Today we’re sharing a wonderful, simple Strawberry (Doctored Cake Mix) recipe for the Strawberry lovers!!
If you prefer to work with doctored cake mixes, or even if you just need a simple & delicious go-to strawberry cake that can be whipped up in a flash, this is the strawberry recipe for you!
Although you can find strawberry cake mixes fairly easily at the store, we prefer this white cake mix version which gets a nice flavor boost from both pureed strawberries as well as strawberry jello. We’ve received lots of great feedback on this cake and we hope that you enjoy it too!
While strawberry cake pairs nicely with vanilla buttercream, I especially love it with cream cheese frosting! Then again, I especially love just about everything with cream cheese frosting!
Strawberry Cake {Doctored Cake Mix Recipe}
Ingredients
- 1 box white cake mix (without pudding in the mix)
- 1 small box ( 3 ounce) strawberry Jello
- 3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil ( I used canola)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3/4 cup mashed ripe strawberries
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare three 8 inch pans
- Put all ingredients into your mixing bowl and mix on low speed until the ingredients are blended. Then increase speed to medium and mix for approximately 3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl mid way through.
- The mashed strawberries should be well blended into the batter.
- Bake for 30 min. or until tooth pick comes out clean.
As I mentioned above, we LOVE Strawberry Cake with a generous slathering of delicious Cream Cheese Frosting! We have two favorite Cream Cheese Recipes. Our classic Cream Cheese Frosting, and our Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting which is a bit thicker and great for piping. Enjoy!!
*update: For a double dose of Strawberry Flavor, check out our DELICIOUS homemade Strawberry Buttercream! This recipe is bursting with strawberry flavor: Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
In addition to this doctored cake mix Strawberry Cake Recipe, we also have a scratch Strawberry Cake Recipe that we know you’ll love! Make sure to hop over and print or save a copy here!: Strawberry Cake from Scratch!
Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to check out our Recipes section for more of our favorite Cakes, Frostings, and Fillings!
I made this cake but I was afraid of the extra water from the fresh mashed strawberries so I used CK strawberry icing fruit instead and it turned out AWESOME! And I used cream cheese frosting instead of buttercream. Thanks Melissa!
Hi Ashley, thank you for making your post. It is good to know that CK strawberry icing fruit works well with the recipe.
Do you think I could make this into a strawberry lemon cake by replacing some of the liquid with lemon juice?
Hi Kay, you will get more lemon flavor adding maybe 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract and the zest of 1 lemon……..not sure how strong you want the lemon flavor to be
Excellent! I will do that! Thanks SO much, BeBe!
One more question…SORRY! I just noticed this is not an extended recipe. Can I add the jello and strawberries to the WASC recipe on this site??
I would love to know if I could adapt this to my WASC as well, Thank you in advance
Hi Tamara, we have not tried adapting the recipe but I think it should work. Using the White Almond Sour Cream (Extended Recipe) use strawberry cake mix, jello, and the 3/4 cup pureed strawberries. Change the 1 cup water in the WASC recipe to 1/2 cup milk. I would use 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, and omit the almond extract. Let us know how it goes it you give it a try.
Never mind this recipe is FABULOUS! I have not had a good recipe til now. They either lacked flavor or they tasted fake. This is a wonderful recipe ( I like oil cakes myself) Thank you so much for sharing. I have a wedding in Dec and she asked for strawberry ( I almost died ) Her caterer said the bride isn’t picky… I don’t think people understand how hard this flavor is to get right. So thank you again you saved me on this one for sure.
Wonderful, I am very happy you like it. Thank you for posting your thoughts on the recipe and for your nice comments!!
Greetings,
I hope everyone is doing well, having a great day too :) Thinking of trying this recipe for my own birthday cake :)
Could anyone tell me if this is a good recipe to carve, just a little bit? and is it strong enough so It would allow me to put a second smaller cake on top? (I would be using dowels for support)
Thank you all for your replies
Happy baking!
Hi Sweetccakes, This cake is tender and soft because of the oil in the recipe, but if it is just a very little bit of carving, I think you will be fine. You can put a smaller cake on top because the smaller cake will be on its own cake board and that will be resting on the dowels, keeping the weight off the cake below. Hope it turns out great!
Is this a good recipe for cupcakes?
Hi Kate, I have not made cupcakes with this recipe but it should be fine.
