I want to share with you my absolute most favorite recipe for homemade strawberry cake. For some reason, good from-scratch strawberry cake recipes are really hard to find. There are a wealth of recipes that use strawberry-flavored jello, strawberry extract, and a boxed cake mix but what if you want to make a cake to put a dent in that gallon bag of strawberries you have in the freezer?
If you ask me, strawberries just might be the world’s most perfect fruit. Well, pretty darn perfect as long as they’re ripe and clean 
Decadent enough to be considered dessert on their own, they most certainly don’t need artificially flavored Jello and food coloring to bring out the best in them.
If you are still looking for a good, completely-from-scratch strawberry cake without Yellow No. 5 and Red No. 6, this should go on the top of your must-try list. The cake is nice and moist, has a prominent strawberry flavor, and it’s pink! From nothin‘ but strawberries.
“This is so cool! Listen to this: Potatoes, sunflower oil, and salt. That’s all!”
My husband was really excited. I stared at him from across the booth at Jason’s Deli, no doubt a little puzzled at the time. He was reading the ingredients on a bag of potato chips and was completely blown away that the manufacturer was only selling us potato chips in our bag of potato chips.
I was a little surprised myself. Ingredient labels on packaged foods can sometimes be a little daunting – and sometimes extremely disappointing (cough Central Market and their pistachio-less Pistachio Muffins cough).
I’m most definitely not anti-packaged foods. I always have a couple boxes of Duncan Hines cake mix in my pantry. There’s nothing worse than being wide awake at 1am and having nothing sweet to munch on or getting smacked with a chocolate craving when the weather is too bad to leave the house. French Vanilla cupcakes, straight out of the oven, are the best! And your house still smells wonderful when you come downstairs the next day. That being said, I do mostly bake from scratch because it’s fun.
You know, “fun” to realize that you don’t have enough sugar, “fun” to get started and realize that there is actually an over-night step involved, or “fun” to realize that what you thought was a box of cake flour in the bottom drawer of the pantry was actually a misplaced box of Lucky Charms. You know. “Fun.”
This has been the most popular recipe on my site for over 3 years now. I’ve tried to condense the most common questions and comments from the comments below into a FAQ. Please do take a second to skim through so you get the best tasting cake from your efforts!
Strawberry Cake FAQ
Why is the cake in the picture three layers and the recipe only for two?
Because I doubled the recipe (4 layers) and froze the extra layer. If you want a 3-layer cake, you can do the same. Or just increase the recipe by 50% for the third layer (you’ll need 3 pans).
Why is my cake a different color than yours?
All of the color and flavor comes from the berries. Use the best, ripest berries you can find during strawberry season – all red berries with little/no white. Out-of-season berries that have been shipped half a world away won’t give you a pretty pink cake or much strawberry flavor so consider using frozen (no sugar added) berries instead. If your color/flavor is lacking, it was the berries.
For the strawberry puree, I’ve found that cooking the strawberries down gives the cake a more vibrant color (see the cupcake picture above) and a stronger strawberry flavor. To do this using fresh strawberries, rough chop the strawberries, toss with sugar, and let sit for an hour or so until nice and juicy. Add 1/4 cup water and then simmer in a small sauce pan for 15-20 minutes, until the berries are very soft.
To do this using frozen strawberries, place the thawed berries and any accumulated juices into a small sauce pan and then simmer 15-20 minutes, until the berries are very soft.
Pour into a fine strainer set over a bowl. With a rubber spatula or spoon, scrape and press the strawberries through the strainer until all of the juice is in the bowl and you’re only left with the juiceless pulp (don’t rush this step – it’s important). Discard the pulp and transfer the juice back to the sauce pan. Reduce the liquid down to 1/2 cup and cool. Proceed with the recipe, using 1/2 cup of milk.
What is this “cooked puree” business? That wasn’t here last time I made this cake.
See the previous question. If you use the cooked puree method described above, you’ll use 1/2 cup cooked puree + 1/2 cup milk. If you use the original method described in the recipe below, you’ll use 3/4 cup fresh puree + 1/4 cup milk.
What did you fill the cake in the picture with?
I used Quick Buttercream Frosting and leftover strawberry puree (from the recipe below).
What frosting do you recommend?
Quick Buttercream Frosting (pictured) and Cream Cheese Frosting are our two favorites.
What can I do with the extra strawberry puree
You won’t have extra puree if you use the cook method. Otherwise, fold it into some of the frosting and fill the cake with it, eat it on a PB&J sandwich, spread it on pancakes or biscuits… or grab a spoon!
Is the cake strong enough to support fondant and tiering?
Yes! I’ve done both with no problems.
Can I make the cake into cupcakes?
Of course! Check the cupcakes for doneness around 20 minutes.
How can I make this cake gluten-free?
I have no experience with gluten-free baking, but Marianna has offered some great tips in her comments below.
Fresh Strawberry Cake
A completely from-scratch, fresh strawberry cake. No jello, food coloring, or artificial flavors!
