Filled Vanilla Cake
Fresh flavors are just part of the delicious taste of this Vanilla Strawberry Cake, the perfect texture of this cake is also filled with pastry cream. I also give lots of filling options. This is a 2 layer cake, each layer is then cut to create the 4 layers. And let me just tell you how fantastic this frosting is. It’s silky smooth, not overly sweet, and simply delightful.
There is always something amazing about fruit and cake together and on that note, this cake is over the top fantastic with a layer of pastry cream to make it over the top!
This vanilla cake with strawberry filling will win you over in one bite, and everyone’s eyes rolled back on the first bite of each and every one. This is the cake you’ll make again and again.
This cake is filled with fresh thick berry syrup. (oh… there are so many uses for fresh strawberry syrup, strain the berries out or leave them in, use it to fill cakes, in drinks like lemonade and cocktails, or top some pancakes with it.
Boil 1 cup diced strawberries with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes, COOL in a bowl over ice water or make ahead of time or use premade jam (heat jam if it’s from the refrigerator until warm so it’s easier to spread over the cake without tearing it up).
What other flavors can I use in this cake?
The possibilities are endless… raspberry, blueberry, cherry, pineapple, apple (add a pinch of cinnamon), blackberry, banana. Just bring the fruit to a boil with some sugar and you’re all set! Choose your favorite fruit and the cake will taste delicious.
I love this flavor combo, it’s one of the best filling for vanilla cake, fruit and custard go together so well without being overly sugary sweet!
This is the best vanilla custard cake filling, homemade pastry cream is silky smooth, rich, and delicious and the perfect filling for cake and pastries. You’ll only use 1/2 the recipe, so you’ll have extra, or you can cut the recipe in half. Pastry cream is a thick custard (thick pudding) or make pudding from a package mixed with heavy cream and a tiny bit of milk to make it really thick, so it doesn’t weep and get too wet in the middle of a cake.
What else can you fill the cake with?
Frosting, add berries and use a pastry brush to brush jam over the berries in the layers to keep them moist and shiny,
- caramel
- chocolate ganache
- lemon curd
- strawberry curd
- blueberry curd
- stabilized whipped cream
- sour cream frosting
- cream cheese frosting
- More frosting recipes here!…other options are Nutella and Biscoff spread.
I have lots of cake options and frosting recipes to help you get your sweet tooth fix:
- 2 Layer White Cake
- 5 layer White Sour Cream Cake
- 2 Layer 13xp Vanilla Cake
- 1 Hour Strawberry Shortcake
Frosting Options:
- Sour Cream Frosting
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- American Buttercream Frosting
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting
I can’t wait to make this cake with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream and alternating layers with hot fudge sauce.
The cake recipe is below:
Here are the additional recipes I used to complete this cake.
Silky smooth Faux Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting
Fresh Strawberry Syrup, and the Pastry Cream recipe you’ll only use half, so feel free to eat the rest off a spoon!
Filled Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
- 1 box white cake mix Duncan Hines do not follow the directions on the package
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- pinch salt
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 4 egg whites from large eggs
- 4 oz butter, melted or 1/2 cup
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons oil I use avocado oil, vegetable or canola would work as well
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 335° (not 350 it'll be too dark)
- Prepare two 8" round cake pans.
- Use a baking spray or use a thin coating of shortening and flour, then wrap the pans with wet baking strips to ensure evenly baked cakes.
- In a large bowl with a mixer add all the ingredients in the order they are listed. Cake mix, flour, sugar, salt, water, egg whites, butter, sour cream, oil, and vanilla flavors.
- Mix on low speed until the mix starts blending, then turn onto medium speed and mix for 2 minutes, scraping the bowl and under the beater after the first minute to be sure they combine fully, then continue mixing until well blended.
- Pour the cake batter evenly amongst the two pans and tap the pans gently on the counter so the batter is level in the pans.
- Bake at 335° (not 325° and not 350° for a well-risen cake that isn't dark in color).
- I set the oven rack set just above the center and it bakes evenly.
- I start testing the cakes at 30 minutes, then I test them about every 5 minutes until they are just set and a toothpick comes out clean when tested in the center of the bake.
- Remove the cakes from the oven, and allow them to cool for 10 minutes.
- Turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack to cool them completely.
- Wrap in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate or freeze the cakes so they will stack well and not slide. They don't need to be completely cold or frozen through, you just want them to be firm so they hold up well when stacked and won't slide. The longer you freeze them the easier they are to work with, and will maintain the moisture as well.
- Don't forget to print the other recipes:
- Strawberry Syrup, choose to strain it or leave the strawberries in like I did.
- Pastry Cream (reduce to a half portion if you don't want leftover pastry cream..
- Faux Swiss Meringue Buttercream, a quick version of the origional, that is simple and tastes fantastic,
How much butter are you saying? 4oz 1/2 cup? Is that 4 sticks of butter? Thank you!
4 oz of butter is equal to a 1/2 cup of butter. You’ll only need 4 oz, or a 1/2 cup, or 1 stick (4 sticks of butter would be 2 cups of butter- do not use 4 sticks of butter 🙂