Strawberry Shortcake Cheese Cake {Bakeolution, Ice Cream Truck Edition} (2024)

I’ll start by saying this cakereallyisn’tmy style. I’m more of a cook than a baker, and when I do bake my style tends to be rustic and simple (galettesare just such an easy crowdpleaser!) Boxed cake mix??? Artificialcoloring! FOUR high maintenance layers?!? But the whole point of Bakeolution is to go out of your comfort zone, and after my coworkerswere so kind as to try the weird watermelon creme pie I made last time I baked for Bakeolution, I figured I owed it to them to bring something people would be excited about. And I have to say, I was pretty thrilled with how it came out!

There are a lot of versions of this cake on the interwebs. It first caught my eye on Pinterest, but there was no recipe attached! Not helpful. Other recipes wereclearlynot for the cake pictured alongside them. I finally tracked down a recipe I could follow, using the much prettier versionthat had originally caught my eye as anaesthetic inspiration.

A good pastry chef is well-planned and deliberate. My style in the kitchen is better described as quick and messy. Patience is not one of my virtues. I think that’s why Ialwaysburn the pancakes. My point here – this cake is fairly labor intensive, and best done in steps. If you don’t think of yourself as quick in the kitchen, or tend to be more careful and deliberate, or take issue with leaving your kitchen completely covered in crumbs, flour and dishes… I highly recommend you start the day before knowing that this is going to take you a long time. But me? I started around 4:00pm on Sunday. This worked out for me because my approach is generally to get ‘er done andthen perform minor surgery to make the layers match up and mask any imperfections with icing. And honestly, this almost always works out for me, albeit my kitchen looking like ground zero. Here’s how I did it:

• 4:00pm – make and bake thecake layers. Two cake pans certainly helps this process!
• 4:15 – run to the corner store because you realize you don’t have sugar.
• 4:30pm – while the cake layers are baking, make the cheese cake layer.
• 5:00pm –realize you’re not going to have a cheesecake layer if you don’t stop “taste testing” it. Take the cake out to cool and put the cheesecake in theoven (at this point, if you have two springform pans you could be making the two cheese cake layers simultaneously instead of having todo one at a time, but I didn’t!)
• 5:30pm – remove the cheesecake to cool. Once it’s cooled for about 10 minutes you can remove the springform pan and transfer it to the fridge. Make the crust in the meantime.
• 6:00pm – make the second layer of cheesecake and put it in the oven. Make the crumb topping while it’s baking.
• 6:30pm – remove the second layer of cheese cake and let cool. Transfer to the fridge after about ten minutes. Eat dinner and have a mini Netflix binge.
• 8:30pm – making the icing. Assemble the cake and ice it. Cover it and put it in the fridge. Return to Netflix binge.
• Next morning! 5:30am: remove cake from fridgebefore going for a run so that it can come to room temperature.
• 7:00am: coat with cookie crumbs.
• 7:30am: eat breakfast while waiting for it to get light enough to take pictures!
• 8:00am: garnish with whipped cream and strawberries and take pictures.
• 8:45am: call an Uber, because there’s no way you can bike with this thing.
• 9:15am: spend 15 minutes trying to figure out how to fit it in the fridge at work. Rely on the help of two coworkers.
• 2:00pm: remove from fridge to let come to room temperature.
• 2:55pm: completely redo the whipped cream and strawberries immediately before serving.
• Tuesday: finally get around to cleaning your kitchen. Husband does most of it, because you bribed him with a piece of cake.

As you can see, this cake is a labor of love. But it was a big hit, and every last crumb got eaten! And here’s a little thing that got me thinking: I bet the Chocolate Eclair version would be awesome too!

(there are versions of this all over the internet – not an original recipe, but I don’t even know the source)