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    You are here: Home / Desserts / Cake / Strawberry Cake

    Strawberry Cake

    April 23, 2020 By Sam 178 Comments

    This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure policy.
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    close up of pink cake

    A from-scratch Strawberry Cake Recipe! This is a moist, flavorful, strawberry flavored cake flavored with real strawberries, filled with a fresh strawberry jam, and covered with a whipped cream cheese frosting. There are a few steps involved but I’ll walk you through them and include a how-to video!

    strawberry cake made from scratch on white plate. forkful missing to show soft and fluffy texture

    Today one of the oldest recipes on my blog gets a complete and total makeover. I first shared a strawberry cake on the blog over six years ago, and I was completely smitten with it. 

    However, over the years, it failed to live up to my standards. The fresh strawberries, while flavorful, weighed down the cake, and while they made it moist they almost made it too moist. It just wasn’t working anymore, and I buried it behind other favorites like my carrot cake and tres leches cake. At one point, I eventually took the recipe off of the blog entirely, leaving behind a disclaimer that I was no longer happy with the recipe and would eventually do a complete overhaul. 

    Well here we are. Today I have a fresh strawberry cake recipe that I’m proud of. It’s flavored with real berries, filled with a fresh jam, and coated with a whipped cream cheese frosting that’s light and airy and not too sweet. I think you’re going to love this one.

    straining pureed strawberries into measuring cup

    combining milk, strawberry puree, and food coloring in measuring cup

    Journey to the Best Strawberry Cake

    So, how does this cake achieve its flavor (with no Jello or artificial flavors!) without being weighed down by the berries?

    I’ll be honest, it wasn’t easy and took a lot of attempts to work out. 

    It turned out that the pulp from the strawberries was weighing down the cake, making it overly moist (wet and spongey, in a very bad way). So, the first step was to extract the flavor and leave the pulp behind. To do this I separated the pulp from the juice by pureeing the berries in a food processor and straining the juice through a fine mesh sieve (first photo, above). I didn’t want to waste any of the berries, though, so we’ll hang on to those to make our strawberry jam filling. 

    The strawberry juice contained a lot of water, which can actually dry out the cake and diluted the strawberry flavor. To concentrate the flavor, I cooked the berry juice in a saucepan until much of the water was evaporated and the remaining juice was more of a concentrated paste. This was mixed with milk (which creates a much moister, softer cake than using the water would have) and then because strawberries aren’t a great natural dye I added food coloring to brighten the pinkness of the cake. This is completely optional, but it makes for a pretty cake.

    Stirring whipped egg whites into pink cake batter

    pink cake batter in glass bowl with wooden spatula

    Because egg yolks could weigh down the cake here, I took a page out of my incredibly moist and fluffy white cake recipe and whipped the egg whites to stiff peaks separately before folding them into the cake batter (photos above). 

    Remember the strawberry pulp we reserved from earlier? We’ll use this to make a berry jam to go in the center of our cake to enhance the strawberry flavor. Use your frosting to make a dam around the outside of the cake and fill the center with your jam. 

    spooning strawberry jam into frosting dam on strawberry cake layer

    Tips

    • Almost all of your flavor for this cake comes from the strawberries. Because of this, the more ripe, juicy, and flavorful your strawberries are, the better and more strawberry-like your cake will taste. Store-bought berries in the middle of December will work, but they will not yield as tasty of a cake as finger-staining, sun-ripened berries you picked yourself. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP I CAN GIVE YOU.
    • Fresh or frozen berries will work with this recipe, but remember my tip above.
    • If using food coloring, I strongly recommend using gel coloring. I used Americolor deep pink. If you use liquid food coloring you will need to use red, and quite a bit of it.
    • This recipe has a lot of steps. The jam and frosting can both be made a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. The cake could be made a day in advance as well; allow to cool completely then wrap tightly with plastic wrap and store at room temperature. Don’t store the cake in the refrigerator as that will dry it out.
    • Make sure your cake is cooled completely before decorating, otherwise the frosting will melt.
    • Looking for a different frosting option? Try my standard cream cheese frosting, buttercream frosting, or Swiss meringue buttercream!

    white iced cake with red strawberries

    Enjoy!