Ingredients
- For the strawberry puree:
- 24 oz very ripe strawberries, hulled (or no-sugar-added frozen strawberries)
- 1-2 tsp sugar (optional)
- (see FAQ above for alternate strawberry puree method)
- For the cake:
- 1/4-1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
- 6 large egg whites, room temperature (4 whole eggs can be substituted, per reader comments)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cup cake flour, sifted
- 1 3/4 cup sugar
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temp
Instructions
- If frozen strawberries in whatever form (sliced, whole, etc) and in whatever container/bag you have them in. Pour into a fine strainer placed over a bowl and let sit. Lightly toss the strawberries occasionally to remove any pockets of excess liquid. Reserve the liquid for another use or discard (see FAQ above for alternate use of the liquid).
- If using fresh strawberries, just hull, slice and toss with a teaspoon or two of sugar and cover. Let them sit at room temperature for a couple of hours, until nice and juicy.
- Place strawberries in a food processor or blender and puree.
- Reserve 3/4 cup puree for the cake. (If you are using the cooked puree method from the FAQ above, you will only use 1/2 cup puree.)
- Use leftover puree to fill the cake or fold into the frosting, if desired (you will not have leftover puree if you use the cooked puree method). It's also fabulous spooned over ice cream... and eaten straight with a spoon.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 8- or 9-inch pans: spray inside with baking spray with flour (or use some sort of grease/flour combination).
- In small bowl, combine puree, milk (if you used the cooked puree method in the FAQ above, you'll use 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of puree; if you did not cook your puree, use 1/4 cup of milk and 3/4 cup of puree), egg, vanilla and mix with fork until well blended. In bowl of stand mixer, add sifted flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix to combine. Continue beating at slow speed and add butter. Mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs.
- Add wet ingredients and beat at medium speed for about 1 minute or until full and evenly combined. Stop mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl and hand beat for 30 more seconds.
- Note: The batter will not get any pinker in the oven so if you're disappointed in the color from your berries, maybe consider adding a drop or two of pink or red food coloring.
- Divide the batter evenly among the pans and smooth tops.
- Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (time will vary). Let cakes rest in pan for about 10 minutes and turn out onto wire racks. Let cakes cool completely (about 2 hours).
Notes
Yields: 1 2-layer cake (8 or 9 inches) or 24 cupcakes
Estimated time: 40 minutes
{ 493 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m REALLY flattered at how much you like this cake. Really. Because it is TOTALLY one of my favorites. I feel the same way about strawberries. Mmm….. and you MUUUUUST tell me where you got that most BEAUTIFUL cake plate! Because now I lust it!!
Looks delicious and definitely perfect for any strawberry lover!
Hell yes for REAL cake – no packaged for me!! Your cake is absolutely spectacular.
Katie – Thanks! The cake plate is from Martha Stewart’s line at Macy’s. There are 3 in the set: 8, 10, and 12-inch. My mom could only find the 8 and 10-inch at Christmas because they temporarily sold out… I’m still looking for the 12
I always thought it was strange that there weren’t as many recipes for strawberry cakes as there should be. Martha Stewart has a good cupcake one that I’ve used. But now I have a go to layer cake one. Thanks!
I know what you mean about reading labels, it is very rarely a good experience. That’s way gorgeous recipes like this are such a triumph and so simple too. Lovely!
Your husband is cute. And he sounds like me at Passover. You’d be surprised how many potato chips include more than potatoes, oil, and salt!
If you want to really amaze him, show him a bottle of natural peanut butter.
What icing recipe did you use with the cake? Was hoping to make it this afternoon with my son.
Thanks!
Hi Little Miss Mel,
I just used your everyday basic American buttercream frosting:
2 sticks butter unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
5 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
Cream butter + flavoring until smooth. Mix in confectioner’s sugar + salt and beat 2-3 minutes. Add milk as necessary to thin for spreading (usually 2-4 Tbsp)
This cake looks delicious, and I was just wondering if anyone has tried baking a sheet cake with this Fresh Strawberry cake recipe? I want to make my grandson’s birthday cake with this recipe because he loves strawberrys. Thanks! Tina Miller Artho
From scratch…I just love this. I miss strawberries. I’m inspired to make this. I bet it was sooooo good.
i’ve been meaning to try this cake! i’m glad you reminded me! i should make it for my mom when i get back from my business trip cause i know she’d love it!
looks beautiful! i super puffy heart the cake stand too. its on my want list after seeing them during christmas too!
You got me – I use a box of jello I think in mine, but it does call for real strawberries, at least! I have a TON of strawberries frozen from over the summer so I’ll have to try this! My dad loves strawberry cake.
Thanks so much for this recipe! You’re so right–I always look at strawberry cake and frosting recipes and I’m disappointed because they’re not really from scratch…and my whole reason of wanting to make the cake is having lots of strawberries!
This one looks delicious!
This looks amazing. I bet my children would love it! Such a fan of anything strawberry. Looks so very pretty too!!
I do love that cake plate. SO pretty with the pink and white cake.
