Gluten Free Strawberry Cake & Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
Three layers of moist vanilla cake, sweet whipped cream cheese frosting, and sliced strawberries piled high to make the ultimate Gluten Free Strawberry Cake. This is the perfect springtime strawberry dessert, and is sure to impress your guests!
Do you know what’s better than a gluten free strawberry shortcake? That’s right, it’s layers and layers and layers of gluten free strawberry cake! Three layers, to be exact.
Don’t even get me started on this frosting. It’s sturdy like a cream cheese frosting, but light like a whipped cream frosting, and goes perfectly with strawberries.
This gluten free dessert is so good, even your non gluten free guests will be asking for seconds!
Seriously, if you’ve never eaten a bowl of just strawberries and whipped cream, you need to do so immediately. I’ll wait…
Oh good, you’re back. How was it? Heavenly? I know. ♡
So, what have I been doing, besides making super-awesome layer cakes?
I’ve been having super-awesome beach adventures in the Gulf of Mexico! It’s ok to be jealous.
Last weekend Andrew and I spent our day hunting for shark teeth and fishing, where we found about a bucket full of seashells and a week’s worth of vitamin D. I still haven’t caught any fish, but I’m not giving up! I did, however, catch a lovely salmon fillet at our local Publix grocery store. It was delicious.
I made this Dijon Crusted Salmon ♡
Meanwhile, my parents back in the good ole’ North East are sending me pictures of snow. Shouldn’t that be over in April? I’m retaliating with an equal or greater amount of pictures of palm trees. Mwahaha…
But enough about me, let’s get back to what we’re really all here for.
Gluten Free Strawberry Cake.
Does anyone else feel a little whoozy or light-headed? It’s ok, you’re just in love.
Sweet, sweet whipped-cream-strawberry love.
This is one of my favorite gluten free vanilla cake recipes. It’s light, yet moist and full of flavor, and basically my go-to for multiple recipes. It’s doesn’t crumble like some gluten free cakes, and even my non-GF guests loved it!
Here’s one of my favorite guest posts I wrote using this vanilla cake: Gluten Free Salted Caramel Cupcakes for Dinner Then Dessert.
And this whipped cream cheese frosting? Please excuse me while I swoon. ♡
It’s just amazing. It’s not overly sweet (ahem – if you like that sort of thing, you can add another 1/2 cup-ish confectioners sugar), and pairs perfectly with the strawberries in a strawberries-and-whipped-cream-are-amazing kind of way. And the orange zest just adds another dimension of brightness to this springtime dessert. Let me tell you, it is just good on many different levels layers.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have another piece of gluten free strawberry cake heaven calling my name.
Is that you, cake-heaven? I’ll be right there.
Gluten Free Strawberry Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cup white sugar
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 1/2 cups gluten free cup-for-cup flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups half and half
For the Frosting
- 4 cups heavy cream, cold
- 2 tsp cream of tar tar
- 16 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 2 cups strawberries, washed and sliced
Equipment
- stand mixer (or hand mixer)
- Cake pans
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 3 cake pans and set aside.
- Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time until just combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine salt, flour, and baking powder. Add flour mixture to egg mixture slowly, until fully incorporated. Next, add half and half until all ingredients are well combined.
- Add batter to cake pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.
- When cakes are completely cool, remove first cake from pan and place on serving plate. Spread layer of frosting, then decoratively place a layer of strawberries on top.
- Place a spoonful of frosting on top of strawberries (in the middle). Add next layer of cake. Repeat frosting and strawberries for the next two layers.
For the Frosting
- In a stand mixer (or with an electric hand mixer) beat heavy cream and cream of tar tar on low to med-low until stiff peaks appear (this may take a few minutes).
- With a stand mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and orange zest together. On low, slowly add whipped cream to cream cheese mixture to combine.
- Once just combined, refrigerate until ready to use. Once ready, layer with cream cheese frosting, then strawberries, then next cake layer. Add any remaining strawberries decoratively on top of cake.
Notes
- Click on the time in the instructions to start a timer!
- If your cake bakes up taller in the middle, you may have to take a knife and cut just the very top layer off before layering. This will prevent the cakes from sliding off of each other.
- I recommend refrigerating this cake until you're ready to serve. Because the frosting is whipped cream based, it could melt.
Nutrition
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Wow! This looks so good I will have to try this soon. Nothing better than cake, whipped cream , cream cheese and strawberries!
Thank you so much! It’s true, this was definitely one dessert that didn’t last long in this house 🙂
This looks so good! I want to bake it for my mom, but I actually want to make smaller versions. I have small cake pans which are about 3 cm (a little over one.inch) high and about 3 inches in diameter. Could you make an estimation of how long they should be in the oven and whether I should put the oven on a different temperature?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Valerie! I’d keep the same oven temperature, but I might check it at 10-15 minutes. I would probably take cupcakes out at around 20-25 minutes, and it sounds like your mini-pans are a little smaller than that, right? I would definitely keep a close eye on them. Does your oven have a light? That can help you watch them without opening the door, which drops the oven temperature, until they look ready.
Definitely let me know how it goes, I love the idea of little versions! Send some mini-cake pictures! 🙂
Your desserts look very good, the only problem is my granddaughter has Celiac but she us a Diabetic. Also my husband is board-line diabetic. How would I make the recipes healthy?
Hi Cecelia, Thanks for the compliment! You could sub in some artificial sweeteners, but I’d have to play with the recipe to really get it right. Have you every tried making an angel food cake? Depending on their carb restrictions, it’s usually lower carb than regular cakes but can still be just as good!
This looks so yummy and is making me reeeaallly excited for spring! Bring on the berries!
Hi, this looks delicious – thank you for putting it up – I’m thinking of making this for Mother’s Day. Just one thing, though, what size cake tins do you use? Are these 7 inch diameter?
Thanks again
Hi Jen, this is a great Mother’s Day recipe, let me know how it goes! The cake tins I use are 9-inch round. If you have larger ones or square ones it would still work, just keep in mind if they’re bigger than 9-inches it will cook faster, and look thinner than the photos. I think it would still turn out great, though!