Easy Strawberry Shortcake Cake (made with cake mix!)

Strawberry Shortcake Cake is a rustic vanilla layer cake filled with a whipped cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberries. Easy, impressive, and SO good!

Is saying Strawberry Shortcake Cake redundant? Possibly. But when I think of traditional strawberry shortcake, I think of individual angel food cakes or shortcakes with whipped cream and diced strawberries (like my mixed berry shortcakes).

This isn’t those.

This cake has been upgraded with layers of moist vanilla cake, homemade cream cheese frosting, and fresh berries.

I took a shortcut with a boxed French Vanilla cake mix, but the whipped cream cheese frosting is from scratch and the strawberries are super fresh.

Tools you’ll need

• Cake stand – I think this one is pretty
• 9″ cake pans
• Metal mixing bowls
• Parchment paper liners or you can DIY with regular parchment paper

Ingredients

For the cake

• Cake Mix – I use French Vanilla (Duncan Hines) but yellow will work as well.
• Eggs – Three large eggs.
• Water
• Butter – Instead of vegetable oil, we use butter, at room temperature, to add richness and flavor.

For the frosting

• Cream Cheese – I use full fat cream cheese, make sure it’s at room temperature so it mixes easily.
• Sugar – Granulated white sugar is what I’ve tested with.
• Vanilla – Pure vanilla extract, not imitation, for the best flavor.
• Heavy Cream – Sometimes called whipping cream or heavy whipping cream, same thing.
• Strawberries – Fresh, juicy strawberries. Washed and sliced.

How to make cake mix Strawberry Shortcake

1. Step One: First, mix the cake mix, eggs, water, and softened butter in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Divide the cake batter evenly between two 9-inch round pans that have been greased and sprinkled with a little sugar. Bake for 30 minutes at 350° or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool and flip out onto cooling racks to cool completely. 
   
2. Step Two: While the cake is cooling, make the cream cheese frosting by adding the cream cheese, sugar, and and vanilla to a mixing bowl and mixing with an electric mixer until smooth.
   
3. Step Three: In a small chilled bowl, add the heavy cream and beat on high with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Boom – fresh whipped cream. 
   
4. Step Four: Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until combined. 
   
5. Step Five: Assemble the cake by adding one layer to a cake stand, spread half the frosting on top and top with sliced strawberries. Place the second layer on top of the strawberries and repeat the process, adding the rest of the homemade whipped cream and the rest of the juicy strawberries.

What to serve with Cake Mix Strawberry Shortcake

You don’t need much to go with this cake but if you want to stick with the theme, try some strawberry shortcake jello shots.

You can serve it after chicken parmesan meatballs or lemon piccata pasta. Have extra strawberries? Make a strawberry trifle or strawberry brownie delight.

Storage

How to store leftovers

Store leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Can I freeze it?

You can, but wrap the cake layers tightly in plastic wrap. It might be a bit too messy to wrap in plastic wrap, although you can try.

Can you freeze cream cheese frosting?

You can. For the best results, store it in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months. Preferably separate from the cake.

Need more strawberry recipes? Try these:

Strawberry Pretzel Jello
Strawberry Brownie Delight
Strawberry Pie (without Jello)
Strawberry Jello Poke Cupcakes
Fruit Pizza

Click here to view my entire collection of cake recipes.

4.60 from 15 votes

Easy Strawberry Shortcake Cake (made with cake mix!)

Created by Melissa Williams | Persnickety Plates

Servings: 12 servings

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 30 minutes mins

Total Time: 50 minutes mins

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Strawberry Shortcake Cake is a rustic vanilla layer cake filled with a whipped cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberries. Easy, impressive, and SO good!

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Ingredients

 

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For the cake

• ▢ 15.25 ounce French Vanilla cake mix
• ▢ 3 large eggs
• ▢ 1 ¼ cups water
• ▢ ½ cup unsalted butter at room temp

For the frosting/filling

• ▢ 8 ounce cream cheese at room temp
• ▢ ½ cup granulated white sugar
• ▢ ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• ▢ 1 quart fresh strawberries rinsed and sliced

Instructions

To make the cake

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9" round cake pans, line with parchment paper, and sprinkle bottom and sides of pans with sugar and set aside.
  15.25 ounce French Vanilla cake mix, 3 large eggs, 1 1/4 cups water, 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• In a large bowl, add the cake mix, eggs, water, and softened butter. Use a hand mixer (or stand mixer) to beat on low until moistened and then on medium for two minutes, until fully combined.
  8 ounce cream cheese, 1/2 cup granulated white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pour evenly into prepared pans and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  1 pint heavy whipping cream
• Let cool in pans then flip onto cooling racks to cool completely.
  1 quart fresh strawberries
• Trim the tops with a serrated knife, if necessary, to make the two cakes even.

To make the frosting/filling

• In a medium bowl, add the softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and mix with a hand mixer until smooth.
• In a small mixing bowl that has been chilled, add the heavy cream and beat on high until stiff peaks form.
• Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
• Put the frosting into a large zip top bag and snip off the tip.
• Spread half of the frosting on top of the first layer of cake. Top with half of the sliced strawberries.
• Place the top layer of cake onto the strawberries and pipe on the remaining frosting. Arrange the remaining strawberries onto the top of the cake.
• Slice and enjoy!

Notes

Recipe adapted from an old Duncan Hines cookbook

Store any leftover cake covered in the fridge for up to 4 days.

• I used a French Vanilla cake mix but you could use angel food, yellow, or even white. Whichever you prefer.
• To easily flip the cakes out of the pans, trace the pan onto a piece of parchment paper, cut out your circle, and lay it into the pans before greasing so they easily pop out.
• Before making your whipped cream, start with a really cold bowl. I like to pop my metal bowl into the freezer for about 10 minutes before I start so it’s fully chilled. Cream whips much better when cold.
• I piped the frosting on, just using a zip top bag, because it’s so easy and I think it looks nice, but you could also just spread it with a spatula.

⭐️ Final Step! Please let me know how you liked this recipe by leaving a review and rating below. Your feedback supports my small business and allows me to continue providing free, high quality recipes.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 478kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 142mg | Sodium: 413mg | Potassium: 219mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 1147IU | Vitamin C: 47mg | Calcium: 146mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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Originally published March 19, 2017

Let’s talk about the strawberries. This pregnancy has had me craving a bowl of fresh fruit every night. Namely raspberries, but the past couple weeks, the strawberries have been so good, I switched over.

Yesterday, we went to the new Busch’s Fresh Food Market that opened in Canton. Metro Detroiters, I’m sure you’re familiar with Busch’s. I live in between two of them and frequent them often, but this new one? It’s special. It’s fancy and beautiful and I’m a little jealous it’s 25 minutes from my house.

We grabbed fresh, local apples for the week and those strawberries caught my attention and inspired this cake.

Tons of fresh, local, organic choices in a pretty setting.

Plus, a Starbucks right in the market. An olive oil bar. Lots of baked goods made in-house (we grabbed some cookies).

More fruit options to tempt me, local cider, and some of the prettiest flowers I’ve ever seen.

Overall, it’s a gorgeous market. There’s also a BBQ restaurant inside and a full hot food bar and cold foods/salad bar. It would be great for grabbing lunch during the workday or grabbing dinner on the