Chantilly Cake with Strawberries (Italian Cream Cake)
Chantilly cake is an easy vanilla cake recipe with cream cheese frosting and strawberries. It's the perfect dessert for Mother's Day or any spring celebration.
Add ½ cup sugar gradually, beating until egg whites form stiff peaks.
Set egg whites aside.
Cream butter, remaining sugar (1 ½ cup), vanilla, and salt together.
Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each.
Beat until the mixture resembles whipped cream.
Stir baking soda into buttermilk.
Stir flour and baking powder together.
Add to the butter mixture alternately with the buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
Fold in the egg whites carefully. Fold in ⅓ of the whites to lighten the batter then fold in the rest.
Spoon the batter into the baking pans evenly.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool in pans for 5-10 minutes.
Turn out and cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Beat the cream cheese and the butter together.
Add the vanilla.
Add the powdered sugar until you have a creamy consistency.
Add a tablespoon of buttermilk if necessary to thin it down.
Assembly
Place one cooled layer on a cake plate.
Spread with cream cheese frosting.
Place a layer of sliced strawberries on the cream cheese and top with another cake layer.
Repeat.
Stabilize layers with straws or wood skewers and frost with remaining cream cheese frosting.
Place halved berries around the edge of cake and chill for three hours.
Bring to room temperature before serving.
Notes
Storage:Cream cheese frosting and strawberries require refrigeration, so you'll have to store this delicious cake in the fridge. It'll last for about three days.Once you've cut into your chantilly cake, you can portion the leftovers into airtight containers. Alternatively, press a piece of plastic against the exposed section of the cut cake to prevent it from drying out as quickly.If you want to bake one day and assemble the next, I recommend covering each of your cake layers with plastic wrap and keeping them at room temperature. (It's only the frosting and fruit that require refrigeration, after all.)How to Fold In Egg Whites
It isn't difficult to fold egg whites into a batter but you have to be gentle.
Put about a third of the egg whites on the batter and then gently pull the batter over the egg white.
Continue to do this until the first third is mixed in.
Now, do the same thing with the rest of the egg whites. This will help keep them from deflating and it will keep your cake lighter and higher.