    More Recipes You May Like:

    • Strawberry Cobbler
    • Strawberry Shortcake
    • Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie
    • Strawberry Muffins

    Are you more of a visual learner? Check out my YouTube channel where I show you exactly how I make this cake step-by-step in my own kitchen.

    pink strawberry cake on white plate

    Strawberry Cake

    A homemade, from-scratch recipe for strawberry cake (no Jello needed)! Recipe includes a how-to video.
    5 from 29 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 1 hour
    Cook Time: 1 hour
    Total Time: 2 hours
    Servings: 12 slices
    Calories: 657kcal
    Author: Sam Merritt

    Ingredients

    CAKE

    • 1 ¼ lbs strawberries remove stems and quarter (570g)
    • ⅔ cup whole milk
    • ½ cup vegetable or canola oil (118ml)
    • 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened (57g)
    • 1 ¾ cup granulated sugar (350g)
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • 3 cups cake flour¹ (330g)
    • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 6 large egg whites² room temperature preferred
    • Food coloring optional (I use two chocolate chip-sized drops of americolor gel “electric pink” food coloring).

    FILLING

    • ⅓ cup granulated sugar (70g)
    • 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
    • ⅛ teaspoon salt
    • 2 teaspoons lemon juice

    FROSTING

    • 2 cups heavy cream (475ml)
    • 1 ½ cups powdered sugar (190g)
    • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
    • ⅛ teaspoon salt
    • 8 oz cream cheese softened (226g)
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    CAKE

    • Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare two 8” round cake pans by spraying with baking spray and lining the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
    • Place quartered strawberries in blender and puree until smooth. Run through a fine mesh sieve over a measuring cup until you have 1 - 1 ¼ cups of juice. Do not discard berry pulp, set this along with any remaining pureed berries for the jam filling.
    • Pour strawberry juice into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until reduced to ⅓ cup (pour into a measuring cup to check, if it’s not reduced enough, return to the saucepan and continue to cook until it is). This usually takes about 10 minutes.
    • Once reduced, add ⅔ cup milk to the strawberry reduction and whisk together. If using food coloring, whisk that in here as well. Set aside.
    • In a large bowl using an electric mixer or in a stand mixer, beat together oil, butter, sugar, and vanilla extract until completely combined.
    • In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
    • With mixer on low speed, gradually alternate adding the flour mixture and strawberry/milk mixture, stirring until just combined after each addition. (I start and end with the flour and add the flour mixture in 4 parts and the milk mixture in 3 parts.)
    • Place egg whites in a separate clean, dry bowl, and beat on high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
    • Using a spatula, gently fold egg whites into cake batter until completely combined (don’t use your electric mixer at this point or you will over-beat the batter). Divide cake batter evenly into prepared pans and bake on 350F for 28 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
    • Allow cakes to cool in pans for 10 minutes then run a knife around the edges to loosen cakes from pan and invert onto cooling rack to cool completely. While cooling, prepare the jam filling.

    JAM FILLING

    • Combine remaining strawberrry pulp, ⅓ cup sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt in a small saucepan and whisk to combine.
    • Cook over medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil, whisking constantly, until mixture is thickened and the whisk leaves a trail through the jam (this takes about 5-10 minutes).
    • Remove from heat, transfer to a heat-proof bowl, and place in the refrigerator to cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare your frosting.

    WHIPPED CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

    • Combine cream cheese, ½ cup powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in a large bowl and use an electric mixer to beat together until creamy and smooth.
    • In a separate bowl, combine remaining (1 cup, 125g) powdered sugar and heavy cream. Beat with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
    • With mixer on low speed, stir together the cream cheese and whipped cream until completely combined.

    ASSEMBLY

    • Once cake and jam are completely cooled place one layer of cake on serving tray. Use a piping bag fitted with a round tip (I use an Ateco 808) to pipe a dam around the layer. Fill with your jam filling.
    • Top with second layer of cake. Cover the entire cake with frosting.
    • Refrigerate until ready to serve. Enjoy!
    • Cake will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

    Notes

    ¹May substitute 2 ⅔ cups (330g) all-purpose flour
    ²Here are some recipes to use up your egg yolks!
    • Pound Cake
    • Chocolate Pie
    • Creme Brulee
    For the red swirls in the decorative frosting on top of the cake, I just use a (food-safe) paintbrush to paint stripes of icing into the inside of my piping bag and then fill it with icing. You can see how I do this in my Pinata Cupcake recipe post.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1slice | Calories: 657kcal | Carbohydrates: 80g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 23g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 87mg | Sodium: 352mg | Potassium: 307mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 53g | Vitamin A: 982IU | Vitamin C: 28mg | Calcium: 118mg | Iron: 1mg
    Tried this recipe? Show me on Instagram!Mention @SugarSpun_Sam or tag #sugarspunrun!
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    Recipe originally published 06/12/2014. Photos, text, and recipe have all been drastically updated/improved and a video will be added. 