I just printed off a strawberry cake recipe from another blogsite and was looking for another to compare..and here you are! Thank you. This looks beautiful. You must have scaled up the recipe for three layers, yes? Could you share?
ok, I just iced the cake. Will have visitors this afternoon to try it. We’ll see how well I did!! The icing tasted great at least! haha (I used 4 tbs of milk.)
What is the key to not get crumbs in the icing? I had to do a lot of retouches!!
Some tips/tricks to I use to keep the crumbs to a minimum are:
-Make sure cake is COMPLETELY COOLED before frosting (cakes can crumb really easily
when warm because they are way softer than when left to cool completely). If you’re in
a hurry, you can speed the cooling by putting the cake in the fridge/freezer for 15- 20
mins–this also gives you time to make your frosting if you haven’t already.
-Lightly brush off existing crumbs from cake tops and sides. Heat some jelly/jam in a
microwave safe cup until melted. Quickly brush layers/sides with liquid and set aside
to cool. The jelly, as it cools, will help to form a “coating” that will seal in crumbs and
make frosting easier.
Hope this helps you! =)
This cake was fantastic and a huge hit at the baby shower it was made for. It was the first time I have been to a party where almost all of the cake got eaten. There was only a small portion left.
Susan – I made the recipe twice for this post and have an extra layer wrapped in the freezer (dessert, anyone?).
Little Miss Mel – The key to crumbless frosting is to do a ‘crumb coat’ – apply a very thin coating of frosting to the entire cake and let it set for 30 minutes. It will look absolutely awful but the frosting traps all the crumbs. Then frost the cake as usual – there shouldn’t be a crumb in sight!
Debra – I am so glad to hear that you guys enjoyed the cake! Those fondant lady bugs made for a fun project
I would have totally used this a couple weeks ago for a little girl birthday party! It looks delicious!
Love your cake! I’ve made both Paula Deen’s and Sprinkle’s strawberry cake recipes both were good but I might have liked Paul Deen’s better. Yeah, it uses a box.
Strawberry season is starting up here so it’s time to break out the strawberry recipes. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I’m definitely going to give it a try as the kids do love strawberries & cake!
~ingrid
btw, that is a totally GREAT cake platter! Oh, and I meant to ask but what kind of frosting did you use? Recipe? THX!
this looks so simple, fresh & not to mention delish – this will be perfect for valentines day! thx!
I love strawberry cake. Can’t wait to try this!
You are so right about strawberry cake. And strawberries. They are perfect. I will definitely be trying this recipe out. Thank you!
Wow! What a gorgeous looking cake! I love strawberry flavored anything. This sounds so good!
This cake looks amazing! I love strawberries and am lucky enough to live near Plant City, FL (which is known for its strawberries). I really must find an excuse to try this recipe soon.
You can pick up the award on my blog.
I also wanted to let you know I nominated your blog for an award. That’s just my way of saying thanks for all the great recipes and the wonderful blog you have!
This cake is just too pretty for words. Splendid. I have a strawberry cake up on my blog, and I’m almost ashamed to admit that it’s made with cake mix. Thanks for giving me a from scratch alternative. Great shots too. It looks like the perfect slice!
Yuuuuummmmm!
Just curious, the picture for the strawberry cake looks like 3 layers but recipe only calls for 2 8inch pans. Do you usually use 3 layers or just the 2?
Tanisha – I usually use 3 layers but I just make the original recipe twice every other time that I bake the cake and store the extra layer in the freezer for the next time. I’m sure I’ve made it far more complicated than it should be… I should probably just scale the recipe up by 50%
Can I use all purpose or self rising flour or does it have to be cake flour. I always liked the smoother texture over the more course and airy texture that the cake flour produces.
Hi Carol, I’d probably not think twice about using AP flour but I’ve never used self-rising flour for anything.
I’m looking at making this cake for a birthday this weekend. The recipe says it yields 2-8 in cakes. In the picture shown, there are three layers. Do I need to double the recipe to make 3 fluffy layers? What is the portion used in the illustration?
I have long wanted to recreate for my Mum’s birthday a neopolitan cake that she made for me on my birthday when I was little. The chocolate and white layers are easy, the pink has always held me back. Mum used red food colouring
I need to make a 9 inch cake, could you offer some help in adjusting the recipe?
Thank you Periwinkle for mentioning a neopolitan cake. I have been having a difficult time trying to decide what kind of cake to make for my son’s 2nd birthday next week. I think a neopolitan will be perfect! I would have never thought of that.
Thank you foodiebride for sharing this recipe. It is exactly the type of cake I like to serve my family.
Jill – I usually make the original recipe twice every other time that I bake the cake and store the extra layer in the freezer for the next time. If you don’t want to do that, you could increase the recipe by 50% and make 3 layers all at once.
Periwinkle – A Neopolitan Cake sounds wonderful! Good news is that you wouldn’t necessarily need to change the recipe. the 9-inch layers might be a tad shorter because the pan is just a bit larger. You have a few options: proceed normally through the recipe, torte the two layers into 4 (this will give the cake a little more height), or increase the entire recipe by 50% and go with a three layer cake.