HI-
Will this work with frozen strawberries or will it be too much liquid? If I wanted to try it, would I reduce the milk or oil?
Hi Cheryl,
To use frozen strawberries: Thaw a 10 oz. pkg frozen strawberries, add 1/4 c. sugar…(Do not add sugar if the strawberries are in a sweetened syrup). Place strawberries in a saucepan and gradually bring to a boil over medium heat. Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat and simmer until it is reduced to approx. 1 cup. Transfer from saucepan to a blender or use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. Refrigerate until cool. (10-15 minutes)
Thanks!
How sturdy is this recipe? Could it be used in a stacked cake?
Hi Robin, This recipe is somewhat soft, but I think it would be fine to stack with bubble tea straws and a cake board under the upper tier. The weight would be held by the support from the bubble tea straws, or dowels so the weight of the upper tier would not be on the tier below.
Do you think I can omit the fresh strawberries and use Adam’s Brand Strawberry extract instead?
Hi Loretta, Leaving out the strawberries would also omit liquid, but I think if you increase the milk to 1 cup you will be ok. The recipe gets much of its strawberry flavor from the strawberry jello and flavored cake mix so I would add just add a small amount of strawberry extract.
Hi ladies, is this recipe moist? I was trying to figure out which is best, the scratch or this one…taste and moistness is biggest factor. And I also would like clarity on the puree part. You mention after the boiling begins, let it simmer to about one cup…can you tell me roughly how long that part would take approximately so I would have it as a guide? Thanks!!!
Hi ladies, I love this site!!! I wanted to know if this recipe is moist? I was trying to figure out which is best, the scratch or this one…taste and moistness is biggest factor. And I also would like clarity on the puree part. You mention after the boiling begins, let it simmer to about one cup…can you tell me roughly how long that part would take approximately so I would have it as a guide? Thanks!!!
Hi Terri, I like this doctored strawberry cake recipe very much because of the ease of beginning with a cake mix. It is very moist and has a nice strawberry flavor. We have 2 strawberry scratch recipes , I prefer the 3 layer scratch recipe because it has more strawberry flavor than the Strawberry Cake #1 (Milder Flavor in the title). The milder flavor version is the one that boils the strawberries to reduce, I think it will take about 20 minutes and you will still need to puree with a blender or immersion blender. Some bakers only want to bake scratch cakes so I would recommend the Strawberry Cake (scratch with three layers) or the above doctored Strawberry recipe, moist, good and reliable. Let me know if you have other questions.
Thanks for such a quick reply! You gals rock!!! 24/7! Thanks again!!
Hi again, just one more question…I plan to make the basket weave piping around the sides of the strawberry cake…would the creme cheese frosting allow me to do that, or is the vanilla buttercream your suggestion? Is that the fluffy crusting buttercream that you used? Another possibility would be for me is to use the cream cheese as a filling and then use the buttercream for piping the sides? But I’m unsure how both flavors taste together with the strawberry cake. What do you think? I really want to try to use the cream cheese frosting because you (and others) have raved about it. But I do have some basket weave to do. But I don’t want to prepare a great tasting cake, and then I mess up when it comes to picking the right frosting (s) to set it off…your professional opinion is really needed! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!!
Hi ladies, if possible (and only if possible) :o) , may I have an answer by tomorrow for my above request? This cake is due on friday. Thanks! Also, have you ever tried ganache as a filling with this? Just curious how that would taste. I absolutely love your ganache recipe, but it doesn’t mean it matches every cake! Thanks!
Hi Terri- I’m sorry that we missed your follow up question!
Our cream cheese frosting recipe is soft– It is great for fillings, swirls on cupcakes, or simple textured designs of frosting the cake (for instance a ridged or stucco look, or simple piping (I’ve done vertical stripes with a star tip for instance).
However, for a basketweave design, you will have better luck with a more stable consistency. I would use either buttercream….or if you are going to be making the cream cheese frosting to use as a filling, you could make vanilla buttercream and then add a bit of your cream cheese frosting to it for a mild cream cheese frosting flavor. —
The third choice is one that I haven’t tried– but CakeCentral’s Decorator’s cream cheese frosting has always gotten good reviews for flavor & piping.
link to cakecentral.com
(Also, I have never tried ganache filling–but chocolate and strawberries are a good flavor combination!) — Hope this helps!!
