We have fallen in love with this flavorful scratch Strawberry Cake recipe. If you’ve been searching for “the one”, this is it! The search is over ;0)
This homemade strawberry layer cake has become one of our favorite desserts, with it’s moist and soft cake layers and big strawberry flavor. There are so many frostings that would pair perfectly with this cake, but cream cheese frosting may be my favorite.
Frostings that Taste Great with Strawberry Cake
This moist strawberry cake is bursting with wonderful strawberry flavor, and tastes amazing with these frostings and fillings (and many more)!
A Strawberry Cake Recipe with Frozen Strawberries
Not only do I absolutely LOVE the flavor of this strawberry cake, I also love that it calls for frozen strawberries!
This means you don’t have to wait for strawberry season to roll around in order to enjoy the BEST strawberry cake recipe. You can make it year-round, and you should!
Of course, if you would rather use fresh strawberries for a fresh strawberry cake, you absolutely can- and we often do during strawberry season. We think you’ll love the fresh strawberry flavor that more than a cup of strawberry puree lends to the cake.
Thanks to Mom (our BeBe) for making sooo many versions of strawberry cake until we found our favorite. I have to admit though, it was fun sampling all of those different versions of strawberry cake along the way!
Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing
*This cake calls for the Reverse Creaming Method of mixing, for a moist & tender cake. The ingredients are added in a different order than the traditional creaming method, resulting in a slightly tighter crumb and velvety texture.
We explain the steps in our recipe instructions, but you may find it helpful to watch our free video tutorial on the Reverse Creaming Method, which you can find here: The Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing.
*If you would prefer to use the traditional creaming method for this fresh strawberry cake recipe, you can find it in the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake recipe linked below!
How to Make Strawberry Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (This recipe uses the reverse creaming method as is explained above.)
Grease and flour three 8 x 2 inch round cake pans – I like three layers because it gives us an extra layer of filling. *We also like to line our prepared pans with parchment circles.
- In a separate bowl, combine room temperature eggs, strawberry puree, vanilla, strawberry extract, pink food coloring (if desired). Blend together with a fork.
- In the mixing bowl for your stand mixer, hand whisk the dry ingredients (cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt) for 30 seconds to combine. With your mixer on low to medium speed, and using the paddle attachment, add the pieces of butter, a few pieces at a time, also add the oil at this time. Mix until the dry ingredients form moist crumbs that look like coarse sand.
- Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. With the mixer on LOW speed, SLOWLY add 1/2 of the egg mixture/wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, increase the mixer to medium speed and beat for 1 1/2 minutes, the batter will be thick and fluffy.
- Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, then add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, beating 20 seconds after each. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and pour the cake batter into prepared pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake layer comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. then turn out. This recipe makes about 7 1/2 cups of batter.
Will this Strawberry Cake Recipe work for Cupcakes?
Yes, you can make strawberry cupcakes with this recipe, however they will have little to no dome. This true for many of our scratch cake recipes.
Decorating the Strawberry Cake
Decorate the Strawberry Cake however you like with your favorite strawberry frosting or a recipe that pairs well with strawberry flavor. We crumb coated our cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and then immediately piped the spiral patterns that you see in the photo using a star tip 21.
I love the piped-all-over look and it is also very forgiving! Simply start piping in the center and spiral outward, clockwise as many until you reach the size that you want. Repeat until the cake is finished ;0)
Doctored Cake Mix Version of Strawberry Cake
If you prefer a doctored boxed cake mix recipe, we have a great one for you: Strawberry Cake: Doctored Cake Mix Recipe.
This easy strawberry cake always gets rave reviews and uses real strawberries along with other flavorings for a delicious strawberry flavor.
More favorite strawberry cake recipes!
We’ve made so many strawberry cake recipes and strawberry frostings & fillings over the years! Here are some of our favorites–
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake
- Strawberry Sour Cream Cake
- Strawberry Whipped Cream Cheese Filling
- Strawberry Champagne Cake (Doctored Cake Mix)
- Champagne and Strawberries Cake
- Strawberry Pound Cake
- Strawberry Lemon Cake
- Fresh Strawberry Filling for Cakes
- Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
- Strawberry Daiquiri Cake
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Don’t miss our full collection of favorite cake and frosting recipes in our Recipes Section! We also have a huge Free Cake Tutorials Section if you’re interested in learning sweet and simple cake decorating techniques.
Finally, if you’d like to access our full collection of hundreds of cake decorating video tutorials, we would love to have you as a member of MyCakeSchool.com! Find all of the joining details here!: MyCakeSchool.com Membership Information
Strawberry Cake from Scratch
This moist and flavorful Strawberry Cake from scratch is a favorite year-round!