Wow, this looks great! I was looking for a recipe and printed one with jello. Now i think i’ll try this one instead. I just MIGHT add red food coloring maybe, since it’s for a child and he may think pink is girly.
Just wanted to add – I made this cake for the birthday I mentioned and everyone was floored! Here is what my 24 year old daughter just IM’d me at work:
“Your strawberrry cake is the freakin best. It is the best cake I have EVER tasted! I like it better than chocolate even! And that is saying alot.YEAH! It’s SO freaking moist and just the exact right amount of sweet with fruity! I have NEVER had such a great cake before! I was totally wowed! FOR REAL!!!”
Thanks so much, good to find another central Texas blogger.
By the way, I didn’t add the food coloring and it was still pink. I used 9″ layers and cut them in half, pouring the extra puree on the cut sides with a frosting dam. I will post photos on my blog with a link to yours on 4/7/09. Check it out!
I made this cake on Sunday for my daughter’s birthday/Easter. Literally the best cake EVER. That is saying a lot because I don’t like cake. I will now call it the Strawberry Love cake.
I made a buttercream frosting and (oops) added too much puree which made it a Strawberry Ganache really. It was so good. This is my new favorite and “go to” cake. We live in Raspberry country and I WILL be trying out a raspberry version.
Thank you for posting!
At last! A strawberry cake recipe that does not use a mix or Jello. I have strawberries in my garden and have been looking for a good cake recipe. I can’t wait to try this one. My dad’s 81st birthday is later this week and I want to make a him a “different” cake. As we all love cheesecake I’m using cream cheese frosting. I love the idea of doubling the recipe and freezing the extra layer.
ive had this recipe on my to-bake list for sooo long and your post was the last kick i needed! will def try it out. i love strawberry!!!
I’m looking for a REAL strawberry cake for my daughter’s b’day. I’m so glad to have found ur post! Thanks!. One quick question, is there a reason for excluding the egg yolks from this recipe? Will adding 6 whole eggs (instead of just the whites) make a difference to the final product?
Oh, my. Just made this with fresh, very ripe summer strawberries. Since we picked up a flat of berries at the farm stand, we also did strawberry icing and strawberry filling (from Martha Stewart). It’s Father’s day and my husband loves strawberry cake. Wonderful. Very pink, moist and sweet. Heaven!! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Zarina. My guess would be that the yolks would cause the cake to be heavier/more dense since it’s additional fat. I don’t think that you could use 6 whole eggs and get the cake to turn out because of the 6 Tbsp volume difference: The volume of 6 egg whites is approx 3/4 cup of liquid. The volume of 6 whole eggs is approx 1 1/8 cup liquid. You *could* try using 4 large whole eggs (approx 3/4 cup) but I’ve never used whole eggs in this recipe. Results not guaranteed
Thanks so much for the quick response! Just in time to bake the cake tomorrow!:)
Hi! I’ll add my thanks to the many others in the comments of this post. What a wonderful recipe! I’d was just getting goo and frustrated that every single recipe I found for strawberry cake called for either a white cake mix or strawberry jello, when I stumbled upon your recipe for an actual strawberry cake from scratch.
I made the cake earlier today and accompanied it with a lovely white chocolate frosting (this one, in case you’re interested. Turned out wonderful!
Thanks so much!
I made this last night and it was really good. Thanks for the recipe.
Could you substitute an equal amount of oil instead of butter? I find it makes a moister cake.
Thanks so much for a from scratch recipe for a beautiful strawberry cake!!!! It took me a while to find your recipe online. THANK YOU!!!!!!!
This recipe is great. I made it for my daughter’s birthday and everyone loved it. Although she doesn’t eat cake, she tasted this and liked it. Yes, that’s right, my daughter doesn’t eat cake but insists on a birthday cake for her birthday for her friends and family to enjoy. This one was the greatest and she ate it. Thanks.
THANK YOU!!!!
I have a cake to make for a baby shower, and the grandmother asked for a strawberry marble cake(its a girl). Because its marble, any cake I try to make with a jello mix on the strawberry side would be to heavy, and because of the extreme difference in the cake density, it wouldn’t raise right.
I have been searching high and low on the internet for a recipe that did not involve jello or a box mix, not only for the above mentioned density, but to maintain my stubborn ‘i make everything 100% from scratch’ reputation! (I make box mixes for myself, not for friends
)
I just came across this recipe and I think it will be perfect for a friend’s birthday coming up. One question: The recipe uses two 8-inch pans, but your picture has 3 layers. Did you 1 1/2 the recipe when you actually made the cake?
Love your blog! THANKS!
Hi Dianna – Yep, you can increase the recipe by 50%. I actually made the recipe twice for this post. The extra layer ended up as cake truffles
My cake, disappointingly, wasn’t pink, even though I followed the recipe exactly. ): Is it the strawberries I used?
