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This strawberry sponge cake combines light, fluffy layers of vanilla cake with whipped cream and fresh strawberries for a dreamy, cloud-like dessert.
This is my all-time favorite cake in the world.
I grew up eating this type of cake and when I was younger, I called it “Asian cake” because it’s something I only saw at Asian bakeries. While American bakeries would sell sweet, dense cakes topped with thick layers of frosting, Asian cakes are light and ethereal, with soft, fluffy cake and subtly sweet whipped cream, letting the flavors of fresh fruit take center stage. That’s exactly what you get with this strawberry sponge cake recipe.
Whether Japanese, Korean, or Chinese, it seems that all Asian bakeries make this type of cake, but if you don’t live near an Asian bakery, the good news is that you can totally make this cloud-like confection at home—in fact, it’s a lot easier to whip up than the typical fancy layer cake. If cake decorating isn’t your cup of tea, this strawberry sponge cake is the recipe for you!
(PS – If you love strawberries, don’t miss my Mini Strawberry Heart Hand Pies!)
What You’ll Need
Here’s everything you’ll need to make a light, fluffy strawberry sponge cake.
For the cake:
- Eggs — Separate the whites and the yolks.
- Granulated sugar
- Milk – Any kind of milk will work.
- Vanilla extract
- Cake flour
- Butter – You’ll melt the butter for this recipe; I recommend using unsalted.
- Strawberries
What Is Cake Flour?
Like all-purpose flour, cake flour is made with wheat, but it’s more finely milled and has a lower level of protein. Less protein means less gluten forms when you mix the cake batter, which is key for a light, fluffy cake. I don’t recommend substituting all-purpose flour here because this cake is allll about that light texture.
For the stabilized whipped cream:
- Unflavored gelatin
- Cold water
- Heavy cream
- Confectioners’ sugar – This is also known as powdered sugar.
- Vanilla extract
How to Make Strawberry Sponge Cake
Ready for a bakery-style sponge cake at home? Here’s how to make the recipe:
Prepare. Preheat your oven to 350ºF and grease a 9-inch cake pan.
Beat the eggs and sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the sugar and egg whites. Beat until the egg whites stiff and glossy, then gently beat in the yolks one at a time.
Finish the batter. Remove the bowl from the stand and use a rubber spatula to fold in the milk, vanilla extract, and cake flour in that order, until combined. Gently fold in the melted butter.
Bake. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cake is golden brown. When lightly pressed in the center, the cake should spring back. Cool in the pan on a wire rack before you begin assembling your strawberry sponge cake.
Start the whipped cream. In a small pot, sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let it sit for 5 minutes. (Do not stir!) After 5 minutes, stir it and set it over low heat to dissolve the gelatin, stirring constantly. As soon as the gelatin is dissolved, remove it from the heat.
Add the remaining ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract until they have thickened. Slowly add the gelatin mixture and beat until it’s fluffy.
Assemble. After the cake has cooled, use a serrated knife to slice the cake horizontally into two layers. (Be very careful!) Spread a thin layer of whipped cream onto the first cake layer and top this with strawberries. Spread another thin layer of whipped cream over the strawberries, then place the other half of the cake layer on top. Frost the entire cake with the rest of the whipped cream and top with the remaining strawberries. Serve your strawberry sponge cake immediately or refrigerate for a few hours before serving.
Tips for Success
Here are some tips for making this strawberry sponge cake recipe:
- No stand mixer? No worries! Just use an electric hand mixer instead. I don’t recommend trying to mix this by hand; between whipping the eggs and the whipped cream, that’s a lot of work.
- Avoid over-mixing. To get a light, airy texture, be careful not to over-mix the batter.
- Make it your own. You can swap the strawberries for other berries, banana slices, mango, or kiwi. A lot of bakeries sell sponge cakes with a combination of these fruits, too.
How to Store
Strawberry sponge cake is best stored in the refrigerator (either covered or in an airtight container), and it should be eaten within 2 days. After 2 days, you’ll notice that the cake hardens a bit and it isn’t as spongy and light.
Can This Be Frozen?
No, I don’t recommend freezing this strawberry sponge cake. The strawberries will make the whipped cream watery when frozen and thawed.
Strawberry Sponge Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 4 eggs, whites & yolks separated
- ½ cup (100 g) plus 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar, sifted once
- 3 tablespoons milk, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (94 g) plus 2 tablespoons cake flour
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup (144 g) strawberries, sliced
For the stabilized whipped cream:
- 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
- 4 teaspoons cold water
- 1 cup (236 ml) heavy cream
- ¼ cup (30 g) confectioners’ sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F (177 °C) and grease a 9" cake pan. Set aside.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, add the sugar and egg whites and beat with whisk attachment until stiff and glossy.4 eggs, ½ cup (100 g) plus 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
- Gently add the yolks, one at a time, to the egg white mixture until all is incorporated.
