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The classic combination of strawberries and cream makes this Gluten Free Strawberry Cake as beautiful as it is delicious. Moist white cake, juicy strawberries, and fluffy whipped cream come together in layers of simple perfection. It’s sure to become one of your favorite desserts for any occasion!
Looking for more gluten free cake recipes? Try springtime favorite Gluten Free Carrot Cake or timeless Gluten Free Birthday Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Delicious Details
- Cuisine Inspiration: American
- Primary Cooking Method: Oven
- Dietary Info: Gluten-free
- Skill Level: Easy
Dreamy Gluten Free Strawberries and Cream Cake
The original version of this Strawberries and Cream Cake recipe, made with regular wheat cake flour, was my grandma’s favorite cake. It’s a classic, just like she was. If you want to read more about her (and trust me, you do), then scroll down past the recipe where I share more about my love for her and our special relationship. I know, I know, nobody wants personal stories in recipe posts, and I get that. But I couldn’t bring myself to delete it.
You see, I felt that everyone, myself included, needed to be able to enjoy this favorite strawberry shortcake-inspired treat as a gluten free dessert. And when I made it, I thought of my grandma with every bite, wondering what she would think if I tried to sneak a gluten free cake by her, like I used to do when I would make lighter versions of old-fashioned recipes. It’s so good, though, that I think she would have loved this gluten free strawberry cake. And here’s why you will too…
- Simply perfect. Start with an easy homemade Gluten Free White Cake with the perfect amount of vanilla flavor. Then combine it with layers of the traditional combination of sweet, juicy berries, and homemade whipped cream. This traditional pairing is a family favorite spring and summer treat.
- Easily gluten free. This simple cake uses a 1-to-1 gluten free baking flour, so you don’t have to buy, weigh, and measure the perfect balance of flours, starches, and gums. Then you just follow standard cake-baking techniques of sifting dry ingredients, creaming the butter and sugar, and blending the batter together.
- So moist. Many gluten free baked goods can be dry or grainy. Combining a perfected cake recipe, you might notice a bit of a grainy texture. But in this case, when it has absorbed the moisture and flavor from the berries and cream, it ends up moist and tender. And it is certainly better than many of the store-bought, commercially produced gluten free cakes.
What You’ll Need
I’m going to give you a quick overview of the ingredients you’ll need, but I always want to reiterate to be sure to read all labels, especially for things like baking powder, baking soda, and vanilla extract to ensure that they are gluten free. Depending on the brand, these can sometimes be a risk for cross-contamination. You’ll find the full amounts and detailed instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Gluten Free Cake Ingredients
- Gluten Free 1:1 Baking Blend. I recommend Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour.
- Baking powder.
- Baking soda.
- Salt.
- Unsalted butter. Softened to room temperature.
- Granulated sugar.
- Egg whites. You should separate fresh eggs versus using egg whites from a carton. I recommend doing this while the eggs are cold, but then letting the whites come to room temperature. Use the extra yolks to make lemon curd, if you like.
- Vanilla extract. Always be sure your vanilla extract is gluten free. The most common brands are, such as Nielsen-Massey and McCormick. I personally love the flavor of Nielsen-Massey Madascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract, and it is certified gluten free.
- Milk. Whole or 2% milk is best for the fat content to add moistness.
- Plain Greek yogurt. Nonfat, low fat, or whole milk yogurt will all work fine.
Strawberry Filling Ingredients
- Fresh strawberries. Hulled and sliced.
- Granulated sugar. You can use more or less, depending on the sweetness of the berries. But don’t omit it because letting the berries sit in the light coating of sugar helps them release their juices.
Whipped Cream Ingredients
- Heavy cream. Make sure it is very cold.
- Powdered sugar. This dissolves better in the cream than granulated sugar so your whipped cream isn’t grainy.
- Vanilla extract.
How To Make Gluten Free Strawberry Cake
Get ready to bake this cake by preheating your oven to 350°F. Then line the bottom of three 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper and give them a light coating of nonstick cooking spray (NOT the kind with flour). Now, let’s get started with the photo tutorial. The step-by-step instructions are further down in the recipe card.