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs, room temperature ( can warm the eggs by putting in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes)
- 1 1/2 cups (340 g) strawberry puree ......I used frozen strawberries that were lightly sweetened, you could also use fresh.....puree the strawberries in food processor or blender
- 1 teaspoon (4 g.) vanilla
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) strawberry extract
- 2 to 3 drops AmeriColor Pink or your pink coloring of choice (optional but makes for a prettier shade of pink)
- 3 cups (342 g) cake flour
- 1 3/4 cups (350 g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon (14 g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) salt
- 1/4 cup (50g) vegetable oil
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) (113 g) unsalted butter, cut butter into small pieces so it can be added slowly during mixing process. I cut mine into 1/2 to 1 inch slices onto waxed paper on the countertop, letting it soften only about 5 to 6 minutes.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (This recipe uses the reverse creaming method.)
- Grease and flour three 8 x 2 inch round pans
- In a separate bowl, combine eggs, strawberry puree, vanilla, strawberry extract, pink coloring (as desired). Blend together with a fork.
- In the bowl of your mixer, hand whisk the dry ingredients (cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt) for 30 seconds to combine. With your mixer on low to medium speed, add the pieces of butter, a few pieces at a time, also add the oil at this time. Mix until the dry ingredients form moist crumbs that look like coarse sand.
- Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Method is important when using Reverse Creaming, so with the mixer on LOW speed, SLOWLY add 1/2 of the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, increase the mixer to medium speed and beat for 1 1/2 minutes, the batter will be thick and fluffy.
- Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, then add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, beating 20 seconds after each. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and pour into prepared pans.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pans 10 min. then turn out.
- Makes 7 1/2 cups batter IF USING FONDANT: If using fondant to cover the cake, our first choice is to cover the cake in ganache for a nice firm shell before laying on the fondant. You could also use all butter buttercream, that is well chilled to firm it up before the fondant.
- Cupcakes: This recipe will work for cupcakes, they will have only a slight dome**We frosted our cake with this Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe. (I piped spirals of frosting in varying sizes with my Wilton star tip 21.)
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Delicious Cake Recipes, Online Cake Decorating Tutorials, and More!
We hope that you enjoy this Strawberry Cake! It has become a personal favorite over the years, especially in the warmer months when we’re craving light and fruity cakes and cupcakes!
If you give this strawberry cake a try, we would love to hear what you think! Make sure to leave a comment or photo in the comments below!
For even more of our favorite cake recipes, make sure to stop by our Cake Recipes Section. This includes all of our favorite cake recipes, favorite frostings, and more!
If you are interested in learning more about cake decorating, we have tons of creative cake tutorials on our site! Make sure to scroll through our Free Cake Tutorials Section, which also includes a Free Cake Video Tutorials Section!
We also have a membership section of our site, which contains hundreds of cake tutorials that we’ve made over the years! You can find all of the details on becoming a member of our site her: Joining Information for My Cake School
Could I use this recipe to make strawberry cupcakes?
Hi Mikayla, Yes, you can use the recipe for cupcakes. You will have fluffier cupcakes if you use the conventional method of mixing. You can find that method in the comments under the recipe. Look for the post I made on Sept.1, 2017. Bake standard size cupcake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. Hope you will enjoy the recipe.
Hi Lori, I am sorry you don’t have strawberry extract. The grocery stores in my area have stopped carrying it and I had to order from Amazon. We do like the extra boost of flavor it gives the cake. My suggestion would be to add a layer of sliced strawberries over the frosting between the cake layers. Instead of the sliced strawberries, below is a cooked strawberry filling that you could make. It is quick to make and could be made in advance and refrigerated.
Strawberry Filling
2 cups chopped strawberry (fresh or frozen — chop in rather small pieces)
1/4 cup (100g) sugar
2 Tablespoons (18g)
1 Tablespoon (9g) water
Add all ingredients to a small saucepan. On medium/high heat allow mixture to come to a boil. Stir as the sugar begins to melt and the strawberries soften. When the mixture begins to boil, lower the heat and stir constantly until the mixture begins to thicken. You can press some of the strawberries against the side of the pan as they soften. Pour into a heat proof bowl to cool. It can be refrigerated in an air-tight bowl until ready to use. Use within 5 days. This makes enough filling for a 3 layer cake.
Hi Sophie, Yes, that would be fine.
Hi Sophie, Depending on how warm your kitchen is, you can have the cake under a cover on the countertop for a day or so. It will keep longer in the refrigerator. It should be fine for 4 days. Take it out a couple of hours before serving to allow it to come to room temperature.
I have made this cake several times and get rave reviews each time. I have someone requesting it gluten free. Is there a way to make it gluten free? I haven’t found gluten free cake flour. Thanks.