Hi Melissa! Thanks for your suggestions! I mixed the buttercream with the cream cheese froating, and it was a huge hit!! Thanks again! One more question…I notice all of the strawberry cakes I have seen pretty much use white cake as a base, as opposed to strawberry cake. Would you know why? I was just curious what the strawberry cake mix is used for…thanks so much!! You guys have bailed me out time and time again in crunch situations!!!! :)
Hi ladies, just curious about the question I asked above…why is it that I always see strawberry cakes use a white cake mix? What do mostpeople use for the strawberry box cake mix? I was just really curious+ thanks again!!!
This was AMAZING, and I am not a fan of doctored mixes! I was very pleased with the density – not heavy but perfectly firm. I topped cupcakes with chocolate panache and it was a hit. Thanks so much for sharing, I plan to try the scratch 2 recipe next.
(P.S., My 7 year old bit into an unfrosted cupcake and exclaimed, “OMG! Where has this been all my life?!”)
Haha- the panache was a given, but I used ganache!
Your 7 yr. old’s comment was so funny!! So glad you like the recipe!
Hi there, I would love to try this recipe but I’m confused about the Strawbery JELLO. The Strawbery JELLO I have in my groceries contains Gelotin, the kind that if you add water it becomes Jello. Is the the box you use????
Hi Cristina, Yes, that is what the box looks like. It is added to the mixing bowl as a dry ingredient, do not follow directions on the Jello box.
Hope you like the recipe
Strawberry cake turned out delicious! New fave cake! Barely had enough to make cake balls because we were all eating the cake……
Hi Janet!! I’m thrilled that you loved it! xoxo Thanks for your feedback!
Does this recipe take into consideration the new cake box sizes? Will I need to buy 2 mixes to make up the missing oz? Thanks
Hi Melody, I used the cake mix size just as it is for this recipe.
Will this cake hold up under fondant
Hi Rosangel, We have not tried covering this cake in fondant. Because of all the oil in the cake, I think it might be too soft to hold up to the weight of the fondant.
I noticed the first ingredient under INGREDIENTS is: STRAWBERRY CAKE- Doctored Mix. Is that just the title brought down under the ingredients or do I need a strawberry cake mix as well as white without pudding? If it is the title I’m wondering why we don’t start with a strawberry cake mix instead of a white? Thanks for you help!
Just wanted to double check on the amount of oil. I see the recipe calls for 3/4 cup. Sounds like a lot but I’ve not made this doctored recipe before so perhaps that is correct? Just checking before I get started. Thanks! :)
Hi Gloria, yes that is correct! To answer your earlier question, we haven’t experimented with substituting Strawberry Cake mix- I would try the recipe as is first and see what you think! I hope that you like it, it’s been a popular one! ;0) xo
Does this cake require refrigeration because of the strawberries used in the mix?
Hi Amanda, No, you would not need to refrigerate the cake.
Could I do a peach recipe same way?
Hi Patricia, Yes, I think that would also work well, sounds good.
Can this recipe be made as a sheet cake?
Hi Jill, Yes, this recipe can be made as a sheet cake. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, if it begins to get too brown you can cover loosely with aluminum foil. Do you have rose nails? If so, you can grease and flour one or two and add to the pan to help with even baking (it is optional).
Has anyone tried to double this recipe? I want to make two cakes at the same time and want to save time at the mixer if possible.
Hi Michelle, I have not doubled the recipe but typically a recipe that begins with a boxed cake mix can be doubled with no problem.
Hi Bebe. What are rose nails?
Hi Jill, Rose (or flower) nails are usually used when piping roses, this is just another use for it. Here is a link to a Cake Central tutorial on using it when baking, link to cakecentral.com. In the 2nd picture you can see what it looks like. Wilton sells them. I usually place my rose nail into the baking pan before adding the batter, but if you forget it can be placed after the batter is in the pan. Once the cake is baked and turned out of the pan, the rose nail can easily be pulled out of the cake, with only a tiny hole remaining.
Is this recipe good for cupcakes as well?
Hi Rosa, I have not made cupcakes with this recipe. I think you could do so, my only worry would be because of the 3/4 cup oil in the recipe the cupcake liners might pull away because of the moisture in the recipe. I’m sorry I don’t have a definite answer. If you give it a try, don’t store the cupcakes in an airtight container….leave a bit of an opening so some air can get in. Storing in airtight containers contributes to the cupcake liners pulling away.
