Swedish Strawberry Cake

Sweet wild strawberries are a heavenly summertime treat in Sweden. Swedish strawberry cake is a classic dessert for Midsummer (Midsommar) when Swedes celebrate light and the longest day of the year.

⁣In this recipe, layers of homemade vanilla cake, pastry cream, whipped cream and strawberries create a decadent dessert that tastes like summer.

Vanilla Pastry Cream

(Make several hours ahead or the day before)

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg + 3 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup caster sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 Tbsp butter, softened

In a medium saucepan, bring milk to a boil with the vanilla bean seeds & vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, whisk sugar and flour together. Add egg and egg yolks to flour mixture, whisking until smooth and well combined. While whisking, gradually add hot milk until smooth. Return mixture to the saucepan and whisk constantly over medium heat, while scraping bottom and sides of pan. Turn heat to low and simmer 1 to 2 minutes until thick. Remove from heat, add butter and whisk to combine. Pour the pastry cream into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap pressing directly onto the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cool, several hours or overnight.

Cake

• 2-1/4 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1-1-2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs + 2 egg whites
• 3/4 cup sour cream, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lemon zest

Whisk dry ingredients together and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat for about 2 minutes. Then beat in sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Beat in flour mixture on low speed just until combined. Pour into buttered and floured 9” cake pans. Bake at 350° F / 180° C for approximately 23-25 minutes until toothpick inserted in center is clean when removed. Cool on wire racks.

Strawberries and Cream

• 2 pints of fresh strawberries, divided

Wash strawberries. To half of them, remove green tops and cut into approximately 1⁄4” slices; leave the remaining strawberries whole for garnishing.

Make a whipped cream with the below ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Assemble Cake

Cut cake layers in half. Place one half on cake plate, spread a layer of vanilla pastry cream, a thick layer of whipped cream and scatter sliced strawberries. Repeat with remaining layers. Add whole fresh strawberries to the very top and dust lightly with powdered sugar. Enjoy this heavenly cake which tastes like Swedish summer!

Note: To make the smaller cake pictured I halved the recipe and baked the cake in two 6” pans.

This recipe was featured in the Summer 2020 – Sweden issue of The Loaded Trunk. For the full issue, and access to the entire library, click here and subscribe.