- Combine dry ingredients. Whisk or use a sifter or sieve to sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
- Make the creamed mixture. Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to cream the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy. Then blend in the egg whites and vanilla.
- Finish the batter. Add the flour mixture, milk, and yogurt to the creamed mixture and beat at low speed until combined.
- Bake and cool. Divide the batter between the prepared pan and bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cakes. Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then remove the cakes to wire racks to cool to room temperature.
- Make the strawberry filling. Wash and dry your berries, remove the hull, and slice them. Then toss the sliced strawberries with a bit of sugar and allow the juices to release.
- Whip the cream. Add the cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla to the chilled bowl and use the chilled beaters or whisk to beat the cream to soft peaks.
- Layer the cake. Top the first layer of cake with whipped cream, berries, and another layer of whipped cream. Top with another layer of cake and repeat. Then place the final layer of cake on the top.
- Finish the cake. Cover the entire cake with whipped cream. Garnish with strawberries or even White Chocolate Covered Strawberries, if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Tips for Success
- Use parchment paper: Always line your 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper to avoid having the white cake layers stick.
- Speed things up: OK, I may be a sucker for gadgets, and this isn’t necessary, per se. But this Strawberry Huller does make quick work of cutting the centers out of those berries. Perfect when you have to do a lot, like when you are making a gluten free strawberry cake.
- Do double duty: While you can use a Kitchenaid stand mixer, I just use my simple Hamilton Beach Hand Mixer with the beaters for the cake batter and whisk attachment for the whipped cream.
- Freeze your bowl: Put the bowl that you’ll use for whipping the cream in the freezer for a few minutes and use very cold heavy cream to help it whip better, so that you don’t risk overbeating it and turning it into butter. Try to whip it just before you are going to assemble the cake.
- Make in advance: You can serve the cake right away, but I recommend making it a few hours in advance or the night before so that the cake gets super moist from absorbing some of the moisture from the whipped cream. However, I wouldn’t recommend storing leftovers for more than a day or two.
- Customize your cake: If you want to change things up, you can add a layer of Vanilla Pastry Cream to the filling. Also, if you aren’t a fan of whipped cream frosting, feel free to use basic Vanilla Buttercream or tangy Cream Cheese Frosting.
Proper Storage
You MUST keep the gluten free strawberry cake refrigerated, otherwise, the fresh whipped cream will turn rancid. However, you don’t want to store the leftover cake for more than a day or so because that lovely moisture will ultimately get soggy.
I do not recommend freezing this cake unless you are freezing just the unassembled cake for later assembly. You can bake the cakes and wrap them, unfrosted, for several days, or freeze them for up to two months.
More Gluten Free Cakes
Whether for birthdays, holidays, or any special occasion, it’s always good to have some go-to gluten free cake recipes to celebrate. Here are a few of my favorites:
- It doesn’t get more fun than Gluten Free Funfetti Cake because sprinkles make everything better.
- Peanut Butter Cup Flourless Cake Roll is one chocolate and peanut butter lovers will adore. Impressive but deceptively easy!
- Gluten Free Apple Bundt Cake is perfect for fall.
- Prefer something cold and creamy? Gluten Free Birthday Cake Ice Cream Cake will delight kids of all ages.
- Gluten Free Hummingbird Cake is a Southern classic!
- And there’s even a great collection on the Huffington Post of Gluten Free Birthday Cake Recipes!
Gluten Free Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 cups 1:1 Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Blend (recommended: Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 4 egg whites, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
For the strawberry filling:
- 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries, plus addirtional whole or halkved strawberries for decaorting the cake, if desired
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar (or more, depending on how sweet your strawberries are)
For the whipped cream:
- 1 pint heavy cream, well chilled
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line three 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
- Whisk together 2 cups 1:1 Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Blend, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, in a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, and 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar on medium speed.
- Add 4 egg whites, and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. Beat for about 30 seconds.
- Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture, 2/3 cup milk, and 2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt. Beat until combined. Beat on high for an additional 30 seconds.
- Divide the batter evenly between the pans. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until lightly golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool pans on racks for about ten minutes, then remove cakes from pans and cool completely.
