Back in 2007, when this website was still in its infancy, I shared a recipe for Strawberry Chiffon Shortcake. I had never made a chiffon cake before, but I brought it to a friend’s rooftop birthday barbecue, correctly assuming that no one would be unhappy with a towering, featherweight cake sandwiched with whipped cream and fresh strawberries, even if it was poorly prepared.
While I could appreciate a chiffon cake at the time, I wasn’t a superfan. The chiffon cakes seemed a bit stiff and skinny. In addition, they are picky: there is sorting; cake flour instead of all-purpose flour; superfine sugar instead of regular granulated sugar; an odd number of egg whites and yolks; cream of tartar; and a minimum of three bowls just for the cake layers. Oh, and chiffon cakes tend to sink in the center as they cool. My God, where can we register!?
Nineteen years later, when the cake resurfaced in the “Could Use a Refresher” queue, I knew Deb from 2026 wanted to eliminate as much of that rigidity as possible to create a real-life chiffon cake recipe—this very one. Along the way, still late in the game, I fell deeply in love with chiffon cakes. [I’ve told friends I’m now in my Chiffon Cake Era and they were so sweet to wait until I turned around to roll their eyes.] But I understand now, I really do. Not only are they light as air, as glorious as a summer dessert, but the layers keep incredibly well, just as good on the sixth day as the day they were baked.
At my birthday party Friday night, I blew out the candles on an oversized version of this and walked my mom out to her car. When I returned there was only one piece on the tables and the plates were untouched. I panicked. “Where’s the rest? Are they still cutting it? Did you get any? Really?” Apparently, in the minutes I was out, the cake had been “frantically devoured straight from the serving trays” as they were set down, bypassing patience and plates. A friend described it as a “light, melt-in-your-mouth dessert.” Another friend told me to get double the next time because she couldn’t get a third. I think we know what needs to be done.
Here are some of the 2026 updates:
- All-purpose flour instead of cake flour: I found that leaving out a few tablespoons of flour kept this cake soft and dreamy without requiring the purchase of special flour or add-on formula.
- Granulated sugar instead of ultrafine sugar: Works great here, I promise.
- An even number of egg yolks and whites: I know this makes you as happy as it makes me.
- No cream of tartar. Do you know what cream of tartar is? It is a natural acid (potassium bitartrate) that can strengthen the protein bonds in whipped egg whites, helping them resist deflating. Do you know what an acid is? Lemon juice, and it also goes really well with that cake flavor. Plus, we were already using the zest and I love using nose to tail ingredients.
- No sieving: It’s fine without that.
- Fewer bowls: And you only need an electric mixer for egg whites.
- Thinner Cake Layers: The original cake was fun, but too big, so much so that I photographed it without its final layer.
- Better whipped cream: Adding a little crème fraîche or sour cream to the whipped cream stabilizes it.
- Less baking powder: After a few retests, I realized that I had accidentally used way less baking powder than I had intended. Adding more didn’t improve the cake, so I left it lower.
- A tip to avoid shrinkage: I learned from King Arthur that as soon as your chiffon cake layers come out of the oven, you can place them on the counter several times. This releases some of the trapped steam and leads to cakes that shrink less at the sides as they cool.
- A tip to reduce hollows in the center: Since chiffon cakes tend to soak in the center—that is, don’t worry if yours does—I found mine soaked less and sometimes not at all if I chilled them upside down, as you might with a chiffon tube or angel food cake.
Strawberry Chiffon Shortcake, Perfected
- 5 large eggs, separated
- Finely grated zest of half a lemon
- 1 1/4 cup (250 grams) granulated sugar, divided
- 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 grams) vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 ml) cold or room temperature water
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups (230 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 1/3 cups (550 ml) heavy or whipping cream
- 1/4 cup (30 grams) powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons (45 grams) sour cream or crème fraîche
- 2 pounds (905 grams) fresh strawberries, trimmed and thinly sliced
Cake layers
Assembly
Heat the oven: At 325°F (165°C).
Prepare the cake layers: Lightly coat the bottom of 2 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick spray and line each pan with a fitted circle of parchment paper. (The oil is just there to hold the parchment in place.) not spray sides of cake pan. Also lightly coat two cooling racks with nonstick spray; you will use them later.
In a large bowl, whisk together the yolks, lemon zest and 1 cup granulated sugar. It will seem stiff and dry at first, but continue whisking (1 minute) and the batter will loosen and become pale yellow and thick like frosting. Add the oil, then the water and vanilla extract. Sprinkle half the flour over the dough, then the salt and baking powder, then the second half of the flour. Whisk to combine until smooth. This dough will be very thick for now.
In a second large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites until thick enough to hold stiff peaks. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, beating all the time. Continue beating the egg whites until they are very thick and hold stiff peaks; when you remove the beaters (turned off), the tips of the picks will tip over slightly. Add the lemon juice and beat to combine.
Add 1/4 of the egg whites to the yolk mixture and whisk to combine; you just use it to loosen the dough. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites in two batches, doing your best not to deflate them.
Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
As soon as you remove each layer from the oven, place it several times on your counter a few inches from the top. (Yes, really! This helps prevent shrinkage.) Cool the cake layers completely in their upside-down pans on the cooling racks you sprayed earlier. (This helps prevent the centers from diving.)
Assemble the cake: With an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Add the sour cream or crème fraîche and beat until the mixture is thick enough to hold its shape, but creamy and not grainy.
When the cake layers are completely cooled, carefully invert the pans. The tops of the cakes will have stuck to their racks, but less than if you hadn’t sprayed them. Run a knife around each cake layer, separating it from the sides of the pan, and turn it out onto a wire rack. Using a long serrated knife, carefully cut each cake layer into two thinner layers.
Place the first cake layer on a serving platter or cake stand. Spread a lightly rounded cup of whipped cream over the layer and arrange about a quarter of the sliced strawberries on top of the cream. Repeat this process three times. You will have a small amount of whipped cream left; you can transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a star tip to decorate the top of the cake.
To serve: Serve the cake in wedges – it’s wobbly and doesn’t like to stand, but that’s half the fun.
Do it in advance: This cake keeps! You can prepare the cake layers even 5-6 days before you need them and store them wrapped at room temperature. (I was shocked that mine wasn’t expired at all.) The freezer would run longer. The fully assembled cake will keep for 5-6 days in the refrigerator (in theory, we’ve never had one that long).