Hi–My daughter wants a strawberry horse cake for her birthday. I’m wondering if this will work in a 9×13 pan. I’m planning to cut the cake into the shape of a horse’s head before I frost and want to make sure this cake will be firm enough for that. I will probably freeze the cake before I cut it. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Elena – it should be fine. I was going to recommend freezing it before carving but you’ve got that covered!
Eugenia – yep, most likely the juice in the berries. In recipes where I don’t use many strawberries or ones that aren’t maybe quite ripe enough (ie, strawberry bread), the color can sometimes end up more on the bland, pinkish-grey side.
I adapted a white cake recipe once, and it was a lot like this. Even looked a lot like your photo. I think this recipe fixed some of my mistakes, though, like mine was a little TOO moist (kinda fell in the center) because I didn’t decrease the milk enough in the original recipe. Also, I think I didn’t use quite as many strawberries as this recipe did.
I made strawberry frosting for it, too, by using pureed strawberries instead of vanilla or milk in regular vanilla buttercream. It doesn’t take much, maybe a quarter to a third cup? I’m not sure, since I never wrote it down.
I think it would work with a cream cheese frosting, too. Maybe even better, since with mine I had to add WAY too much sugar to get it to set.
Can’t wait to make this for our Valentine’s day party!
A bit dense but a very delicious cake. I made food coloring with beets so it was more pink. Yums.
I am sooooo excited! I too love to cook from scratch and was super happy to find your recipe. We are celebrating my mom’s 82nd birthday this weekend and she requested strawberry cake…from a mix! This will be much more delicious and healthier too. I think I’ll try the beet idea as I want it to be a bit “pinker”.
Cheers!
I made this awesome cake for my daughter’s 11th birthday at her request. It was simply delicious! I made your american buttercream frosting and folded in the strawberry puree–too good for words. It has become the new request for all birthdays in my family. Thanks for sharing. It was important to me to make it completely from scratch, and I upped the recipe by half to make the three layers. My entire family thanks you for posting this recipe!
Lady Logan
I just made this cake literally 30 minutes ago, and it is absolutely the best cake I have ever had! It has a wonderful taste, which is a given because of the strawberries. And the color is beautiful, a nice light pink which makes it look homemade and natural.
I made it for my sisters birthday, and she loves strawberry cake, but the store bought kind, and I wanted to make something homemade that would taste even better, and this recipe truly is!
Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
-Christina
I just made this and first will say that it is by far the MOISTEST cake I have ever made. Absolutely wonderful! But I had 2 major problems perhaps you could help with.
1. It fell in the middle and I’ve never had a cake do that before!
2. It didn’t really taste like strawberries. It tasted a bit “fruity” but not enough to scream “strawberry”. How defrosted should the strawberries be? Like super soft? I’m concerned that mine weren’t defrosted enough hence watering down the taste.
Thanks so much…love your blog
Thank you so much for posting this recipe.. Like a lot of others here I have been looking for a recipe for strawberry cake for a while and was very disappointed to find so many that call for box mixes and jello. That just sounds plain gross to me. I like to make most of my meals from natural ingredients. Also I live in Italy so it is impossible to buy box mixes and jello. Any american food that I make has to be from basic ingredients. This cake is amazing! I have always loved the betty crocker strawberry cake mix since I was a kid but now that I am an adult I know better than to use box mixes. This cake was very easy to make and fun (my five year old helped). My husband told me it was the best dessert he has ever had and that is saying a lot because he loves to eat.. I used a package of marscapone cheese mixed with zuchero vellato (powdered sugar) for the icing and it was AMAZING.
Thank You!
This is now my all time favorite cake!
Hi Natasha! I’m planning on making this cake for an upcoming baby shower, and was hoping to do a mascarpone topping. I’ve never thought or heard of mixing mascarpone with powdered sugar–that sounds wonderful! Can you tell me how much of each you used?
Thanks!
Wow I just clicked on your beef archives and I see that you are from Houston. I am too:)
Thanks for the blog!
Small world..
p.s. Lupe Tortillas is the best!
wow…fresh strawberry cake…what a wonderful thing…..your right about the recipe, though its rare to find one actually using real strawberries..
thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe
I’m making this cake for my daughters birthday. I made one layer in a heart shaped pan that she loves and used the rest of the batter for cupcakes she can take to school. I can’t wait to see how they turn out! Thanks so much for this recipe, my son is red dye sensitive so anytime I have to make something pink or red it becomes a challenge to do it without artificial colors.
I am going to make this cake tomorrow for my daughter’s birthday. I love that it is actually from scratch as that is difficult to find. Does anyone know of a healthier frosting recipe (less butter and sugar)? Would a whipped cream frosting go well with this cake? Thanks!
Stefanie – Cream cheese frosting goes really well with the strawberry cake.
Wow I made these last week for my birthday and they were awesome! I did tweak the recipe a bit and added extra strawberries and some lemon zest. But wow what a great recipe. Will definitely make these again. I also frosted them with cream cheese frosting. Simply delicious! http://tinypic.com/r/rhibub/5
I was wondering about using fresh strawberries: after the strawberries have been macerated in the sugar for a couple of hours, do i still drain the strawberries through a strainer and then puree the strawberrie, or do i just puree the strawberries with the juice?
