Chocolate Strawberry Cake

Perfect for Valentine’s Day, this chocolate strawberry cake combines rich and fudgy chocolate cake with a bright (and all-natural!) strawberry frosting. Add a ganache drip for even more decadence! Recipe includes a how-to video!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

This chocolate strawberry cake is here just in time for Valentine’s Day! It has three layers of moist, rich chocolate cake recipe with a thick, creamy, and vibrant strawberry frosting. A chocolate ganache drizzle on top adds decadence and really sells the chocolate covered strawberry vibe.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Super easy cake batter that comes together in ONE bowl without a mixer! The cake layers are very similar to what I use in my mint chocolate cake, chocolate raspberry cake, and peanut butter chocolate cake. Like those recipes, we are using dark/Dutch cocoa powder for a darker color and richer flavor (pairs so well with the frosting!).
• While many strawberry recipes are best made during strawberry season, this chocolate strawberry cake can be made any time of year. We are using freeze-dried strawberries in the frosting, which means this recipe will taste just as amazing in February as it would in June!
• Decadent & elegant: think chocolate covered strawberries in cake form (but way more indulgent!). Perfect for a girls’ night or Valentine’s Day!

Ingredients

As usual, I’ll highlight a few important ingredients you may have questions about before we get started.

• Cocoa powder. Any kind will work, but I prefer Dutch or dark cocoa for a richer flavor and color, which I also uses in my triple chocolate cake; I think it works better with the strawberry. We will bloom this with the boiling hot water to extract its flavor (technically hot coffee would work too, if you want an even more intense chocolate flavor!).
• Freeze dried strawberries. Using freeze dried strawberries guarantees our frosting will have a vibrant strawberry flavor and gorgeous pink color too. They are much more consistent than fresh or frozen berries, which can vary greatly depending on the season. I do include instructions on how to use fresh or frozen berries in the FAQ section below, if you have a particularly flavorful crop.
• Butter. I use unsalted butter in the cake and salted in the frosting. If you only have unsalted, simply add ¼ teaspoon salt in with the butter. If you only have salted butter, reduce the salt in the cake to just ½ teaspoon.
• Heavy cream. We will add this to the frosting and our chocolate ganache. Whipping cream or double cream will also work.
• Chocolate. For the ganache! Use a good quality chopped semisweet or dark chocolate bar if you can. Chocolate chips will work in a pinch, but they aren’t my preference.

Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

SAM’S TIP: Try to remember to set your eggs out ahead of time so they can come to room temperature (makes for the easiest mixing and most cohesive batter!). If you forget, use my trick to quickly bring eggs to room temperature.

How to Make Chocolate Strawberry Cake

1. Step 1: Make the batter. Whisk together the dry ingredients and sugar, then add the oil, eggs, vanilla, and butter. Drizzle in the buttermilk, then do the same with the hot water. The batter should be smooth and uniform.

2. Step 2: Bake the cakes. Divide the batter between your pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Let the cakes cool completely before decorating.

3. Step 3: Prep the strawberries. Pulse your freeze dried strawberries in a food processor (I recommend a small one!) until you have a fine powder.

4. Step 4: Make the frosting. Cream together the butter and a cup of the sugar. Gradually add the remaining sugar until you have a smooth frosting. Add the strawberry powder and mix again, then add cream as needed until you have a pipeable frosting.

5. Step 5: Frost the cake. Level your cakes if needed, then begin the frosting process. Add your first cake layer to your serving plate, then add a layer of frosting. Repeat with your next two cake layers before covering the whole cake with a thin layer of frosting. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes before adding your final coating of frosting.

6. Step 6: Add the ganache drip. Make your ganache, then let it cool for 15 minutes or so (or until it’s no longer runny). Add a ganache drip around the entire cake, then add ganache over the top of the cake. Let the cake chill until the ganache is set, then serve and enjoy!

SAM’S TIP: If you are a beginner cake decorator, check out my posts on how to decorate a cake and how to do a ganache drip. Both include more detailed instructions (and videos!) that will be very helpful for this recipe!

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Recipes

If you want to make the inverse of this cake (a strawberry chocolate cake!), try my strawberry cake paired with my favorite chocolate frosting or chocolate fudge frosting 🍫🍓

Enjoy!

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Chocolate Strawberry Cake

Perfect for Valentine's Day, this chocolate strawberry cake combines rich and fudgy chocolate cake with a bright (and all-natural!) strawberry frosting. Add a ganache drip for even more decadence!

Recipe includes a how-to video!

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Course: Cake, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 35 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 26 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 1 minute minute

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 967kcal

Author: Sam Merritt

Ingredients

Cake

• ▢ 1 ¾ cup (220 g) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
• ▢ ¾ cup (75 g) Dutch cocoa powder (may substitute dark cocoa)
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons (16 g) cornstarch
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon table salt
• ▢ ⅔ cup (155 ml) neutral cooking oil (avocado, vegetable, or canola oil)
• ▢ ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter melted
• ▢ 2 large eggs room temperature preferred
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 cup (236 ml) buttermilk
• ▢ ½ cup (118 ml) very hot or boiling water

Strawberry frosting (see note!)

