O! M! G! This cake!
My girls LOVE strawberries and they love cake, so this is a winning combination. When I was little, my mom would make “strawberry shortcake” but it was nothing like what you’d see if you would google “strawberry shortcake”!
What was it? Well, it was Italian sponge cake, layered with fresh strawberries and freshly whipped and sweetened cream. Ohhhh YUM! And so, that’s my idea of a strawberry shortcake.
This cake is a bit different than my childhood cake in that it is a chiffon cake instead of a sponge cake, which doesn’t have milk or oil in it, and it contains a ricotta based cream. This is also a liberal interpretation of Italian Cream Cake or Cassata, and this version of course has loads of fresh strawberries (this is not anywhere close to traditional cassata cake – which I agree it is NOT).
Can I just tell you that I’m in LOVE with this cake? It was sooo good!
Recipe from my favorite cake cook book: Vintage cakes, by Julie Richardson
If you are a cake lover, you must get a copy of Julie’s book!
Italian Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 ¾ sifted cake flour (7 ounces)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar (2.5 ounces)
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar (4.66 ounces)
- 5 eggs , separated and at room temperature
- ½ cup canola oil
- ½ cup buttermilk at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon cream of tarter
For the ricotta cream
- 15 ounces whole milk ricotta
- ½ cup sugar (3.5 ounces)
- zest of 1 orange (optional)
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- bittersweet chocolate , 2 ounces (optional)
- 1 cup cold heavy cream
For the strawberries
- 2 pounds fresh strawberries , sliced
- 3 to 4 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons orange liquor or orange juice
Instructions
To make the macerated strawberries
- Combine all ingredients and set aside while the making and baking the cake
For the cake:
- Line the bottom of three 9-inch by 2-inch pans with parchment paper and set aside
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
- In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, and ⅓ cup of the sugar together and stir to combine
- In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks, oil, buttermilk and vanilla
- Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix gently only until smooth – don’t overmix
- In a stand mixer, add the egg whites to a clean bowl and beat on high until just frothy and then add the cream of tarter. Continue beating on high until soft peaks form and then add the remaining ⅓ cup of sugar slowly, then continue beating on high until firm peaks are formed.
- Fold about ⅓ of the egg whites into the flour/egg yolk mixture and then add the remaining egg whites and combine using the fewest strokes possible, using a light touch
- Divide the batter equally among the 3 pans (about 10 ounces each) and bake for about 15 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Do not overbake!
- Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack
For the ricotta cream
- Combine the ricotta, sugar, zest (if using), and vanilla gently until smooth (note: the original recipe calls for pureeing in a food processor; however, my ricotta turned very runny and didn’t firm up upon refrigeration and so I’d recommend lightly combining by hand)
- Grate chocolate and fold it into the mixture (I didn’t use this as my daughter doesn’t like chocolate 🙁 )
- Whip the heavy cream and fold it into the ricotta mixture until just combined
To assemble the cake
- Drain and reserve the juice from the strawberries
- Place one cake layer on a cake board or plate and brush top with ⅓ of the strawberries juice then top with ⅓ of the strawberries and ⅓ of the ricotta cream
- Repeat with second cake layer
- To finish, top the cake with the final layer, brush with juice, and top with strawberries. Reserve the remaining ricotta cream for serving
Jan wilder says
The recipe was not changed, still calls for soda in the ingredients and powder in the directions.
Marie says
Updated! should be powder, thanks for the reminder.
Sonia Baldaccini says
This is NOT Cassata. It’s just an Italian style strawberry shortcake. Do not try to reinvent the wheel. It pisses me off that people that the liberty of changing traditional foods to advance their own purposes. Call it something else if this is what you created. It ain’t Cassata. There’s no glaze, no candied fruit.Chocolate is not optional in a Cassata center. Both the trademarks of a Cassata. Stop it. Rename it. You’re misleading people.
Marie says
It’s a strawberry italian cake, mainly – yes, I can see what you mean. I’m not at ALL familiar with cassata. It appears that the cassata cake recipe was brought to USA in the Ohio area by Sicilians – I am not from the midwest and my roots are not Sicilian so that explains that – if you’d like to link to a recipe that is more traditional, I’d love to try it.
SL in NJ says
My my, someone’s a bit full of themselves, aren’t they? No need to be rude Sonia! Maybe if you stepped back a bit, you could make a coherent statement – your overflowing vitriol has you writing non-sensical phrases, ie: “It pisses me off that people that the liberty of changing traditional foods…” – what exactly is that? Calm down and think about what you want to say, and then be nice and say it in a more gracious manner. Thanks!
Samantha says
Its so bice to have a twist on recipes…Thank you for taking the time to share it..I googled Italian Strawberry Shortcake & yours sounded yummy!.
ciao!🎂
James says
I have tried A LOT of pancake recipes in my years of cooking buttermilk and otherwise and this BY FAR is my favorite! It is fluffy and moist which is what I look for! YUMMY!
plasterers bristol says
Oo this looks and sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Simon
Shazia says
Wow! Looks lovely.
Patricia @ ButterYum says
HI Marie – just wanted to stop by to say hello! Welcome to the Bread Bible Alpha Bakers!
Patricia
butteryum.org
PS – your cake is lovely! Right up my alley. Oh, and love your photos too. See ya soon!
Mona says
I was getting ready to make this, but now I’m confused. The ingredients say ‘baking powder’, Directions say ‘baking soda’, can you clarify?
Marie says
Sorry! It’s baking powder – all fixed:) Thanks for calling that to my attention
Tina says
This looks AMAZING and I can’t wait to try it. Can you please tell me if the amount of oil is tablespoons or teaspoons? Thanks!
Marie says
It’s actually 1/2 cup:) Thanks for pointing that out – all fixed.