- Remove the bowl from the stand then gently fold in milk, vanilla extract, and cake flour (in that order) with a spatula until combined. Gently fold in the melted butter.3 tablespoons milk, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¾ cup (94 g) plus 2 tablespoons cake flour, 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cake is golden brown. When pressed, the cake should spring back.
- Cool the cake in the pan on a wire cooling rack completely.
- While the cake is cooling, make your stabilized whipped cream.
- In a small pot, sprinkle the gelatin over the 4 teaspoons of cold water and let sit for 5 minutes. Do not stir. Once it's been 5 minutes, you may stir it and put it on low heat, constantly stirring, to dissolve the gelatin. Once dissolved, set aside.1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin, 4 teaspoons cold water
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract until it has thickened. Then, slowly add in the gelatin mixture and beat until fluffy.1 cup (236 ml) heavy cream, ¼ cup (30 g) confectioners’ sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Once your cake has cooled, you may begin assembling it. With a sharp knife, slice the cake in half horizontally into 2 layers.
- Spread a thin layer of the whipped cream on the bottom half of the cake layer and then top with strawberries. Gently spread another thin layer of whipped cream on top of the strawberries then place the other half of the cake layer on top. With the remaining frosting, frost the entire cake. When done, top with the remaining strawberries.1 cup (144 g) strawberries
- Serve immediately or put in fridge for a few hours and then serve.
- I do not recommend this sitting for more than 2 days as it will harden a little and doesn’t stay as spongy and light.
Sounds and looks soo delicious.. I was wondering, would it work if I did not use any gelatin? Thank You
It’d still work, the whipped cream just might be more runny.
Awesome cake. Just superb. I can’t wait myself without making this cake. I always order cakes online from Monginis online cake shop but, for this time I am going to try this. Thanks for the recipe Julie.
Hi Julie! I can’t wait to make this. Do you know if I could add cocoa powder to make it a chocolate cake instead of vanilla? And if I wanted the cake to have more layers – around 4, should I bake two of them? Do they slice in half easily? Thanks!
Hi Sophia, I’m actually not sure if that would make the cake denser or not. I haven’t tried it this way so I can’t say it would work. You could certainly try! Yes, I’d bake two of them if you want 4 layers. Yes, they slice in half really easily with a sharp knife.
Hi Julie,
Let me first tell you that I am not a stranger to the art of cooking and baking. I can sure as heck follow a recipe and knock it outta the park. So not sure what I did wrong. The frosting btw is so ridiculously amazingly fabulous tasting I wanna slap somebody just to get their attention and tell them about it. Where have you been all my life? However the cake is another story. I ended up with a flat (possibly 1 inch) piece of “cake”. Look nothing like your fluffy wonder. It’s hard and looks like cardboard. Help please! I even bought the fancy flour for this. Any clue what could’ve gone wrong?
Hi Vero, it’s probably due to overmixing or the egg whites weren’t beaten to a light enough consistency.
Thank you Julie!
The cake was very good except the sponge cake came out more dense than I hoped for. I converted the TBS amount to grams and they were probably not very accurate. It seemed too much work to do 14 TBS of cake flour and 9.5 of sugar! Do you know the exact conversions in grams/cups/ounces??
Usually if sponge cakes come out more dense it is because it was over-beaten. I don’t know the exact conversions, sorry. You could try Google for conversion calculators.
Hi Julie,
Your cake looks amazing. Before I attempt it, I was wondering what you mean by “prepared pans.” Greased, floured, and parchment paper?
Thank you!!
Hi Lu, the first step in the instructions say to preheat the oven and grease a 9-inch cake pan.
JUST incorporated, okay that helps. Thanks!
So should the sugar be incorporated slowly into the egg whites? Or perhaps I over mixed my batter? The taste of the cake was spot on, but it came out dense instead of light and fluffy.
No, the sugar should just be poured onto the egg whites. The reason why these light cakes can come out dense is 1. overmixing and 2. you aren’t folding the mixture. You have to make sure you’re folding the batter instead of stirring because then all the air/lightness from the egg whites will just deflate and you’re left with a dense cake. Fold until the flour is JUST incorporated and stop. If you keep doing it, you’ll overmix. Hope that helps.
You should rewrite step 2. The egg whites don’t become stiff and frothy, like foam, if there’s sugar mixed with it. I made this mistake and my cake consistency was wrong.
I never said they became stiff and frothy like foam – I said they become stiff and glossy. I’ve made numerous recipes before with egg whites and sugar mixed together and got the perfect light consistency. My angel food cake cupcakes were the same method. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you, however, just because it doesn’t work out for you, doesn’t mean the entire recipe/step is a mistake.
Hi! I would like to know what brand of cake flour did you use ?
Please answer ASAP
I believe I used Swan Cake Flour.