Thank you Bebe. I may reduce the amount of oil to about 1/4 cup. I hope it works.
Rosa, I was wondering how your cupcakes turned out? I’d like to make cupcakes with this recipe, but don’t know if I should reduce the oil like you did. Thanks!
I can’t find any strawberry extract on hand because I would have to order it online. Could I use the imitation extract instead?
Hi Brandi, I used imitation strawberry extract, it was Watkins brand, I bought it at Walmart
Hello I just found you and I like the recipes I’ve seen so far. My question is will this recipe work with Strawberry cake mix?
Hi Lisa, I have only made this using a white cake mix, I think the flavor would be a bit different because the strawberry cake mix has its own distinct flavor.
This cake was very easy to make . I made it for my daughter I don’t like strawberry cake . When I tasted the cake it was delicious
Hi, I’m wondering if you could use a free dried strawberry instead of fresh to keep it from being soggy and make it more sturdy to stack.?
Hi Kim, Wonderful, I so happy you like the recipe!!
Hi Heidi, I am sorry but I don’t have experience with using freeze dried strawberries in this recipe. We did not have a problem with the cake being soggy when using fresh strawberries. If you use freeze dried, I would love to know if that works.
Hello, I see many of the cakes back on your site are three layered…are you using two inch deep cake pans or One inch? Every time I read your recipes which I love..I see three layers and In ever have enough cake mix..lol so I was just wondering.
Hi Neketa, We use 8 inch pans that are 2 inches deep. We just wanted to have 3 layers so less batter than usual was put into the cake pans. Sometimes we just want more frosting, so 3 layers.
Thank you so much..I was way puzzled..about how much do you put into each pan ?..with the average cake mix is like 5 cups..the pictures do not appear to be very thin.
We love this idea for baking an awesome cake by this recipe. My kids also love it very much. I bake this cake on every Sunday for my kids. Thanks alot!!!
My step son requested a strawberry cake for his birthday. I wanted to make one from scratch, but all of the recipes that I found seemed complicated and the pictures looked like the cake was dry to me. I saw your recipe and it looked great and very moist from the picture and I decided to try it. It turned out fabulous! I used a whipped cream cheese frosting instead of regular cream cheese frosting. My step son loved it! My husband and I love it as well! It is sooooo moist and has so much flavor!!!! This recipe is a keeper! I can’t wait to try cupcakes using this recipe! Thank you!
HI Valarie, Wonderful!! We are so happy that your family enjoyed this recipe. Thanks so much for posting your thoughts!!
Can butter be used instead of oil?
Hi Tam, We have not tried this but I have read that some bakers us butter instead of oil so I assume that it would be fine.
Melissa & BeBe, just wanted to let you know this cake is super amazing!! Not only is it super easy to make i have gotten nothing but rave reviews!! Thank you so much!!
I do have a question about canola oil (which i used) vs veg. oil. Do you always use canola or just for this recipe? I don’t know what the difference is but with all the rave reviews I’m wondering if this is a secret?
Hi GuppyLove, We are thrilled that you and your customers like this recipe! We always use Canola oil. Canola is a type of vegetable oil made with rapeseed, from the mustard/cabbage family. Vegetable oil is made from a variety of plants. Vegetable oil and Canola oil can be used interchangeably but we just stick with Canola.
I’m a believer!! Thank you so much for all you do for us!! ❣
Can you make it in 6 inch pans instead?
Hi Emma, Yes, it can be baked in 6 inch pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes
Unfortunately the manufacturer that makes cake mixes no longer make the 18.25; now they make 15.25. SO is there a proper recipe to make such a cake, like this strawberry cake, to equal to 18.25? What ingredients would I need to ad, like flour, and how much? If not that’s ok, just wondering. Thank you.
Will this work in a 9×13 pan?
Hi Mer, You will need 7 to 10 cups of cake batter for a 9×13 pan. I think this recipe makes about 5 cups batter, so you will need to double the recipe..
Could I use a Bundt pan for this recipe
Hi Donna, I have not baked this recipe in a bundt pan but I think it would be fine to do so. Lower your oven rack to the lower 3rd of the oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes check with a toothpick or long skewer to test if it is done. If using a dark colored bundt pan, bake at 325 degrees and shorten the baking time a bit probably 10 minutes, just keep an eye on it.