Michael – when fresh, puree with the juice.
when using frozen strawberries, do you sweetened or unsweetened?
Lisa – I use unsweetened strawberries.
This recipe is the bomb!! I made cupcakes for my daughter’s birthday and they were delicious!! This recipe is a keeper! Thank you for posting it. With all the processed food products these days, it is so refreshing to have a “from-scratch” recipe to share.
How do I make a 1/4 sheet cake out of this. Is one receipe good enough?
Thx!
Athena – Yes, one recipe will yield enough for a 2 layer cake or a 9×13 cake. Good luck!
is the cook time and oven heating the same for a 9×13 cake? thanks
i tried this recipe but it turned out very greasy. I followed the measurement and the procedure step by step but still it was too oily. BUt the flavor is really good. Next time I’ll try to cut the butter see if it helps.
Melanie – the oven temp is the same and the baking time will be close – just start checking it ~5 minutes early.
I tried this cake for my daughter’s birthday and I used the leftover puree to drizzle on top with a homemade whip cream frosting and it was amazing! Thank you for the awesome recipe. I did cook it in a 9×13 pan and it was same temp and cook time as the round cake! thank you again, it has been added to my berry favorite recipes!
Do you sift the flour before or after measuring? How many cupcakes does this make? I can’t wait to try it out!
Hi Heather – sift the flour after measuring. The recipe should make ~24 cupcakes.
If I wanted to make a sheet cake using a 9 x 13 roasting pan, would this recipe be enough to fill a pan this size? Would the heaviness of this recipe make it hard to take out of the pan after it cools?
Thank you
Linda – the recipe will make one 9×13 or two layer (8 or 9 inch). I haven’t personally made the cake in a 9×13 but I know others have – no one has mentioned any trouble getting it out of the pan. Good luck!
I’m thawing strawberries now and I’d like to try this recipe, but I’m a little concerned about it having no egg yolk. Maybe I could sub 2 whites for 1 whole egg, or do you think it’s not necessary?
Jessica – I’ve never had any issues with the recipe not calling for a yolk (it’s a converted white cake recipe). I don’t think its necessary but you can always try!
Oh wow, this is just fabulous!! Thank you for a NATURAL cake- nothing here but goodness. I am going to make this for my son’s birthday. Made a trial run tonight and really, it is so great. Light as air.
Thank you for doing all the work of creating this recipe.
I am having a strawberry social on Sunday with 25 people attending. I was surprised to find all those jello/cake mix versions. As a former 4H’er farm kid who grew up in the 50′s & 60′s and became a restaurant reviewer, it is always horrifying to see what people consider to be good food.
My guests will be delighted with these strawberry cupcakes — and strawberry short cake, strawberry/rubharb mousse and strawberry ice cream with fresh strawberrys!
Thank you again.
Eve
Is anyone willing to share a good frosting recipe for this cake? Would you use a basic vanilla with some strawberry puree folded in?
I’ve made this twice in as many weeks. So delicious and moist, as everyone’s said. This recipe is a keeper. I’m inspired to bake from scratch more often– I’m even leaving the stand mixer on the counter! Thank you!
I loved Strawberry Cake. This looks Beautiful. I will try to make it. I hope my son will enjoy this recipe.
THIS IS A REALLY GOOD CAKE FOR MY GRANDSON
Do you think other fruit purees would work, peaches nectarines, cherries, maybe?
I’ve used blackberries so there’s a good chance that other fruits would work as well. Good luck!
Just made the cake and its cooling. One question: the center of the cakes are sunken in. Is that normal or did I do something wrong? Thanks
@nathan, the cake most likely sunken in center because there was alot of movement near your oven (examole: somebody jumped or was running around)
I want to use an 8″ round by 3″ deep cake pan…will it work? Will I have to decrease the temp of the oven, increase the time? Will it dry out the edges? I’ve got a flat of fresh juicy strawberries just waiting to be used…can’t wait to try this out!
Jennifer – the only cake I’ve ever attempted in the same manner was a 6″ carrot cake baked in a 3″ pan rather than two 2″ pans- and I turned the oven down 25 degrees and set the timer for the original cooking time. I did the skewer test when the timer went off and then judged how much time was left by how wet the center of the cake was. Good luck!
Hello, can this be baked in a bundt cake and do you have to modify the baking time. This is only scratch recipe that I found online with universally good reviews.
Thanks
Jen, I don’t know why it couldn’t be baked in a bundt pan. I’ve never done it with this particular recipe so I don’t have any worthwhile advice on the cooking time. If I were doing it, I’d just set the timer for 5 minutes short of the suggested cooking time and then have a skewer nearby to be able to start checking for doneness. After that first peek, you’ll probably get a good idea if you need to go 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or even longer. Good luck!
Best cake ever! Seriously!