For the strawberry filling:
- Combine 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries, and2 teaspoons granulated sugar in a small bowl, and set aside to allow the juices to release.
For the whipped cream:
- Place the bowl and whisk attachment for your stand mixer or a metal or glass bowl and beaters for your hand mixer in the fridge or freezer until they are cold.
- Add 1 pint heavy cream, ¼ cup powdered sugar, and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract to the chilled bowl, and beat on medium-high to high speed until soft peaks form. Do not overbeat.
To assemble the cake:
- Place one layer of the cake on a plate, and spread with about a half cup of the whipped cream. Layer on about half of the sliced strawberries.
- Spread about another half cup of whipped cream on top of the strawberries.
- Top with the second cake layer. Again top this cake layer with about a half cup of the whipped cream, the remaining berries and another half cup of whipped cream.
- Top with the final cake layer, and spread the remaining whipped cream over the top and sides of the cake to cover completely.
- Garnish with the whole and/or sliced strawberries, as desired.
Notes
Did you make this?
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About My Grandmother
For the first twelve or thirteen years of my life, grandma lived five blocks from me. So I spent a lot of time with her. After church on Sundays, we would go to her house for dinner – pot roast or spaghetti or stuffed cabbage for the family (she always made me Grandma’s Polish Meatballs since I didn’t like cabbage). Every now and then, she would honor my special request for chicken noodle soup.
We would frequently drop by in the evening to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy with her and my grandpa. This especially happened if she had made a big pot of Easy Beefaroni (which she affectionately called “junk”). Then we would sit in the breezeway while she puffed away on her cigarettes. Grandma never smoked in the house, only in the breezeway or in the basement. In the dead of winter, if she was at our house, we would send her outside to smoke.
If I was sick or had a day off from school, I’d stay at her house. She would make me toast with cream cheese, or scrambled eggs with American cheese for lunch. I’d watch Sesame Street or The Frugal Gourmet or Bob Ross while she watched her “stories” in the afternoon. If it was a Wednesday, I’d go to Bingo with her, where I’d draw my own Bingo boards and play along. Although more often than not, she would take me to McDonald’s for a chicken nuggets Happy Meal, then to the bakery for a cupcake. Sometimes I’d even get to go to the beauty parlor with her.
I actually used to love sleeping over at her house, too. She and my grandpa had twin beds, a la Fred and Ethel. If I was there, he would sleep in the spare room so I could be in the room with her. We would watch the Golden Girls on her twelve-inch television. Sometimes I might make it to the opening credits of Dallas before falling asleep. In the morning, I was greeted with a bowl of sweet, buttery farina.
My grandma sounds like a pretty lively lady, doesn’t she? Well, she did her best, but she was about forty when rheumatoid arthritis hit. By the time I was born, she already had a hard time using her hands. Those Sunday dinners were a struggle for her and didn’t last very long in my life before she just couldn’t do it anymore. A full set of plastic knuckles didn’t make chopping and mixing very easy for her. And for Easter, my mom always had to knead the Paska while Grandma supervised.
While the simple foods she made for me hold a special place in my heart, I’m told she was actually an amazing cook. But, between her arthritic hands and my childhood pickiness, by the time I was old enough to appreciate and perhaps even learn from her, it was too late. I have a few scrawled recipes I’d like to try sometime, but that stuffed cabbage recipe is now only a memory.
As I grew older, I cooked a lot of Sunday dinners for her and my grandpa. While I think she usually enjoyed my cooking, I had to keep it a secret if I ever used any lighter or healthier ingredients. She insisted that healthy food tasted terrible. And she always seemed a little annoyed if she liked something, and then learned it was healthy.
Grandma was a tough cookie, though. Even though she couldn’t run around with her grandkids, she found a way to connect and be close to us. She taught me how to play solitaire, and we would do puzzles together. She would take me and my cousins to the park, or just sit in the backyard or talk to her backyard neighbor while we played.
Her health problems got worse as she got older, and she was supposed to quit smoking. She never really did though, even though some of the family thought she had. So when we would have family gatherings, as soon as we had dinner, she was ready for her dessert. Because she had to have her dessert before she left. I’m fairly certain it was not because she was tired or losing patience. I’m pretty sure it was because she needed to go have a cigarette but didn’t want to let any of us know she was still smoking. But she was caught on multiple occasions sitting in her car, puffing away in a random grocery store or department store parking lot.
