Homemade Strawberry Cake
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This soft and fluffy homemade strawberry cake is made with fresh strawberries and topped with a creamy strawberry buttercream. With more than 150 five-star reviews since its publication in 2017, this cake is sure to be a favorite in your kitchen, too! If you really love this cake, check it out as cupcakes and a Bundt cake.
This cake is so darn good. There is just no other way to describe it.
After years of being incredibly disappointed with strawberry cakes that tasted too artificial because they were made with strawberry gelatin or ones that were too wet because they didn’t take care to prepare the fresh strawberries properly, I settled on the perfect combination and ratio of ingredients as well as the perfect strawberry buttercream.
This is hands down the most popular cake recipe that exists on my site, and if you give it a shot, I know you’ll be doing a happy-strawberry-cake dance like I do every time I make it.
Why this is the Best Strawberry Cake Recipe
Long ago, around 2010, when I started baking and decorating custom cakes for people, I took to Google and Pinterest to find a homemade strawberry cake that was made with actual fruit. Can you believe it was super difficult to find?
Have you ever tried to search for a fresh strawberry cake recipe from scratch? Or a strawberry cake recipe without gelatin? I found a lot of recipes were made with strawberry jelly, strawberry jam, or even strawberry Jell-O, but that’s not at all what I was looking for.
I wanted soft, fluffy cake dotted with actual bits of real strawberries, and a strawberry cake without gelatin. I found strawberry cupcakes from Brown Eyed Baker that I figured I could turn into a cake, and after a few tries, I settled on this lovely little number that has been gracing people’s kitchens since I published the recipe in 2017.
THE PROBLEM WITH OTHER STRAWBERRY CAKE RECIPES
Since the publication of this recipe in 2017, I see a lot of the same remarks over and over in comments and reviews. Home bakers like you are so happy to find a delicious strawberry cake that doesn’t have any extra steps (like making a strawberry reduction), doesn’t use any strawberry extract, and doesn’t have you reaching for a box of strawberry gelatin.
While there’s certainly nothing wrong with those recipes and I am confident they all have people who use them as their go-to strawberry cake recipe, this strawberry cake has stood the test of time in my as well as my readers’ kitchens, and I am confident that if you give my recipe a try, you will be a believer, too!
Homemade Strawberry Cake ingredients
This easy strawberry cake recipe uses very simple ingredients. The only odd ball is probably the freeze-dried strawberries, but see my note below or in the recipe card about where to find them.
For this strawberry cake, you will need:
• all-purpose flour
• baking powder
• salt
• butter
• granulated sugar
• vanilla extract
• eggs + egg white
• milk
• fresh strawberries
For the strawberry buttercream, you will need:
• freeze-dried strawberries
• butter
• powdered sugar
• milk or cream
• vanilla extract
• salt
WHERE DO I FIND FREEZE-DRIED STRAWBERRIES?
Freeze-dried strawberries are typically found in the dried fruit section of your grocery store. If you can’t find them there, check the aisle with bulk candy, if your grocery store has one.
Make sure you are buying freeze-dried strawberries and not just dried strawberries. Dried strawberries are more of a gummy texture. You are making strawberry powder, so you’ll want to buy the ones with zero moisture in them.
How to make Strawberry Cake from Scratch
In the recipe card below, you’ll find detailed instructions as well as a video for how to make this cake. Here is an overview of the steps:
Prepare the strawberries: be sure they’re chopped into small pieces. For my strawberry cupcakes, pureeing them works best because of the smaller nature of cupcakes vs a big cake. While you can do that here, too, I like the larger chunks of strawberries in my bites. No need to flour them to keep them suspended! If they’re small enough, they’ll stay put.
Cream the butter + sugar + vanilla: unlike my white layer cake that uses the reverse creaming method, this cake gets mega lift from the air incorporated into the butter and sugar. Be sure you’re using room temperature butter and no warmer.
