Swedish Strawberry Cake (Jordgubbstårta)

Swedish Strawberry Cake (Jordgubbstårta) is a classic Swedish cake and an iconic treat on the Midsummer table. Made with a light and airy sponge cake, fluffy whipped cream and sweet, juicy strawberries, this cake tastes like summer!

In Sweden, when summer arrives and strawberries are at their peak, there’s one cake that never fails to spark excitement! This iconic summer strawberry cake is a simple yet irresistible combination of sponge cake, pillowy whipped cream, and fresh strawberries. The flavors are absolutely delightful, capturing the essence of summer itself. But the real fun begins when it’s time to decorate! With an abundance of fresh strawberries, you can let your creativity run wild and create any topping or decoration you can imagine!

This cake is often associated with Midsummer, a traditional Swedish festival that celebrates the arrival of the summer solstice in June. During Midsummer celebrations, families and friends gather around beautifully decorated tables fille with a variety of Swedish delicacies, including this iconic Swedish Midsummer cake. Serve it at your Midsummer celebrations, birthdays, or anytime you crave a delicious treat!

Learn more about Swedish Midsummer!

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Strawberries: This recipe gives you a baseline for the amount of strawberries you’ll need, but it can be altered depending on your taste. You may want to add more strawberries to the filling, or you may want to really pile them on the top of the cake. This is where you can let your creativity shine!
• Eggs: The base of the cake. The eggs should be at room temperature
• Cake flour: Has less protein than all-purpose flour so if forms less gluten. This results in a more tender, lighter cake.
• Powdered sugar: Many of the Swedish recipes call for caster sugar which is somewhere between powdered and regular sugar. I’ve been making this cake with powdered sugar, and it works great. If you use granulated sugar let me know in the comments below how it turns out!
• Heavy cream: To make the whipped cream that’s used as the filling and the frosting.

How to Make Swedish Strawberry Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Grease a 9″ round springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. You can also use a greased 9-inch round cake pan.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
• Add the eggs, powdered sugar and vanilla to a large mixing bowl.
• Using a hand mixer (which is what I use) or the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, mix the eggs and sugar together until light in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes or to ribbon stage. (see here for more about the ribbon stage)

• Gently fold in half the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Once the flour is incorporated into the batter, fold in the remaining half. (Folding helps incorporate the dry ingredients without removing the air that was whipped into the egg mixture.)
• Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.

• Remove the cake from the oven and cool upside down on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Cooling it upside down helps prevent the center of the cake from caving in.
• Remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely.

• While the cake cools, wash and dry the strawberries, then separate out the best strawberries for decorating and set aside.
• Slice or chop the strawberries you’re using for the filling into bite-sized pieces, then slightly mash them with fork until some of the juices have been released. I usually end up using about 1-1¼ lbs for the filling and the rest for the decoration. You may end up using more or less depending on how many you use for decoration.

• Once the cake has cooled, carefully slice it in half horizontally using a serrated knife. Place the bottom half of the cake on a serving plate or cake stand.
• In a chilled mixing bowl, beat the heavy cream, 3-4 Tbsp powdered sugar, and vanilla extract together until medium-stiff peaks form. The whipped cream should be thick enough so it doesn’t drip, but still soft enough to spread easily.

• Evenly distribute the mashed strawberries across the bottom half of the cake.
• Spread a generous amount of the whipped cream filling evenly over the strawberries.

• Place the second layer of the cake on top and gently press down to secure it.
• Decorate the cake by generously spreading the remaining whipped cream over the top and sides.
• Arrange the sliced strawberries on top of the cream, gently pressing them into the surface.
• Optional: Garnish the cake with fresh mint leaves for an extra pop of color and freshness.
• Serve the cake immediately, or cover and refrigerate it until ready you’re to serve it (up to a few hours).

Expert Tips

• Room temperature ingredients: Allow your eggs, butter, and any dairy products to come to room temperature before using them. Room temperature ingredients incorporate more easily and result in a smoother batter and better overall texture.
• Beat the eggs and sugar to the ribbon stage: In baking, the ribbon stage is when the eggs and sugar are mixed together until the mixture becomes pale and thick, As the whisk, or beaters, is lifted out of the bowl, the mixture should slowly fall back into the bowl in ribbons that hold their shape momentarily before sinking back in. When you reach the ribbon stage, it means you’ve incorporated enough air into the mixture, giving your final baked good a light and fluffy texture.
• Gently fold in the flour: After beating the eggs and sugar to the ribbon stage, gently folding in the flour is necessary to maintain the airiness of the mixture. By folding instead of stirring vigorously, you ensure that the dry ingredients are incorporated without deflating the air bubbles created during the whisking process. This gentle folding technique helps to preserve the light and fluffy texture in the final baked goods.
• Cooling and Frosting: Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting. Frosting a warm cake can cause the frosting to melt and slide off.
• Chill the bowl, the beaters and the cream: For the best results when whipping cream, make sure to keep everything cold. This includes the bowl, beaters, and the cream itself. When the cream is cold, the fat in it becomes more solid, which helps stabilize the whipped cream. It also makes the whipping process faster and prevents the cream from losing its volume or collapsing. A cold bowl and beaters will help keep the cream cold during the whipping process. Chill the bowl and beaters in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.
• Don’t overwhip the cream: Whipped cream can go from fluffy to curdled and lumpy very quickly, so pay attention when whipping. If you do overwhip the cream, you should be able to fix it by folding in cold heavy cream 1 Tbsp at a time with a rubber spatula until the lumps disappear.

How to Store

1. In the refrigerator: To store this cake, place it in an airtight cake container or a covered cake carrier to prevent it from drying out and absorbing unwanted flavors from the refrigerator. I don’t have a real cake cover so I used the bowl of a salad spinner to cover the cake and it worked great! Sometimes you just gotta improvise! Store for up to 2-3 days.
2. To freeze: It’s best to freeze the cake base without the strawberry filling or frosting. Freezing frosted cakes can result in changes to the texture and appearance of the frosting when thawed. To freeze, allow the cake to cool completely. Wrap the cake tightly with plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn, then place in a labeled airtight container or sealable freezer bag. Place the cake in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw the cake in the refrigerator when ready to serve.

Variations

• Use other berries: Although strawberries are traditional, it’s getting more common to see other berries used in this cake. Try raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, or a combination of them!
• Macerate the strawberry filling: If your strawberries aren’t very sweet, or you want to add more sweetness to this recipe, macerate the strawberries. Add the chopped strawberries to a bowl, sprinkle them with 2-4 Tbsp of sugar, and let sit for 30-40 minutes or until they’ve released their juices.
• Use strawberry jam: Great if you want to make this cake when strawberries aren’t in season.
• Make a custard: I’ve seen this as an additional filling option for this cake. I wanted to keep mine simple, but this would be a delicious addition!

This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!

FAQs

More Midsummer Recipes

• Swedish Herring Salad (Gubbröra)
• Swedish New Potatoes with Dill (Färskpotatis med dill)
• Jansson’s Temptation (Janssons Frestelse)
• Swedish Meatballs with Gravy
• Kladdkaka (Swedish Sticky Chocolate Cake)