 250g) at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (7 oz / 200g)
1 tablespoon baking powder (0.42 oz/ 12g)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar (5.3 oz / 150g)
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
10 tablespoons unsalted butter (5 oz / 142g), at room temperature
2 large eggs (3.5 oz / 100g), at room temperature
ASSEMBLY
1 1/2 pounds (681g) strawberries, hulled (about 4 cups)
1/4 cup sugar (1.8 oz / 50g)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups heavy cream (16 oz/ 454g)
Video Breakdown
0:00 Start
0:01 How To Strawberry Cornmeal Layer Cake
Thanks for watching!
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Photographer: Alex Lau
Food Stylist: Sue Li
Prop Stylist: Astrid Chastka
Video Series:
Producer/Director: Vincent Cross
Camera Operator: Calvin Robertson
Sound Engineer/Music: Michael Guggino
Editor: Hal McFall
Animation Credits:
Character Designer/Animator: Jack Sherry
Character Rigger: Johara Dutton
Background/Prop Designer: M. Cody Wiley
Background Illustrator: Jagriti Khirwar
21 Comments
What are you making for dessert this week?
Yummy Yummy
Amazing
Wow
Good
Mmm
Chantily cream cake should be more popular in Amerca!!
My grandma always uses dental floss to torte her cakes 😂
Im going to try it with full fat milk and oranges to substitute !? thoughts
The texture of this cake sheet is just amazing ! So unique ✨ Thank you Claire 🥰
Did anyone try this with a buttermilk substitute? Would yogurt work instead?
It's okay. We can tell you like whipped cream.
Why can’t she just say the measurements of stuff
Tried making this and found that the bottom piece broke apart into a few big chunks, anyone else have that problem?
Could this be made in two 6" cake pans instead?
The cat cam is always so cute 😭
I feel the same way about our peach season in South Carolina 🙂 They are so wonderful and ripe/nearly overripe that I question myself on whether to bake them or just have them fresh 🙂
I made this cake it was aaaaamazing
Don’t get all the good comments on this cake. I followed the recipe to a T. I went slow and measured by the gram. It looked perfect! I served it and 6/6 people hated it. It tasted like cornbread with no sugar whipped cream and strawberries on top. Very dissatisfied after all that work
Made this last night – really good! Would personally recommend taking 50% of the sugar from the strawberries and adding it to the whipped cream. Agree with Claire's thought process that the cake and strawberries have enough sugar for the whipped cream to be sugar-less, but found that when you got a bit of a mouthful of unsweetened whipped cream it was a little off putting. Overall great recipe though!
Ultimate Strawberry Layer Cake
Special Equipment:
9-inch springform pan or 9-inch cake pan with 2-inch sides
stand mixer
CORNMEAL CAKE:
Butter for the pan
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal (2.6 oz / 75g)
1 cup buttermilk (8.5 oz / 250g) at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (7 oz / 200g)
1 tablespoon baking powder (0.42 oz/ 12g)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar (5.3 oz / 150g)
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
10 tablespoons unsalted butter (5 oz / 142g), at room temperature
2 large eggs (3.5 oz / 100g), at room temperature
MACERATED BERRIES
1 1/2 pounds (681g) strawberries, hulled (about 4 cups)
1/4 cup sugar (1.8 oz / 50g)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups heavy cream (16 oz/ 454g)
Hydrate the cornmeal by mixing it with the buttermilk, which helps to soften the cornmeal. Add the vanilla, allow to hydrate while you assemble all the other ingredients.
Grease the cake pans really well all around the bottom and sides. Press a parchment round into the bottom, smooth it to eliminate air bubbles, then brush it with whatever butter is left on the brush. This will make it very easy to turn the cake out. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add sugar to a new bowl, finely zest the lemon into the sugar. Before you cream the butter and sugar together, massage the zest and the sugar together with your fingertips. Add 10 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cream on low just until everything's combined and then increase the speed. Beat it until it's really light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. You want it to emulsify and stay light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl, add the flower mixture in three additions, alternating the buttermilk mixture in two additions, mixing on low until the butter is smooth and homogenous before the next addition. Do the last bit of mixing by hand with a spatula, making sure to get at the bottom where there might be some unincorporated buttery areas.
Pour the batter into the pan, smoothing it to make sure there's no air pockets. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before assembly.
Choose 5 large, hulled berries, to be placed cut-side down as columns for structural support between the layers.
Slice the remaining berries, add the lemon juice and quarter cup sugar, toss to coat.
Slice the cake into two layers—this can be done easier by placing toothpicks into the side all around and using them as a guide to cut.
Whip the cream in a large bowl, increasing speed as it thickens, until somewhere between a medium and firm texture, moving but still holding its shape.
Place the support strawberries, four around the edge and one in the middle, then a layer of about half of the macerated berry slices, allowing juices to moisten the bottom layer. Add a layer of whipped cream, top with the top cake layer, then place remaining whipped cream on top and top with remaining berry slices. Pour remaining maceration juices over the top.
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Had to type out the recipe, figured I'd share it.