Add the eggs/egg white one at a time: adding eggs one at a time ensures they incorporate evenly and smoothly into the batter. You’ll want these at room temperature, too.
Add the flour mixture + milk in two parts: why in two parts? Because adding all of the flour mixture or all of the milk at one time can “overload the system” and encourage clumping and/or separating. This doesn’t need to be exact! Aim for about half of the flour mixture and milk each addition.
Fold in the strawberries: gently! And just until combined.
Bake + cool: the cakes need a pretty significant amount of time in the oven but keep an eye on your layers as overbaking them can lead to a dry crumb since this cake is made entirely with butter and no oil.
Trim + stack: I have kept this 2 layers and I’ve also cut each layer in half to make 4 layers. Either works just fine as this cake is sturdy enough to handle being split.
The secret to Fresh Strawberry Cake Buttercream
I spent a whole lot of time trying to make strawberry frosting in my past cake baker life, and I always failed miserably. I never got the right ratio of strawberries to sugar and butter in order to get great flavor and also avoid making a shloopy, drippy mess.
I even tried using strawberry puree, but still didn’t love the result. And it wasn’t until I had a lightbulb moment and wondered if freeze-dried strawberries might do the trick. Spoiler alert: they were perfect.
We can get freeze-dried strawberries in the dried fruit section of our grocery store, so if you aren’t sure yours carries them, check that section carefully! I was surprised to find them there.
You’ll need to blend up approximately 1 cup of the freeze dried strawberries, winding up with about ½ cup of strawberry powder.
That will go directly into your basic buttercream (which is my classic vanilla buttercream recipe) and it will lend the most wonderful strawberry flavor while also keeping the integrity of your sturdy buttercream intact. Win win!
Strawberry Cake Recipe substitutions
If all you have are frozen strawberries, you may use them. Thaw and blot or squeeze dry as much as possible, then proceed with the recipe. You can also use any milk that you prefer, but I always test my recipes with full fat cow milk.
How to serve Homemade Strawberry Cake
This cake can be served as is, or with fresh strawberry compote spooned on top. Garnish the cake with fresh strawberry slices for an extra punch of fresh strawberry flavor and texture.
The second you have a taste of this homemade strawberry cake with strawberry buttercream, you’ll wonder where this cake has been all of your life so far. It is, hands down, the best strawberry cake recipe I have ever had. Ever.
You can also turn this layer cake into a Bundt cake or cupcakes!
MORE FROSTING IDEAS
Consider my Swiss meringue buttercream (you can add ¼ cup of freeze-dried strawberry powder if you want!), chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream, cream cheese frosting (again, consider adding ¼ cup of strawberry powder to turn it into strawberry cream cheese frosting), classic vanilla buttercream, or the lemon buttercream from my blueberry lemon cupcakes.
How to store Fresh Strawberry Cake
Store this cake covered tightly at room temperature up to 5 days, but cake will start to lose its moisture after about 3 days, and strawberries will start to get soggy. Store the cake in the refrigerator to maintain freshness longer.
Homemade Strawberry Cake FAQs
Strawberry Cake from Scratch
Ingredients
STRAWBERRY CAKE
- 3 and ¼ cups (390g) all-purpose flour be sure to measure properly
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (227g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 1 and ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 large egg white room temperature
- 1 cup (240g) milk any though I prefer whole cow; room temperature
- 2 cups finely chopped strawberries1 approximately 16 large strawberries
STRAWBERRY BUTTERCREAM
- 1 cup (20g) freeze-dried strawberries2
- 1 cup (227g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 4 to 5 cups (480-600g) powdered sugar
- ¼ to ⅓ cup (60-80mL) milk or cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
STRAWBERRY CAKE
- Place oven rack on the middle setting and preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC). Grease and flour (or use homemade cake release) two 8" or 9" round cake pans.