She passed away when The Hubby and I were on vacation in Tuscany. I kind of knew it would happen while we were gone, but I believe in my heart that she truly wanted me to go on that trip. It was a bittersweet trip. But I felt like she and I had our closure on my last visit with her before we got on that airplane. I miss her terribly, though.
She had a tendency to nag me about the fact that her lady friends all had great-grandchildren. I had to remind her that she had my mom, her first child, when she was 23 – a bit older for her generation. Then my mom had me, her oldest, when she was 26 – actually a bit older for her generation too. So really, it wasn’t entirely my fault! But I really wish she could have met my boys. I think she and The Bug would have been best buds, and she would have gotten such a kick out of the Little Dude.
It’s strange, but her birthday and the anniversary of her passing often go by without me having any particularly strong thoughts of her. Yet on random days, I’ll be overwhelmed with thoughts of her. A couple of weeks ago I really didn’t want to go for my long run of the week. But I did and took a different path than I had taken before. It was a tough run. At 4.9 miles, I was overcome by the aroma of a lilac bush and was able to push through to the bitter end of that run.
As I walked the last half mile home to cool down, I was choking back tears, overcome with memories of my grandma. In her backyard was a line of lilac bushes, and the scent of the flowers permeated the air every spring and summer. And that moment and those lilacs just made me feel her presence more than I have in a long while. I knew she was with me and smiling down on me. That’s when I knew I had to make this cake.
Enjoy!
Have you ever made this with coconut whipped cream? If not, don’t think it would work ok? I’m thinking maybe just coconut cream in the middle layers, buttercream on the outside….. can’t wait to try it with patriotic colored berries for July 4th!
I think coconut whipped cream would be wonderful! Sounds like a delicious and beautiful cake idea!
Excellent recipe! Made the cake recipe last night in a 9×13 inch pan but instead of strawberries and cream I topped it with chocolate frostining. Birthday person’s request, and served today. Everyone loved it and was surprised that it was gluten free. Looking forward to trying with the strawberries and cream. Easy too.
Thank you so much for sharing. This recipe is a keeper. DELISH!
Love the chocolate and strawberry combo! So hapy to hear this!
Do you add xanthan gum to the flour?
No, since I use a 1-to-1 blend it already contains xanthan gum.
Can I use 2 whole eggs instead of 4 egg whites?
I have not tried that because I always make it as a white cake, which it won’t be with whole eggs.
Hi! I’m going to make this for a graduation party, but I want to make it ahead. Should I make the whole cake and then freeze it or freeze the layers and assemble on the day of the party?
I would freeze the layers. Whipped cream and strawberries both release excess moisture when frozen and thawed, so the cake will likely get soggy.
This recipe looks fantastic! Do you think I could use 8” pans instead and bake a few extra minutes ?
I suspect that will be fine.
Made this for Easter. My first cake not from a box! My family knows I’m gluten free, and no one even asked if this was or not. Everyone liked it. I forgot to get plain Greek yogurt and so ended up using the vanilla Greek yogurt I already had in the fridge. So yummy. Some
of the comments were there wasn’t enough batter for three pans. I have to wonder if they expected a really tall cake. This was perfect. Definitely making this again. Thank you!
This is my go to recipe whenever I want a cake! Perfect every time. I’ve also made it with manderin oranges.
Love that variation!
My mom has celiac and she absolutely loves this cake! I make it for her many times throughout the year…thank you!!
The cream didn’t work out very well and cake started to slide. It was at peak when I stopped mixing it. Maybe I didn’t mix it enough. I did everything by the recipe. The cake part was very heavy I found but everyone ate it anyhow. Don’t think I will make this particular one again.
Sorry it didn’t work out well for you. You definitely need everything to be cold when whipping the cream, especially if it is a warm day, and be careful not to over beat it. For the cake, make sure your baking powder and soda are fresh, and don’t rush the steps. Be sure to cream the butter and sugar thoroughly and beat int he egg whites for the full 30 seconds, or even a bit longer.