Celebrate the season with this Classic Strawberry Chiffon Shortcake, a masterpiece of texture and balance that goes far beyond a simple sponge cake. As a professional pastry chef, I’ve designed this recipe to feature a velvety double-filling: a silky vanilla custard paired with a luxurious mascarpone cream. These layers sit perfectly between slices of cloud-like chiffon sponge, which stays incredibly moist thanks to our precise milk-to-flour ratio. Topped with a vibrant, homemade strawberry glaze and over a pound of fresh berries, this cake offers a sophisticated sweetness that is both rich and refreshing. Whether it’s for a birthday or a spring tea party, this artisanal strawberry cake is the ultimate guide to achieving bakery-quality results in your own kitchen.
Strawberry Chiffon Shortcake
Strawberry Chiffon Shortcake is a timeless dessert that combines layers of soft cake or biscuit, freshly whipped cream, and juicy seasonal strawberries. It’s light, sweet, and full of flavor — the perfect way to celebrate strawberry season.Whether you’re preparing a simple family treat or an elegant dessert for guests, this recipe delivers a beautiful mix of textures: tender cake, fluffy cream, and bright, fruity bites. It’s also easy to adapt — you can make it as individual servings or a layered cake for sharing.Strawberry shortcake is the kind of dessert that feels special but is simple enough to make on any day that calls for something fresh and delightful.
Equipment
- Oven
- Mixer
- Trifle bowl
Ingredients
Custard Sauce
- 180 g milk
- 40 g egg yolks
- 35 g sugar
- 12 g cake flour (Low protein flour)
- 5 g corn flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 g gelatine
Mascapone cream sauce
- 30 g mascapone
- 100 g cream
- 10 g icing sugar
Chiffon Cake
- 2 eggs
- 30 g canola oil
- 30 g sugar
- 45 g milk
- 40 g cake flour (Low protein flour)
Strawberry Sauce
- 50 g strawberry jam
- 25 g water
- 2 g gelatine
Others
- 500 g Strawberries (1.6 lbs)
Instructions
Custard sauce
- Soften the gelatin in a little bit of water.
- Pour the milk into a pan and heat the milk begins to scald, remove from heat.
- Take a large bowl and mix together the egg yolks, bread flour, corn flour, and the sugar. Slowly add warm milk, whisking as pour, until added all the milk.
- Sift the mixture and transfer into a pan or pot. Stir with low heat and whisk constantly, then add the gelatin. Once the mixture begins to thicken, remove from heat and refrigerate it until you need to use.
- Now, let’s do mascarpone sauce, carefully beat together the sugar, mascarpone, and cream just until blended. Then refrigerate it.
- Beat the mascarpone sauce at medium speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form, and whisk the custard mixture until soft. Then mix the mascarpone sauce and custard mixture together.
Chiffon cake
- Preheat the oven to 340°F (170°C).
- Add the milk and the oil to melt together (on low heat), then sift the cake flour, add the flour and the egg yolks into the milk mixture beat together until smooth, and place aside.
- Beat the egg whites with a whisk in a bowl until frothy, and add the sugar on low speed until sugar is completely mixed and shiny.
- Take 1/3 of the egg whites mixture and fold it into the batter, then repeat with the remaining egg whites mixture until the batter is smoothly combined.
- Line the bottom and slide with parchment paper in the prepared baking tray, then pour the batter into the tray and tap the tray to release air bubbles.
- Bake in the preheated oven 340°F (170°C) for 10~12 mins, remove from oven and take out from the tray. Then peel the paper around sides and the bottom paper carefully, and place aside.
Strawberry sauce
- Add the strawberry jam, the sugar, and water to a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until it begins to boil, add the gelatine, stirring occasionally. Allow the sauce to boil, then remove from heat and place aside to cool.
Strawberry shortcake
- After everything has cooled, layer everything in the trifle bowl, add a layer of cake on the bottom, then about half of the chopped strawberries, about half of the strawberry sauce, then about half of the custard sauce.
- Add a second layer of cake, strawberries and strawberry sauce, then pipe the remaining custard sauce on top in swirls. Add a few additional strawberries on top as decoration.
- Finish and enjoy your time.
Cooking & Storage Tips
- Best served immediately after assembling. If prepping ahead, store components separately: cake at room temperature, cream and strawberries in the fridge. Assemble right before serving for the best texture.
Tools & equipment you may need
Ovens
Trifle bowl
Last Updated on 2026-04-30