- In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.3 and ¼ cups (390g) all-purpose flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt
- In a large bowl with a handheld mixer, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until the color is light and the texture is fluffy (approximately 2-3 minutes). Add the vanilla then beat again to incorporate.1 cup (227g) unsalted butter, 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar, 1 and ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- Add the eggs and egg white one at a time, allowing each to incorporate before adding the next one and scraping the. Scrape down the sides of the bowl when necessary.3 large eggs, 1 large egg white
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture in 2 parts, alternating with the milk.1 cup (240g) milk
- Blot the strawberries dry (you don't need to wring them out, just blot them), then gently fold in the strawberries by hand.2 cups finely chopped strawberries1
- Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake cakes for about 40-44 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops are lightly browned. Remove cakes from the oven and allow them to cool completely in the pans on a wire rack before removing and assembling.
STRAWBERRY BUTTERCREAM
- Using a blender or food processor, process the freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder. Set aside.1 cup (20g) freeze-dried strawberries2
- In a large bowl with a handheld mixer, or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes.1 cup (227g) unsalted butter
- With the mixer on low, add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk or cream. Add the strawberry powder and salt, increase mixer speed to medium, and beat until completely smooth, about 3 minutes. If frosting is too stiff, add more milk. If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar.4 to 5 cups (480-600g) powdered sugar, ¼ to ⅓ cup (60-80mL) milk or cream, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon salt
ASSEMBLE THE CAKE
- Trim cooled cake layers to create a flat surface. You can do this with a large serrated knife or a cake leveler. Place one layer on a plate or cake stand and cover the top with strawberry buttercream frosting. Spread evenly with an offset spatula.
- Place second layer on top, cut surface down. For a sturdier cake, refrigerate at this point for about 10 minutes. When cake is slightly chilled, remove from refrigerator and spread more frosting on the top and around the sides. Serve. Leftovers stay fresh, covered tightly, at room temperature up to 5 days and in the refrigerator up to 1 week.
- Make ahead: prepare cakes and frosting up to 1 day in advance. Cover cakes tightly and keep at room temperature or in the refrigerator until ready to assemble. Refrigerate prepared frosting in an airtight container until ready to use. Unfrosted cake layers may be frozen, wrapped tightly, up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before assembling. Frosted cake can be frozen, wrapped tightly, up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.
Video
Notes
- Strawberries: you can use frozen strawberries, too. Thaw them first then blot or squeeze some of the liquid out of them before using.
- Freeze-dried strawberries: freeze-dried strawberries are typically found in the dried fruit section of your grocery store. If you can’t find them there, check the aisle with bulk candy, if your grocery store has one.
- Bundt cake: make this cake into a strawberry Bundt cake! The recipe differs only slightly. I paired that one with a white chocolate strawberry ganache, but you can use any frosting you like.
- Cupcakes: while baking this recipe as is will give you 24 delicious cupcakes, see my post for fresh strawberry cupcakes for a recipe specifically developed to make 16 fluffy cupcakes.
- To turn this into a sheet cake: as written, this recipe will make one 9″ x 13″ sheet cake. Bake time will be about 40-42 minutes.
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
I love this cake of the month series! I wish I had more opportunities to make layer cakes. Next time I make one, it will have to be strawberry. I love that you used fresh and freeze dried strawberries!
Made this strawberry cake for my son’s birthday. Turned out denser than most cakes. The flavor was good.
I didn’t use freeze dried strawberries. I dehydrated fresh ripe strawberries and. Ground them in a small food Processor. Flavor was wonderful, color pretty pink
I have been trying to figure our what to make for my birthday cake next month (yes I am one of those people). I think this might be at the top of the list, I love all the real strawberries in the batter and that buttercream, OMG! The cake looks perfect and fluffy. Thanks for posting your beloved recipe and I will report back if I make it.
Oh, one more thing, what is the bake time on this? I think it was supposed to be step 3 but it is not there.
Hi Courtney! SO sorry, that was a complete oversight on my part. I didn’t even type out the recipe– I just left my shorthand notes in there! It’s now fixed and all the pertinent information is there 🙂 thanks for pointing that out for me!