Hi! What kind of vegetable oil do you use? I’ve used canola, soybean, safflower, grapeseed, and olive oils in cakes, but they all give cakes an unusual taste that even my kids notice it. Thank you!
Hi Susan, We like canola oil.
Whats the 2 tablespoons of for that strawberry filling? Theres nothin beside it.
Hi Aimee, Strawberry Filling for the Strawberry Sour Cream Cake has 2 Tablespoons (18g) cornstarch.
When do you add the oil?
Hi Mrs. B, After you have mixed in the butter a bit, you will add the oil. It is number 4 under the instructions. Are you familiar with the Reverse Creaming Method that this recipe uses?
Below is a link to Melissa’s video if you would like to watch it.
https://www.mycakeschool.com/blog/reverse-creaming-method-of-mixing-a-cake-video-tutorial/
Hi, is there a way to make this cake gluten free?
Should the cake flour be sifted. If so, should I measure before or after sifting?
How do you make your strawberry puree? Is is just blended in the processor? Or do you put it on the stove top too?
Hi Melanie, I am sorry but we don’t have a gluten free version of the recipe.
Hi Kat, We don’t sift the cake flour. Lightly spoon into a measuring cup, slightly overfilling then level off with the back of a knife. Or weigh your ingredients if you have a food scale. We aerate the flour with a whisk after it is mixed with the other dry ingredients.
If I am using frozen whole strawberries, do I thaw then Purée in the food processor? Or frozen in the food processor?
Hi Angela, I let my frozen strawberries thaw enough for me to slice into pieces, it doesn’t take very long. They will puree faster this way.
Is this cake sturdy enough to stack. Will be using a light buttercream icing. Thank you
Hi Linda, Yes, it is.
Can I just use two 9 inch pans for this recipe?
Hi Fredia, Yes, you can use two 9 inch pans, just divide evenly between the 2 pans. Not quite sure of the baking time for 9 inch pans and this amount of batter, check at around 25 minutes. It will be done when a toothpick into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
Hello,
I’m making your cake right now and it seems to have come out flat and spread to the sides of my pans. Do you know why or how that could happen? I used fresh strawberries and added 1tsp of almond extract n the batter along w/1 tsp of vanilla extract. Other than that, I followed your recipe.
Hi Tamara, I am sorry you had a problem. The 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder may have been left out or it was out of date. Another thought is too much of the liquid ingredients was added. I am sorry for the disappointment.
A lot of recipes I see cook the strawberry puree down is there a reason you guys don’t?
Also did you guys strain out the seeds before adding?
Last question, I took my daughter strawberry picking and not I am stuck with strawberries that are getting dark and mushy, They still taste delicious just not pretty do you think those strawberries would work good in this recipe?
thanks for the help and your great recipes!
People cook and reduce strawberries to intensify the flavor. We think this recipe has good strawberry flavor without that step. If you did cook and reduce the berries you would still need 1 1/2 cups to have enough liquid for the recipe. I can’t be sure of how overly ripe your berries are, if the taste is still good I think they should be ok. We don’t strain out the strawberry seeds. Hope you will enjoy the recipe.
Can this recipe be used as a Bundt cake?
Yes, this can be baked in a bundt pan. Lower the oven rack to next to lowest position. If your bundt pan is shiny metal or light colored non stick, bake at 350 degrees. If using a dark colored pan bake at 325 degrees. Keep an eye on your cake, it is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Hope you will enjoy the recipe.
Is this cake moist and soft? Most strawberry cake recipes I’ve come across are dense
We have had good feed back on this recipe. This recipe uses the reverse creaming method, if you are not familiar with it, you might like to watch Melissa’s video. Link below.
https://www.mycakeschool.com/blog/reverse-creaming-method-of-mixing-a-cake-video-tutorial/
Would this work with all purpose flour as well?
Hi Denise, If you only have all purpose flour, you can make cake flour. Using all purpose flour, for each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (corn flour in the UK). This recipe calls for 3 cups of cake flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour. Remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch. Whisk to blend and proceed with the recipe. Are you familiar with the Reverse Creaming method that this recipe uses? If not, you might want to watch Melissa’s video, link below.
https://www.mycakeschool.com/blog/reverse-creaming-method-of-mixing-a-cake-video-tutorial/
I made this recipe today, and I noticed that it had a flour or baking powder aftertaste to it. I triple checked the amount of baking powder because I’ve never baked a cake where I used that much before, and I spooned in the cake flour measurements so that my measuring cup was “packed.” I’m not sure why I would have gotten that flavor. Any suggestions?
I also used parchment paper rounds at the bottom, so it wasn’t the flouring of the pan.
Thank you!
Can I use this recipe for cupcakes?
