This gluten free strawberry shortcake cake is a twist on the classic! With fluffy vanilla cake layers, lots of fresh strawberries and a homemade frosting, this gluten free cake is sure to be a summer favorite.
Strawberry shortcake has always been one of of my favorite desserts. But it’s not a classic cake, and I LOVE cake. Good old fashioned cake.
So I decided to combine the best of both worlds and create this gluten free strawberry shortcake cake.
It’s light, fluffy with a moist crumb, layers of fresh strawberries and your choice of frosting. It’s the perfect spring or summer dessert and is a total crowd pleaser.
I promise you won’t even be able to tell it’s gluten free, it has the same fluffy and moist texture of a classic cake, but all without the gluten. It can also be completely dairy free and nut free, so it’s a totally allergy friendly recipe.
It makes a small cake, just a two layer six inch cake, so it’s perfect for a small get together or summer barbecue dessert! Try my lemon poppy seed blackberry cake next!
How to make gluten free strawberry shortcake cake
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the melted butter, eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla and almond extract with an electric mixer. Mix for about 30 seconds.
Add in the remaining dry ingredients, making sure to spoon and level the flour. Beat until combined. The batter will be on the thicker side.
Transfer to your prepared pans and spread evenly. Bake for 42-48 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool in the pans for about 15 minutes, then flip onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
Meanwhile, combine the sliced strawberries and strawberry jam and mix well. Set aside.
To frost, you can use a classic buttercream or whipped cream. For a dairy free whipped cream, I like the tubs of coco whip (just don’t get the light one, it’s too thin).
Add a layer of your frosting to one cake (once completely cooled-I suggest chilling in the fridge for at least an hour before frosting), then top with half of the strawberries and the other layer of cake.
Frost the top or simply dollop with whipped cream, then top with the remaining strawberries. I swirled some strawberry jam onto the frosting as well, but this is optional, just adds a great flavor! Slice and enjoy!
Frosting options
Buttercream. Buttercream is what I always make for any traditional cake. You can try my strawberry buttercream, or stick with a classic vanilla.
Either way, I really like to add swirls of strawberry jam because I think it adds such a nice, fresh flavor that closely mimics traditional strawberry shortcake.
Whipped cream. I love adding some fresh whipped cream on top of each layer, and leaving the sides naked for a very traditional strawberry shortcake flavor.
For a dairy free option, I suggest the Coco Whip tubs. Just don’t use the light one since it is way too watery.
Whipped cream frosting. There are lots of recipes for whipped cream frosting, which has a slightly different texture than traditional whipped cream. I suggest this one.
How to store and freeze
Once prepared, this gluten free strawberry shortcake will keep for about 3-5 days. I suggest storing it in the fridge because it has such fresh ingredients in the frosting and the fresh berries.
You can slice it up and store in tupperware, or just cover your cake stand and store right in the fridge. The ingredients in the cake will keep it super moist so you don’t have to worry about it drying out.
You can freeze this cake before frosting as well! Once it’s baked, allow the cake to cool completely (really completely) and then wrap each layer in plastic wrap, place in a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 1 month.
You can decorate and frost the cake while it is frozen, just make sure it defrosts before serving.
Ingredient swaps
Eggs. I do not recommend subbing the eggs for any vegan alternatives. Eggs are super important in most gluten free cake recipes to add structure, stability and create a fluffy texture.
You can instead try my vegan gluten free vanilla cake and add 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract and use the strawberries and cream to top!
Dairy. You can easily make this cake dairy free by using non-dairy milk and butter. I do not recommend oil in place of butter because it will change the flavor and texture a bit. I like earth balance for a dairy free option.
Sugar. This recipe calls for one cup of granulated sugar. I highly recommend sticking to regular white sugar for a traditional texture and color.
However, if you want to make it refined sugar free, you can try coconut sugar, though the color of the cake will be much darker. I do not recommend a liquid sweetener here.
Almond Flour. If you cannot have almonds or nuts, you can swap the almond flour for an additional 1/2 cup of gluten free all purpose baking flour. So simply use two total cups of the GF flour.
On the other hand, I do not recommend swapping the GF all purpose flour for almond flour. Instead, you can try my almond flour vanilla cake.
Try these cakes next!
