I don’t know about you, but for me whenever I go food shopping, as I scan the aisles it is there that I come up with endless ideas for new cakes and pastries.
That, along with my insatiable hunger cravings are the two most alluring factors.
As the end of summer is approaching, also ending is the abundance of fresh fruits and berries that come along with the season.
Knowing this, I decided to have one last hurrah with a few pounds of fresh strawberries to make this White Chocolate Strawberry Cake.
I thought, fresh strawberry compote with a douse of Grand Marnier cooked to a thick chunky preserve like consistency for the filling, between moist layers of white chocolate cake.
Now, if any of you know me you will know that I am not a big fan of white chocolate.
I just think it’s just too sweet and honestly it’s not really even chocolate, technically.
But without going into that whole topic, let me just say that I LOVE white chocolate baked into a cake!
I think you will love it too once you see how easy it is to make and the moistness from the cocoa butter makes this pound cake style cake a real winner to hold up the thick filling and white chocolate strawberry buttercream.
This is a building on recipes project as all great layer cake are; meaning we have to make several recipes to get to the final but it is well worth it!
Just follow along with my instruction and advice for making this easier: Prepare in advance!
You can make the strawberry compote, white chocolate drip ganache and even the cake layers several days ahead of time.
The buttercream too for that matter! I always work that way and then take just an hour or so on the day of the event to actually build the cake.
It just makes life so much easier and way more fun to bake with an organized plan.
In addition to the white chocolate in the recipes listed below you will need about 4 ounces more to dip the strawberries and shave on top of the finished cake
The Edible Gold Leaf is optional garnish
- For the Cake:
- Cake Flour 3 cups (360g)
- Granulated Sugar 1½ cup (300g)
- Baking Powder 3 teaspoons (15g)
- EnerG Egg Replacer 3 teaspoons (10g)
- Salt ¼ teaspoon
- Vegan Butter 9 Tablespoons (126g)
- Soy Milk 1 cup (237ml)
- Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons (10ml)
- Vegan White Chocolate 6ounces (approx 1 cup chopped) (168g)
- For the Buttercream:
- 1 Recipe Aquafaba Swiss Buttercream
- Grand Marnier *optional 1 tablespoon
- Vegan White Chocolate 3 ounces
- For the Strawberry Filling:
- 2 Lbs fresh or frozen
- Sugar *optional to your taste
- Grand Marnier *optional 1 Tablespoon
- For the White Chocolate Drip:
- Vegan White Chocolate 2 ounces
- Soy Milk 2 Tablespoons (30ml)
- For the cake recipe:
- Melt the white chocolate and set aside
- Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, EnerG egg replacer, and salt in a mixer bowl and sift it together or mix on low to combine.
- Add the softened vegan butter and mix for about 1 minute until it resembles coarse meal and is evenly incorporated
- Add the vanilla extract and then slowly pour in the soy milk while mixing on low to medium speed until it is all incorporated then increase the speed to medium-high for 1 minute to develop the batter
- Add the melted white chocolate and mix to combine
- Divide the batter into greased and parchment lined cake pans (I am using 7" cake pans but you can use 8" if that's all you have)
- Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 20 minutes then turn the oven down to 300°F for another 15 minutes or until they springy to the touch when you gently press the centers.
- Cool the cakes while you prepare the strawberry compote
- Reserve about 1 cup of chopped fresh strawberries and then cook the remaining strawberries stirring often over medium heat until boiling, the berries will break down and release their juices but if they seem too dry add a few tablespoons of water to avoid scorching.
- Strain about ½ cup of the compote through a find mesh strainer to add to the buttercream for later
- Add the chopped strawberries to the cooled compote for the cake filling.
- Prepare the Aquafaba Swiss Buttercream as per the instructions on that recipe and add 1 -3 Tablespoons of Grand Marnier and 3 ounces of melted cooled white chocolate, then the reserved cooled puree.
- Assemble the cake as shown in the video tutorial
- The white chocolate drip is made by combining the white chocolate and soy milk together in a small saucepot over low heat and stirring constantly until it is melted and smooth, cool before pouring onto the buttercream cake.
Hi Gretchen! First of all, thank you so much for creating such delicious vegan recipes. I have been subscribed to your YouTube channel for a while now and I seem to print of every recipe of yours to try. I wanted to put in a small request, and that is to consider putting your vegan egg replacers in weight measurements as well? Reason for this is that we don’t have Ener-G egg replacer in my country, however, if I know how heavy the “egg” needs to be, I can sub my own vegan egg replacement recipe into this weight. Also, I do use a scale that goes below 1 gram, so if you ever feel like weighing your baking powder or baking soda as well that would be so amazing! The volume of the teaspoons in my country is different to the US, but with the weight I can ensure my measurements are identical to yours. Anyhoo, sorry for such a long comment. I’m just so excited to make this recipe, and also your tiramisu recipe. They all look fabulous! Thanks for all the great work. – Claire
Hi Claire! thank you! I typically do include the weights for even baking powder and soda (apologies if at times I forget!) As for the sub in for another brand of egg replacer, Im not sure it would be the same so just be careful there.