Apart from wanting to make a strawberry cake from scratch because I *like* making things from scratch I also had the challenge of being from Denmark – I’d be reluctant to use cake mixes and jellos we have here as they are different from the American ones, and then who knows how many test runs I’d have to do to make an acceptable cake…
As I had to make two cakes and was running out of time I made a double portion and filled one full portion of batter in each pan, then I put both pans in the oven. Baking time was around 40-45 minutes; I switched the top and bottom cake every 15 minutes. The one originally in the bottom took 5 minutes longer. Then I split the cakes in two layers each with a thread. Worked like a charm
would like for you to suggest cooking temp & time for baking this cake in a 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1 size pan. I am going to make 2 sheets with fresh strawberry’s between layers.
Meriyogi – that pan should bake pretty quickly. I’d turn the temp down to 325 and take a peek around 10-12 minutes, expecting it to go a few minutes longer.
I tried this, I made it for a bake sale. I tasted some of it that I had cut off to make it even for frosting.
I had added more strawberries, but I’m ending up it tastes like just plain flour with a hint of strawberries. It tastes alright, but I think I’m gonna cut down on the flour a bit and see if that helps.
But if you have any suggestions, I would appreciate it.
Melissa – If the strawberries are good and ripe, try letting them sit with the sugar for a longer period, even overnight in the fridge. if I can’t get my hands on ripe and juicy strawberries, I hit up the frozen section for strawberries. The freezing/thawing process makes it easier to release the juice. Good luck! It really is a tasty cake when the strawberries cooperate!
I am making a two tier cake for a friend who is having a small wedding. She wants strawberry cake and I like your recipe and all the great reviews you have gotten. How many recipes would you make to bake 2 10-inch layers and 2 6-inch layers? And, do you think a meringue buttercream would go well? Thanks for your help! I can’t wait to try it. I think I am going to make cupcakes tonight to try it. My kids will love me!
Julie – the recipe is standard yield so 1 recipe would make enough to bake in 4 6-inch pans. Doubling the recipe would yield enough batter for a 10-inch cake. I love making Swiss meringue bc, so I think it would taste great!
how about the Icing???
Can put Some Chocolate Gnash??
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! It was really hard to find a from scratch strawberry cake. When I made this cake I used a jar of Nutella to frost it and topped it with strawberries. It was amazingly good!!
Will this cake withstand fondant? I would really like to make this recipe for a friend of mine but she wants fondant on the cake! It looks like a great recipe!
I have put fondant on that cake – works just fine! Good luck!
This was NOT a good recipe at all!! I made this cake for my family it the taste was just awful. I followed the recipe perfectly. I have been making cakes here lately from scratch and I made an apple one and it wonderful and then I tried this one and it was terrible. You might want to fix a few things to make it taste better or look and see if there is a typo or something.
Ashleigh – Sorry you didn’t like it. I’ve made the recipe several times as posted as have many others. It’s an awesome cake when made correctly!
This recipe looks great. My daughter is requesting a “pink cake” for her birthday, so I am going to try this. Can you recommend a frosting? I’d love to know your thoughts on this. We aren’t big on overly sweet and fondant would be too difficult for me. Also, I was curious as to why you do not need to beat the egg whites separately first. Would you recommend this? Thank you so much, can’t wait to tell you how it turns out!
Maria – I think a cream cheese frosting would be great. The recipe is based on the Cook’s Illustrated White Cake recipe and they take the odd step of beating the egg whites. I’m not certain of the reason behind the yummy madness.
@foodiebride, As this is based on a white cake recipe that is (i assume) the reason for only whites. The beating of whites seperately is for a texture reason but if it is only for color that wouldn’t be necessary. Based on that I would assume substituting whole eggs would be acceptable as long as the liquid amount is the same?
@Sheri, I haven’t done it but I’d guess that substituting 4 whole eggs for the 6 whites would be acceptable.
Can i make these into cupcakes??
love love love it!!
I was wondering what you thought about subbing almond extract for vanilla extract? I had strawberry cake at a wedding and it was so good but it had a very unique taste and I think it may have been almond. I would love your opinion. Thanks!
@Stephanie, I *love* almond extract and there are few baked goods wouldn’t be made better by adding a few drops. I think 1/2 tsp of almond extract, maybe 3/4 tsp, would be plenty. If you try it, you’ll have to tell me how it works out!
Wow , I LOVED this cake! I made mine dairy free, and it worked out really well!
What type of frosting did you use for this cake? Just curious
@Debra, I just used your everyday basic American buttercream frosting for the cake in the picture – but cream cheese frosting is good, too:
2 sticks butter unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
5 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
Cream butter + flavoring until smooth. Mix in confectioner’s sugar + salt and beat 2-3 minutes. Add milk as necessary to thin for spreading (usually 2-4 Tbsp)
Thanks for a wonderful recipe! I just made this for my daughter’s Strawberry Shortcake b-day party today. It was received with rave reviews. I cheated and didn’t make the frosting from scratch but I did add some of the reserve juice to make it pink and strawberry tasting. If I weren’t so full I’d be ready for another piece.