    Previous Post: « Peanut Butter Muffins
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Heidi Prime

      January 15, 2021 at 1:51 pm

      5 stars
      Hi Sam,
      First let me say that I just LOVE your recipes and advice. Do you think I could spread this recipe into 3 round pans to make 3 layers? I realize the cooking time will be less and the layers will be thinner.

      Reply
      • Sam

        January 17, 2021 at 10:11 pm

        That will work just fine, Heidi! 🙂

        Reply
    2. Leslie

      January 12, 2021 at 5:42 pm

      5 stars
      This looks amazing! My son has requested a strawberry cake for his birthday baked in my new Bundt pan. I want to use this recipe for the most part but I’m inexperienced at what adjustments to make to temp and/or bake time when using a different style pan. Any tips?

      Reply
      • Sam

        January 13, 2021 at 8:39 am

        Hi Leslie! I haven’t baked it in a bundt pan. The temperature would still be the same, but on the bake time, I’m not really sure. It will probably be longer but just keep an eye on it and test it with a toothpick (Maybe a skewer here since it will be much thicker) to see if it’s done. 🙂

        Reply
    3. Aubs

      January 04, 2021 at 11:27 pm

      5 stars
      Delicious! Its the best frosting I’ve ever had! All together this cake is the bomb

      Reply
      • Sam

        January 05, 2021 at 10:05 pm

        I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂

        Reply
    4. Vachana

      December 25, 2020 at 6:45 pm

      5 stars
      Hi Sam, I wanted to thank you for the recipe. I followed the recipe exactly and made it for my son’s birthday. It turned out amazing and very delcious. I would be keeping this recipe for ever and doing it again more often.

      Reply
    5. Melondi

      December 15, 2020 at 12:31 am

      In the tips you say don’t refrigerate because it will dry out but you also say refrigerate until ready to serve so I’m confused I want to make a day ahead but I will be using a different cream cheese frosting so do I make cake and leave on counter over night or refrigerate I don’t want a dry cake

      Reply
      • Sam

        December 15, 2020 at 9:55 am

        Hi Melondi! Sorry for the confusion, the tip is specifically for just the cake without frosting. This is for if you have made the layers in advance and need to store them until you frost and fill, if you’ve done that then do not refrigerate. The fridge does dry out cakes, but once assembled with the filling and frosting it will need to be refrigerated, just keep it in an airtight container. The container, filling, and frosting will all help keep the cake from drying out too much. I hope that makes sense!

        Reply
    6. Shylah

      November 23, 2020 at 5:59 pm

      Hi! Lol my cake is in the oven right now! Your recipe is amazing! I have a cake making business and needed a good strawberry cake but everyone I found used box cake! This recipe was amazing and very easy to follow, although I did have to add some strawberry jello because I wasn’t getting any strawberry flavor.🍓🍓

      Reply
      • Sam

        November 23, 2020 at 9:20 pm

        I am so glad you enjoy it so much, Shylah! I have a problem with the strawberry flavor being very mild when strawberries aren’t in season and they don’t quite have that excellent flavor. 🙂

        Reply
    7. Amy

      October 30, 2020 at 1:23 pm

      My three girls are all born 10 days apart so for their birthday in 2 weeks I agreed to make each their own cake. The best white cake recipe (made about 10000 times and it is always a show stopper), the best chocolate cake and a strawberry cake. With the best chocolate cake and the strawberry cake is it possible to decorate them with piping or is the frosting not thick enough? The girls agreed to three different flavors but each want a pretty cake (ariel, elsa and rapunzel). Would the choloate be as good with a regular buttercream frosting that I can color?

      Reply
      • Sam

        October 30, 2020 at 9:01 pm

        Hi Amy! That’s a lot of birthdays in just a few days! The frosting for all of these cakes can be piped without issue. The chocolate cake will still be great with a regular buttercream. Good luck and happy baking! Tell the girls I said happy birthday! 🙂

        Reply
    8. Melissa

      October 28, 2020 at 9:49 pm

      5 stars
      This cake was yummy! I made it for myself for my bday the other day and I barely got an extra little piece to have for the next day lol. Omgosh and the whipped frosting- so light and delicious!

      Reply
      • Sam

        October 29, 2020 at 12:39 pm

        I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Melissa! 🙂

        Reply
    9. Mai Aoki

      October 19, 2020 at 6:35 pm

      Could you tell me what the substitution for cake flour is? I can’t find it, and do you think it would be a good idea to mix the jam withe the frosting instead or should i avoid that?