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Gluten Free Strawberry Shortcake
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Cake
- ½ cup butter melted then slightly cooled
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 cup white sugar
- ¾ cup milk of choice room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 ½ cups gluten free all purpose baking flour I like Bob's 1:1
- 1 cup almond flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Strawberries
- 2 cups sliced strawberries
- 1 tablespoon strawberry jam
To frost
- ½ batch buttercream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
- Line two 6 inch cake pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the melted butter, eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla and almond extract.
- Mix for about 30 seconds with an electric mixer.
- Add in the remaining dry ingredients, making sure to spoon and level the flour.
- Beat until combined. The batter will be on the thicker side.
- Transfer to your prepared pans and spread evenly.
- Bake for 42-48 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pans for about 15 minutes, then flip onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Meanwhile, combine the sliced strawberries and strawberry jam and mix well. Set aside.
- To frost, you can use a classic buttercream, whipped cream or combine a bit of both which is what I did. For a dairy free whipped cream, I like the tubs of coco whip (just don't get the light one, it's too thin).
- Add a layer of your frosting to one cake (once completely cooled-I suggest chilling in the fridge for at least an hour before frosting), then top with half of the strawberries just in the center and the other layer of cake. It helps to create a lip of frosting on the outer edge of the first layer of cake so the strawberries stay in the middle and don't slide out.
- Frost the top or simply dollop with whipped cream, then top with the remaining strawberries. I swirled some strawberry jam onto the frosting as well, but this is optional, just adds a great flavor!
- Slice and enjoy!
Kirsten says
I made this for a family birthday and it was a huge hit! My 6 yo nephew gave it 100 out of 100 lol. I made it all in one 9” cake pan and cooked it for about 50 minutes (at high altitude in Denver which usually requires longer baking times). I used oat milk and otherwise followed the recipe. I just added a good dollop of homemade whipped cream to each slice with lots of fresh berries – it was simple but also made it easy to store the leftovers with no frosting. Honestly everyone would eat the cake by itself anyways! Def recommend including the almond extract!
Claire Cary says
Perfect, good to know that 9 inch pan worked well! So happy it was a hit 🙂
Peggy says
I don’t have 6 inch pans would it work to use a 9 inch pan? Thank you! Every recipe I have made of yours is delicious and easy to make!
Claire Cary says
You can probably just use one 9 inch pan, but the cake will be a bit thicker so I’d increase the bake time by at least 5 minutes, maybe 10. Let me know how it turns out!
Marg says
Any thoughts on how to expand recipe to make for 2 – 8” inch rounds instead of 6”??? I bot all the ingredients today except missed the part about 6” pans which I don’t have:(. Tks!
Claire Cary says
I would multiply the recipe by 1.5. You can shift the servings in the recipe card, just hover your mouse over the 8 in 8 servings, then slide it up to 12 and it will make the conversion for you.
Sharon says
How many people will this cake serve? Also, if I don’t want to use gelatin in the whipped cream frosting, as it is not vegetarian, will the whipped cream hold up OK? You said you used both the butter cream and the whipped cream. Please let me know how you did this? Did you layer it on top or just use the whipped cream on top? Thank you.
Claire Cary says
I didn’t use homemade whipped cream, I used the dairy free CocoWhip in the tubs! It does not contain gelatin. I just folded some into the buttercream frosting.
Susan says
Loved the cake! Very moist and not complicated. Found all ingredients in the pantry/refrig which is kind of rare for any GF recipe. For those, like myself, who are concerned about packing down the flour too much, in this case Bob’s Mill has a cup to Gm conversion scale on their website for many of their products that helps avoid that. Their 1:1 flour weight conversion is 1 cup=148 Gm. There are other conversion sites for the other ingredients online.
Claire Cary says
Thanks for sharing, Susan! So helpful and so glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Elise says
OMG this cake is so delicious! I love the flavor and texture! You are a genius with your gluten-free recipes!!! Thank you!!
Claire Cary says
Thank you, Elise, just made my day!
Belen says
If I wanted to make cupcakes with this recipe; what alterations would you recommend for baking temperature and time, please?
Thank you, in advance!
Claire Cary says
I would keep the temperature at 350, and start with a bake time of 18-22 minutes and adjust from there. Let me know how it turns out!
Lauren says
Not only my favorite eatwithclarity recipe of all time but my favorite cake I’ve ever had in general..!! Literally SO good and so flavorful. 11/10 would recommend making this to impress your friends 🙂
Claire Cary says
You’re the best, thank you ma’am 🙂