Was there suppose to be baking soda in this recipe? I did alter Slightly as I puréed the strawberries. It was delicious but quite dense so I was unsure if there was suppose to be baking soda and baking powder.
Nope, no baking soda. Pureeing the strawberries will give you more liquid and weigh down the batter. It’s not a “light” cake, but it’s certainly not dense.
YES for REAL strawberries! Girl, this looks incredible. And SO SMART to use freeze dried strawberries for the buttercream. I’ve always had a ton of trouble using juicy berries to work in a buttercream, and this is just pure genius. YUM!
Exactly– and it’s a darn shame because fruity buttercream is AMAZEEEEBALLS!!
I used an immersion blender to liquefy a couple of ripe strawberries. I added a couple of tablespoons of the liquid to the butter cream and reduced the volume of cream. It was excellent. The icing had a lovely strawberry flavour and was a gorgeous shade of pink. I made this cake for a 65th birthday party it was a big hit. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the feedback, Karen! Glad you enjoyed it!
Lynn! This is just perfect! Strawberries are everywhere in our supermarkets at the moment and they are so sweet and juicy. I’ve been searching for the best fresh strawberry cake for a long time, and now you’ve created it! I can’t wait to try this out ASAP to make the most of our winter strawberry haul! So beautiful!
Thanks, friend! Strawberries are one of the best fruits you can put in a dessert, I think!
Do you mean 4 sticks of butter in the cake mix? It says 1 cup then 2 sticks (which I know is the equivalent of one cu
It should say “1 cup (2 sticks),” but I just switched over to a new site/new formatting, so I’m still working through fixing the formatting issues!
Could this be made into cupcakes? If so, do you have an idea how many?
Hey, Ericka! Absolutely. It will make about 32 cupcakes, bake time is 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!
Thank you! If I was wanting to half this recipe, what would be your flour and egg suggestion? Thanks!
For flour: 1 and 1/2 cups + 2 Tablespoons, and for the eggs: I would drop down to one large egg and keep the whole large egg white.
I think I love you! ❤️
But seriously, my little girl loves strawberries (doesn’t care for chocolate) so this is her birthday cake. She is one happy 10 year old!
Hahaha, well thanks, Lissa! I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake! PS my birthday was yesterday (9/26) so are your daughter and I birthday buddies? Happy birthday to her, whenever it is!
Just made this and cannot wait to eat it!!! Thanks so much for the fresh recipie!
I hope you enjoyed it, Stephanie!
I need to make this in a 9×13 pan. Would the temp. and time be the same?
Temperature would be the same, but you’ll want to decrease the baking time. I would try starting with something like 25 minutes and checking from there.
I made the 9×13 and the time is more than 45 minutes baking.
Thanks for letting me know!
Making this cake now.- Just a quick question about the freeze-dried strawberries: is it 1 cup before or after pulsating them?
Hi, Josh– it’s before. For future reference, in a recipe, the descriptor will fall before or after the measurement so you are clear on what you need. If I wanted you to have 1 cup of freeze-dried strawberry powder, I would have said it that way. Just like “1 cup of strawberries, chopped” would mean 1 cup of measured strawberries, then chopped vs “1 cup of chopped strawberries” which would mean chopped strawberries measured out into 1 cup. Make sense? Hope that helps!
Can frozen strawberries work?
Yes, they can. Try to get as much moisture out of them if you can, if you’re going to thaw them. I would probably use them frozen, but you’ll need to chop them up first.
Delicious! Thank you for this from scratch Strawberry cake recipe. I made this yesterday to bring to work today for a friends birthday. Everyone loved it. I found the freeze dried strawberries at Whole Foods. I followed the recipe as written and it was perfect! So glad I found your website/blog!
So glad you and your friends loved it! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
This looks amazing. Just curious why no cake flour
Cake flour isn’t always necessary in cake. Unless you’re looking for a super soft and delicate crumb, you can get away with just all purpose. Because this cake is packed with real strawberries, we aren’t in the market for a soft crumb here. Something like my white cake (https://freshaprilflours.com/2017/03/29/white-layer-cake-with-whipped-cream-buttercream/) uses all purpose + cornstarch which is equivalent to cake flour.