EnerG egg replacer includes Potato Starch, tapioca starch flour, leavening , calcium carbonate, citric acid, Sodium Carboxymethycellulose, Methylcellulose. 1½tsp od EnerG = 1 egg.
So my warning is to then use a different egg replacer with totally different ingredients it may not work exactly the same
For example when I use flax meal as the replacer, it is 1 Tbs for 1 egg, you can see how different egg replacers are not straight subs.
So again just be wary there and maybe do a small test first.
I get 3.3g per tsp of EnerG. (Ive updated the post too)
Hi Gretchen! Ive been following your recipes for a while, thats where I learned to make your fabulous SMB….Not really into vegan baking so my question is can I still get great results using non-vegan replacements and real eggs ….Thanks!
Hi Pam thank you! You can search for the white chocoalte cake on http://www.gretchensbakery.com I did this cake there first before I went vegan (there are over 400 blog posts and recipes still there)
Hi Gretchen, I am going to try baking this now! At what point did you add in sugar when preparing the cake? I couldn’t tell either from the video or your write up. I am hoping that all the dry ingredients go together per reverse creaming techniques.
Hi! Im sorry for the late response, but thank you for catching my error! You are correct it goes in with the dry in the first step. Thanks again!
Hi Gretchen,
I really enjoy your videos and blog (I am new to it). Thank you so kindly for your time!!
I had a question. I wanted to make a vegan strawberry shortcake for a birthday (white cake layered with whipped coconut milk from a can). Do you think if I add this product “whip it” by Dr. Oetker to the whipped coconut milk, will work like dairy whipped cream?
As well, if I add the coconut whipped cream (only in between the cake layers) the day before the event keeping in the fridge will it be okay for the next day? i.e. not dry and hard? I plan to frost the outside with your swiss meringue frosting (dairy free).
thank you so much!
Susana
Hi Thanks!! Im not familiar with this product (Im not sure my store has it or Ive seen it) But I would read the entire box/can? and see what it says in that regard, otherwise they probably have a phone number to call for questions/comments so I would definitely call them up.
As for the filling the day before, the wonderful thing about coconut whipped cream vs cow cream is that is actually gets BETTER and more firm the next day! So yes go for it!
I see you have started using Ener-g egg replacer in your cakes now. Does it make the cake taste better than the normal flax seed egg replacer? I’m only asking because I have about 2 kilos of flax seed (ground and whole) in my cupboards and I don’t want have to buy ener-g egg replacer unless it actually makes a difference. I’m entering my friend’s charity bake off, so if tastes better with the ener-g egg replacer then I’ll buy it (charity or no charity I still wanna win!! Lol!!!!)! Your cakes from your other site have never failed me, so I doubt your vegan cakes will either. And if I can get my family to eat vegan cakes then it’s a win all round! So whatever you say I will do (cakewise, that is! Lol!)
Thanks Gretchen!
LOL! Whatever I say huh…… LOL
Here’s the short answer: I do find that the different egg replacers work differently in all cake recipes, hence why you see me use 1 in 1 recipe and another in another. Sometimes I use a combination of egg replacers or none at all! LOL
It has been quite the learning experience for me since I started my vegan baking transition almost 2 years ago and I have learned lots! I am formulating an online course that addresses egg replacers specifically in cakes (as the first module) so if you want to be in the loop CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP! (No obligation to buy antyhing yet!) the course will be ready by early Spring.
So my second part to this question is that it is always best to follow the recipes as written, but it would probably behoove you to do a small test with the flax to see how you like it, then if you are not satisfied try the enerG egg – I will be doing exactly that in my course, in once section: side by side comparisons of the same recipe with ALL the different replacers so you can get a visual idea of what the heck they are all doing differently so you can best choose how to proceed with all your recipes rather than follow word for word mine or someone elses!
Also, can I use Vitalite (dairy free margarine)? Do you that in America?
yes you can! I dont know that brand here though
Hello Gretchen, I love all your recipes. I have a request, You’ve been using egg replacers like: Follow your heart, flax seed and now everG egg replacer. I know you like to use them all but on this end gets pricy, So sorry to say I cannot afford them all if I want to try a new recipe or I have to throw some of the egg replacers away because the dates expired. I know is too much to ask If you can give us the measure amounts on the other two choices would be great appreciat it. Thank you so much for everything you do.
You can use any egg replacer you like by following the direction on the package of whatever you choose, (they will all work fairly equal- just …differently.. and why I use combinations sometimes) Click the link here to know more information about this topic, as it is the most asked question and why I created a course around all of it CLICK HERE
I made this cake yesterday using flax seed instead of Ener-G because I didn’t have any Ener-G. The cake turned out crumbly & didn’t slice well. Maybe the starches in the Ener-G would have held it together better.
yes I found that the enerG really did help this one, not to mention enerG has added leavener to it so that is also considered when I developed this recipe. I’m sorry that happened to you!