Reminiscent of my favorite ice cream from days gone by it’s the strawberry crunch cake
The Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake ice cream bar was the reason I chased the ice cream man down the street.
Four layers of fluffy cake, fresh strawberry compote and white chocolate mousse
*although read everything here because I’ve made it easier by now just using whipped cream instead!
Loaded up with that famous strawberry crunch coating we all love so much!
This cake is going to knock your socks of from the first bite to the last!
Crunch Cakes are just so decadent and impressive with layers upon layers of pure deliciousness!
Once you’ve gathered your base recipes most of which can be prepared in advance it literally takes under an hour to build the final cake!
Just follow along step by step with the video tutorial and the written instructions are also below in the recipe box!
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Notes For Success:
The recipe below suggests using my White Cake Box Cake Hack for a much easier preparation
However if you prefer to make scratch recipes for both cakes I have White Cake & Strawberry Cake
White chocolate mousse and whipped cream for the icing
UPDATE: Make your life easier by using your favorite whipped cream in place of the white chocolate mousse recipe!
You will need 2 cups total of whipped cream for the filling and approximately 3 more cups to ice the cake.
So before you begin you will notice I am using two special tools for this cake: stainless steel cake ring or simply a springform pan with the bottom removed
And the acetate cake strips.
Berry compote recipe can be adjusted to your liking by using fresh or frozen berries and zero sugar up to 1/2 cup of sugar!
Cranberries are almost always used in my berry compotes since I love the tartness and addition of natural pectin they provide!
Leave them out if you do not have the or do not like them!
Strawberry Shortcake Crunch Cake
Ingredients
for the white cake
- 1 WHITE CAKE BOX MIX RECIPE
- OR
- 2 Recipe White Cake
- ¾ cup Dehydrated strawberries ground to a powder (27g)
For the White Chocolate Mousse: *see notes
- 1 cup Vegan White Chocolate 150g
- 6 Tbs Plant Milk
- ½ teaspoon Agar
- 2 cup Vegan Whipped Cream
for the icing
- 3 cup Vegan Whipped Cream
For the Strawberry Compote Filling:
- 3 cup Fresh or Frozen strawberries 3 cups
- 1 cup Cranberries *see notes
- ¼ cup Sugar
- ¼ cup Water *only if using fresh berries
For the Garnish/Decor/Crunch
- 15 Golden Sandwich Cookies with the fillings
- ½ cup Dehydrated Strawberries (18g)
Instructions
- First prepare 4 7" cake pans with grease & parchment paper liners.Preheat the oven to 350°F
- Prepare the cake batter of your choice based in the links above
- Divide the batter in half & add the freeze dried strawberry powder to one half
- Bake all the cake layers together in the preheated 350°F oven for approximately 22 minutes or when they are springy to the touch when you gently press the centers, or with the toothpick test, insert a toothpick and if it comes out clear it is done!
- Cool the cakes in the pans until you can safely touch then without burning yourself then flip them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Prepare the strawberry compote: in a medium heavy bottom sauce pot combine the chopped strawberries & optional cranberries together with the sugar & water if needed.
- Cook over medium heat until the cranberries start to pop & the berries are breaking down. Stir often.
- Turn the heat to low & let it simmer approx 10 minutes ~ the sauce will naturally thicken as it cools to cold. You can leave it chunky or blend to a puree it is your option
- Prepare the garnish for the cake by grinding the golden sandwich cookies in a food processor to medium crumbs, add the dehydrated strawberries & pulse until it is all the size you desire for garnish.
- When you are ready to build the cake prepare your vegan whipping cream
- OR prepare the white chocolate mousse by melting the vegan white chocolate
- Combine the warm plant milk with the agar powder & then bring to a rolling boil to activate the agar.
- Add this to the melted white chocolate & whisk as fast as possible to prevent setting!
- Next quickly fold in the 2 cups of whipped cream & whisk smooth.
- The mousse will set very fast due to the agar, so be sure to have your other ingredients ready to go since you will have to build the cake fairly quickly to make sure the mousse doesn't set.
- Follow the video tutorial for how to build & ice the cake!
Video
Notes
UPDATE: Make your life easier by using your favorite whipped cream in place of the white chocolate mousse recipe!
You will need 2 cups total of whipped cream for the filling and approximately 3 more cups to ice the cake. Or follow the recipe for White Chocolate Mousse & an additional 3 cups just for hte icing
Hi Gretchen, I would love to try this recipe but Im not vegan, just dairy free…can I use eggs in this recipe instead of the egg replacer? I checked at my grocery store and the egg replacer is pretty expensive…. Anyway, thanks for all your videos and for creating such wonderful treats!
HI Wendy thank you! Since this recipe (and all my recipes are formulated to work as vegan) I would not suggest to just add eggs in place of the egg replacer. Too many other things had to be adjusted to compensate for the vegan subs so to now go backwards again without changing those other things~ I would hate for you to have an epic fail, ingredients are too expensive to be messing up! So I would suggest to just take my idea here, the cake flavors, mousse, etc…. and find some non vegan cake recipes for white & strawberry that you can use and just make the cake that way.
Thank you Gretchen
Don’t ask a vegan if eggs are ok
Exactly!!!
Made this cake and it was AMAZING!! Best cake I’ve made so far! You’re correct, it does take several steps bit worth it! I love how the cranberries worked so well with strawberries! This cake was huge! I got 9 large slices and froze most. Thank you for your amazing videos and recipes! I appreciate them!
YAY! Awesome! I’m so glad you tried it! Yeah I LOVE the addition of cranberry to my strawberry compote! Glad you liked it!
This cake is the bomb! Just amazing. Me and my friends couldn’t stop eating it. I spaced the different steps out over two days and it really was pretty easy to put together. The recipe for the white cake using box mix will be my new go to. Thanks so much!
Can I use freeze dried strawberries instead of dehydrated strawberries?
yes!
Hi Gretchen, I would love to master Vegan poundcakes having gone Vegan many years ago but I cant find really good vegan pound cake recipes equal to the pound cakes i made before going vegan. Can you please do more tutorials along this line in the near future? I really love all that you do Vegan keep up the good work. Im not your student baker.