Yes, you can make cupcakes with this recipe. For standard size cupcakes, bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. Scratch recipes bake up with very little dome.
Would this recipe be good with actual cut up strawberries in-between the layers?
Hello what about the frosting?
Hi Justin, At the very beginning of this post in the written text, Melissa list 4 frostings and a filling that would work well with the recipe. You can click on those links to view the recipes. This is one of our most popular recipes, I hope you will enjoy it.
Hi Cheri, You could put sliced or cut up strawberries in between the layers if you would like to. You will need to refrigerated if using fresh strawberries. Remove from refrigerator about 2 hours before serving.
Hi Cheri, Yes, you can use fresh sliced or cut up strawberries between the layers. The cake will need to be refrigerated. Remove from the refrigerator about 2 hours before serving.
Hi Cheri, Yes, you can use fresh sliced or cut up strawberries between the layers. The cake will need to be refrigerated. Remove from the refrigerator about 2 hours before serving.
Question – do you boil your strawberry puree at all to reduce it? I’ve seen some recipes that say if you don’t it will be too water-y. Thanks!
One more question please. When you say you used frozen strawberries slightly sweetened…did you buy plain frozen strawberries and sweeten them a bit before making the purée, or did you buy the frozen strawberries already in a sweetened syrup?
I made a strawberry cake once before – different recipe – that didn’t turn out…and I want to make sure I do this one right.
Thank you!
Hi! I’m really excited to try this recipe. I’ve been looking for a strawberry cake recipe that results In a soft, tender and moist cake. I was looking at using another recipe that cooks their fresh strawberry down to a reduction. I did it to prepare for the next day but then I realized the recipe doesn’t use cake flour and only uses butter. After a while I find that I prefer Cake flour and oil in my cakes, especially when they need to be refrigerated.
I came across your recipe and I was in luck. But unfortunately I already reduced my strawberries down. Do you think the recipe will still work the same if I use the cooked strawberries. I have over 340g in weight. Do you think I should add more milk or something to the recipe?
Also, would changing the ratio of butter and oil in the recipe do any good? Like increasing the oil and decreasing the butter to keep the same fat content.
Hi Jaz, I’m happy you want to try the recipe. Our recipe calls for 340grams pureed strawberries, so I think it would still be fine with the reduced strawberries you have. Your strawberries must be very thick after reduction, is that your worry? Once out of the refrigerator for a while, they should loosen up. I think the gram weight is what is important.
Okay! Thank you. I’ll give it a shot today and see what happens. The reduction has sugar in it as well. In the other recipe I used 32oz of Strawberries and 4oz of sugar with a tablespoon of lemon juice.
I reduced it down to maybe 1 1/2 cups. It cake out pretty thick.. maybe a bit Thicker than tomato sauce when chilled. Should I cut back on some of the sugar in the recipe since the Strawberries have sugar in it? If so, how much would you suggest? I Don’t want the cake to wind up too sweet.
I used lightly sweetened the strawberries in my cake. Some strawberries are naturally sweeter than others. In the future, you could taste one to decide if it needs a sprinkling of sugar. I would not cut back on the sugar in the recipe. I hope all goes well, let me know.
Dear Melissa for the strawberry cake recipe can I use regular flour instead of cake flour I really don’t like baking with cake flour also the recipe calls for 1tablespoons plus half of baking powder can that be cut down are do you have to use that much because that seems to be a lot
Hi Carla, If you would like to use all purpose flour this is the substitution you should use. For each cup of flour a the recipe, you will remove 2 Tablespoons and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch. For this recipe, measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour (plain in the UK) remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch(corn flour in the UK). Whisk to blend.
If you reduce the amount of baking powder, I am not sure of the outcome because we have not given that a try. We think it is the right amount for the recipe. I hope you will enjoy the cake.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I made for my husband for Valentine’s and it was incredible! Best strawberry cake ever!
How many pans of 2×8 circular does this make? Also how far do I fill it?
We used three 8×2 inch round pans. You could also use two 9×2 inch pans. This recipe makes 7 1/2 cups batter that you will divide evenly between the pans.
Is it okay to use the puréed frozen strawberries while they’re still cold?
Hi Michaela, I have used cold pureed strawberries and there was no problem. Hope you will enjoy the recipe.
Just wondering if I could use strawberry instant jello with this recipe
Hi Jerome, We have not tried using strawberry jello. Do you want to use it instead of strawberry extract? I would suggest using maybe 2 Tablespoons — remember I have not experimented with this.
Thank you so much for adding the amount of batter the cake makes! Most bakers omit, and you’re left wondering how to split the batter into desired pans. I’m so excited to try your cake!
Hi Bee, hope you will enjoy the cake. Let us know what you think.