• ▢ 1 oz (28 g) freeze dried strawberries (this is usually about 1 ½ cups)
• ▢ 1 ½ cups (339 g) salted butter softened (or use unsalted butter and add about ¼ teaspoon salt)
• ▢ 6 cups (750 g) powdered sugar
• ▢ ⅓ cup (80 ml) heavy cream plus additional as needed, see note

Ganache

• ▢ 4 oz (113 g) semisweet or dark chocolate bar or couverture chocolate chopped
• ▢ ½ cup (118 ml) heavy cream

Recommended Equipment

• ▢
  Mixing bowls
• ▢
  8" cake pans
• ▢
  Squeeze bottle for ganache (optional)

Instructions

For the cake

• Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Line the bottoms of three 8” pans with parchment paper and spray or grease and flour the sides of the pans. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir well until all ingredients are well combined.
  1 ¾ cup (220 g) all-purpose flour, 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar, ¾ cup (75 g) Dutch cocoa powder, 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda, ¾ teaspoon table salt, 2 Tablespoons (16 g) cornstarch
• Add oil, butter, eggs, and vanilla extract and stir until completely combined.
  ⅔ cup (155 ml) neutral cooking oil, ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, 2 large eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Slowly add in buttermilk, stirring until thoroughly combined.
  1 cup (236 ml) buttermilk
• Slowly add hot water and stir until batter is uniform and completely combined.
  ½ cup (118 ml) very hot or boiling water
• Evenly divide batter into prepared cake pans and place in 350F (175C) oven. Bake for 24-28 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of each cake should come out clean with a few moist crumbs. (If your oven cannot fit all three cake pans it is fine to leave one on the counter while the other two bake. Also, if your oven bakes unevenly, you may need to rotate the cakes while baking).
• Allow cakes to cool in their pans for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and carefully invert onto cooling racks. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting

• Place freeze dried strawberries in a small food processor and pulse until they’ve become a fine powder. Set aside.
  1 oz (28 g) freeze dried strawberries
• In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Beat until completely combined. Gradually add remaining powdered sugar, stirring well after each addition, until all sugar has been added and mixture is smooth and thoroughly combined.
  1 ½ cups (339 g) salted butter, 6 cups (750 g) powdered sugar
• Add the strawberry powder and stir until thoroughly combined.
• Add cream, 1 Tablespoon at a time, until frosting is a smooth and pipeable consistency.
  ⅓ cup (80 ml) heavy cream

Assembly

• Level cakes if necessary. Place one cake layer on a serving platter and cover the top of the cake layer evenly with a layer of strawberry frosting. Repeat with the second and third layers. I recommend doing a crumb coat for the cake for easier frosting, cover entire cake with a thin layer of strawberry frosting and place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
• Remove and apply an even, thick layer of strawberry frosting around the top and sides of the cake. Place remaining frosting in a piping bag fitted with an Ateco 848 tip and set aside while you prepare your ganache, this will be used to pipe swirls on the top of your cake,,

For the ganache

• Place chocolate in a small heatproof bowl or measuring cup and pour the cream overtop, stir.
  4 oz (113 g) semisweet or dark chocolate bar or couverture chocolate, ½ cup (118 ml) heavy cream
• Heat in the microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring well in between, until chocolate is completely smooth and melted.
• Allow to cool for about 15 minutes. Ganache should still be liquid but no longer runny (I do a test drip to test how thick/thin it is), see my post on how to do a chocolate drip on a cake if you would like a more detailed guide.
• Remove cake from refrigerator and place ganache in a piping bag with a small tip or a squeeze bottle. Hold the bottle or bag vertically and drip ganache around the edge of the cake, going all the way around the cake. Drizzle remaining ganache over the top of the cake in a thin, even layer (you may not use all of the ganache)
• Transfer to the refrigerator and allow the cake to chill until the ganache is set.
• Slice, serve and enjoy!

Notes

Strawberry frosting

As-written, this recipe makes enough frosting to fill and coat the cake, but you likely won’t have enough to pipe decorate swirls of strawberry frosting on top of the ganache. If you would like to have enough frosting to pipe the swirls, you will need to increase the frosting portion of the recipe as such: 1.3 oz freeze dried strawberries (about 2 cups), 2 cups unsalted butter, 8 cups powdered sugar, 7-8 Tablespoons heavy cream.

Heavy cream for the frosting

Add the cream 1 Tablespoon at a time, if you need to add more than listed for a smoother, spreadable frosting, you can. I find in the summer I usually need to add a bit less than listed, and in the winter sometimes quite a bit more.

Ganache

You can substitute ½ cup chocolate chips for the chopped chocolate bar, but a bar will yield best results.

Storing

Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 967kcal | Carbohydrates: 120g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 55g | Saturated Fat: 28g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 19g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 129mg | Sodium: 506mg | Potassium: 198mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 98g | Vitamin A: 1261IU | Vitamin C: 29mg | Calcium: 59mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.

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