      Reply
      • Sam

        October 20, 2020 at 11:54 am

        Hi Mai! You can find the substitution in the notes below the actual recipe. I don’t think I would mix the jam with the frosting. I’m not sure how the frosting would hold up after doing that. 🙂

        Reply
    10. Athena

      October 15, 2020 at 3:43 pm

      5 stars
      hi! I really like your recipes! Thanks for sharing this one, I just made this cake. Everything was good (the cream cheese frosting was also excellent) but my cakes were dense. Do you have any tips for that? Can I use the reverse creaming method here? I ask because I tried making your caramel cake recipe and the cake there was really light! Thanks again 🙂

      Reply
      • Sam

        October 17, 2020 at 11:59 am

        Hi Athena! I’m so glad you enjoyed! This cake should be really fluffy, usually if it is dense it is because it was over-mixed. If you haven’t already, I would definitely recommend checking out the video. To answer your question, you can reverse cream this cake. 🙂

        Reply
    11. Carol O'Neill

      October 14, 2020 at 3:50 pm

      Can I make this cake in advance?and if so how long in advance?

      Reply
      • Sam

        October 15, 2020 at 11:15 am

        Hi Carol! It will last about a week as long as it is covered and refrigerated it will stay fresh for up to 5 days. 🙂

        Reply
    12. Elizabeth

      September 30, 2020 at 10:42 pm

      hi! I tried your recipe and i didn’t turn out very well, haha, well that was probably my doing. I’ve never been good at cakes but i thought i might try this one out. The cake went very brown on the top and on all sides were hard. i was sorta hoping a soft moist cake. i also couldn’t taste any strawberry. 🙁 Do you have any suggestions? Cuz as you probably know, i need it. haha!! Thanks!

      Reply
      • Sam

        October 01, 2020 at 10:01 pm

        Hi Elizabeth! So this is definitely not how it is supposed to turn out! From the sound of it definitely sounds like the cake was over-baked. If you baked it for the time indicated in the pan sizes indicated and in the center rack then it I would guess that your oven is running much hotter than it is letting on and I’d recommend checking its temperature with an oven thermometer (I keep two in my oven at all times, it’s crazy how many ovens don’t run true to temperature). This would also be why the strawberry flavor didn’t shine through like it is supposed to. It sounds like just reducing your oven temperature or time will help with this quite a bit!

        Reply
        • Elizabeth

          October 01, 2020 at 10:39 pm

          Ok i’ll check. Thank you! 🙂

    13. teeka

      August 31, 2020 at 4:00 pm

      Hi! This cake sounds so delicious and and am hoping to make it but was wondering if I could sub out the whole milk for a non dairy alternative such as coconut or soy milk. If not one of these do you have a suggestion that would work better?

      Reply
      • Sam

        August 31, 2020 at 4:40 pm

        Hmmm I haven’t tried it. It may work. The cake may be a little less moist but I think it’ll still turn out for you. 🙂

        Reply
    14. Vanessa Maldonado

      August 24, 2020 at 3:04 pm

      Will this recipe work for cupcakes?

      Reply
      • Sam

        August 25, 2020 at 9:59 pm

        Hi Vanessa! That should work fine. 🙂

        Reply
    15. Tara

      August 11, 2020 at 8:52 am

      Hi do you think this recipe would work with blueberries instead of strawberries? What things would you adjust if so?

      Reply
      • Sam

        August 11, 2020 at 9:41 am

        Hi Tara! I haven’t tried it. It’s possible you may need a little more liquid when making the reduction because blueberries tend to be less juicy. If you try it I would love to know how it turns out. 🙂

        Reply
        • Jennifer

          September 22, 2020 at 9:30 pm

          5 stars
          I’ve actually made it with blueberries instead, twice, added lemon juice and zest to the frosting. I had a excess of blueberries from a local farm and I followed the recipe exactly. The flavors of the cake came out amazing you could really taste the blueberries and my family loved it. But both times my cakes sank, which leads me to believe I might have expired baking powder. Tasted too good to care how it looked in the end 🙂

        • Sam

          September 23, 2020 at 11:02 am

          Thank you for the feedback, Jennifer! I am so glad you enjoyed it. Sounds like it’s time for some new baking powder, and hopefully it won’t sink next time. 🙂

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    The author (Sam) in blue shirt holding donut Hi, I'm Sam! I'm dedicated to bringing you sweet, simple, and from-scratch dessert recipes. My life may or may not be controlled by my sweet tooth. Send help (or chocolate). Read more about me.

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