Can you use cake flour? How many cups is it the same ratio ?
It’s 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons of cake flour for every cup of all purpose flour.
It looks and sounds amazing! I’m just curious, could I substitute the fresh strawberries for freeze-dried in the cake batter? If so, how much?
Hi, Amanda! You probably could, though I’d be concerned you’d be missing out on a mega moisture factor. If you try it, let me know! I would try about a cup.
Would this strawberry cake pair well with cream cheese frosting in your opinion? My mother in law has requested a strawberry cake, but with cream cheese frosting. Thanks in advance for your help!
Hey, Kelly! That sounds fabulous. If you don’t have a cream cheese frosting recipe, I have one here. You can always keep the addition of the strawberry powder from this recipe in order to make strawberry cream cheese frosting, but of course, that’s not totally necessary, just a suggestion! Let me know how it works out 🙂
Hi! I know this is a super late reply, but my mother in law LOVED your cake! I ended up using your cream cheese frosting recipe as well and I added the freeze dried strawberries to make it strawberry cream cheese frosting. It was amazing! I loved the cake so much that I’m making it for my birthday tomorrow! Thank you for your help and my new go to birthday cake!
Oh, I love this report! Thanks for letting me know, Kelly! What a delish combo. I hope you have a wonderful birthday 🙂
Hi, for the icing do I chop up the frozen strawberries or due I thaw them…I’m just a little confused on that part.
Hi, Anne– you’ll be using freeze-dried strawberries for the frosting.
I used frozen strawberries to make the buttercream yesterday. ~3/4 cup in a single serve blender jar on a low setting, just until they were chopped down (maybe 10-15 seconds). I used a little less than 1/4 cup milk, and I also chilled it a little before spreading it on the cake. It turned out great, and everybody loved it!
So glad that worked for you, Carolyn! Thanks for sharing!
Oh my goodness .. this was so good! I did one strawberry and one blueberry!!!
I actually substituted 1/2 the sugar in the cake with stevia and 1/4 the icing sugar was Swerve confectioners blend! It still did Great!
The strawberry was my favorite but the blueberry cake was so yummy!!
Thanks for sharing, Sally! And IG’ing it! And thanks for sharing your successful substitutions 🙂
I followed the recipe and my cake cooked un even and tasted like cornbread
Hey, Emma! I’m not sure what went wrong, but it sounds like you may have used a wrong ingredient. Unless you used cornmeal instead of flour, there’s hardly a way for this to taste like cornbread, especially if you added strawberries. This is one of my most popular and positively reviewed recipes.
Did you use freeze dried blueberries for the frosting and fresh blueberries for the cake? Doing a baby shower and the mom to be isn’t finding out the sex of the baby, so I want one pink and one blue dessert!!
Was just ok. I found it to be a little dry.
I just made these for my niece’s first birthday and they came out great! I used a 1:1 gluten free flour blend, and was a little bit worried about how thick the batter was, but after they cooked with the moisture from the strawberries it was perfect. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Can you email me the fresh Strawberry Cake recipe? It looks amazing!
Hi, Sue! The recipe is right there on the page. You actually have to scroll past it to comment on the blog. There’s a “print” button so you can print it right from your screen. Thanks!
Tried this Strawberry cake recipe for the first time. Cake was very crumbly which made it hard to ice. Any suggestions?
Hey, Marilyn. Cake is fairly crumbly on the outsides normally. I always do a crumb coat to lock in the crumbs and make it easier to ice. Unless you feel the inside was also crumbly, I don’t think anything went wrong.
I made this cake for one of my customers…. and it came out absolutely perfect!!! Love the texture and the taste is spot on!! I never liked using extracts and Jello for cakes with fruits and this definitely the winner for me. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
Thanks so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