I made this cake last night for our family’s Valentine dinner and we loved it!
I halved the recipe and baked in a 6″ round which I sliced in half (and had to take the top off, of course, to level and taste test lol). I had a cup of leftover buttercream from another cake last week that I put between the layers and on top along with the remaining puree. I made it on a whim so I did not have enough strawberries to put slices between the layers. Guess I’ll just have to make it again. I think next time I will try this with whip cream frosting or even as an ice cream cake. The smaller cake was perfect for the four of us.
This recipe is a keeper! Thank you so much for posting it. Later this week, I think I’l be trying your Mongolian Beef recipe.
I made this cake for my daughters birthday, and let’s just say i’ll never make cake from a box again! super moist and delicious…i frosted her cake with a toasted coconut cream cheese icing (from scratch) and made a great combo!
I was very excited to find a natural way (avoiding red food dye) to make a pink cake for my daughter’s very pink birthday party. Unfortunately, though, the cake did not come out pink. Not even remotely pink. I even added more puree than the recipe called for. I used frozen strawberries, and although they are a very nice red color, they are not particularly sweet. This accounts for the lack of strawberry taste, but not really the lack of pink color. I’m disappointed, but hope a pink strawberry frosting will make up for the lacklustre color of the cake.
Hey there, just made this cake yesterday and im wondering if you dont have a typo in your directions. You are using 2 8″ rounds? I dont know how that could possibly work. I used two 9″ because God hates me and i cant find 8s anywhere but online. But my 9″ puffed to the top at baking time. 8s would have over flowed. also you are picturing a 3 layer cake. So i am assuming you used 3 8′s is that right?
@Katie, No typo – I use 8-inch pans. To get three layers, I usually just make the cake twice and freeze the 4th layer (and I use that one as the third layer next time).
@Katie: I am obviously not FoodieBride, but I just wanted to mention this because I saw it in her directions – she instructs to use foil (or BakeEven strips) around the outside of the pan. These are meant to help the cake bake more evenly and prevent it from puffing in the middle (and therefore you don’t have to level the top – or not level it as much). I’m guessing maybe that was the problem with your cake? I can’t be totally sure, but I thought I’d mention it. Hope you figure it out!
Ab fab recipe. I followed it exactly except I used all purpose flour instead of cake flour. I adjusted for it as recommended in numerous cookbooks and on numerous websites (for every 1 cup of cake flour use 1 cup MINUS 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour). I added a bit more puree to the batter (maybe a quarter cup). For the recommended icing I used a bit less sugar and a little puree. Really turned out awesomely. If you follow the recipe and bake properly you will be so rewarded with a lovely cake!
I just made this cake….Next time I will reduce the sugar! It turned out well…Haven’t made the frosting because I think it’s a bit sweet. I am pregnant and so I probably need to reduce the sugar intake. Thanks for this recipe
I used the gold baking pan from William Sonoma and just sprayed it with baking spray and it worked out great!
ok, you are going to wish I never found your site by the end of the day….sorry. I’ve read all 131 comments on this post and couldn’t find anything about the jelly in between the layers. (perhaps I missed the explanation) but I was wondering first what you used, was it just the puree or did you make a preserve w/ corn starch? next)-did you sandwich the puree between a thin layer of the buttercream? I’ve used a puree on a cake in the past and the cake just soaked it all in, so I’m trying to avoid that from happening.
@Gwenevere, The jelly was a thin layer of leftover puree. I put it down before the frosting layer.
I ended up thickening up the leftover puree on the stove with a little flour (I was out of cornstarch). I, too, was worried about the plain puree soaking in (since I knew the cake would be sitting around for several days before we finished it). The thickened puree tasted just about the same and was more pink than bright red but it held up wonderfully between the cakes-after a few days hardly any of it soaked in at all.
Hi! My friend requested a strawberry cake for her birthday and I tell you I had a hard time finding a recipe that is not a box mix or include gelatin, eww! i am happy to stumble across this recipe, but as I do not eat eggs I was wondering if you had a recommendation for no eggs? usually when baking, I substitute 1/4 cup applesauce for each egg called for. do you think that might work for this recipe, or should I try omitting the eggs all together?
Thanks!
Jessica, I personally wouldn’t sub all of the egg white with applesauce. Adding 3/4 cup applesauce makes me think you’ll end up with a heavy applesauce cake instead of a fluffy strawberry cake. Do they make an EggBeater version of egg whites? I’d consider that sub first but I’ve never omitted the egg whited from this recipe so I can’t say for sure.
I just wanted to add to the list of comments that I made this cake the other day, with cream cheese frosting, and it was wonderful, moist, and delicious. I am going to make it again this weekend – but as cupcakes. Thank you for a strawberry cake recipe that wasn’t cake mix and jello!
Wow , I LOVED this cake!
@Janice, Glad to hear! It’s definitely a good one, especially during strawberry season!
I just want to double check, this cake is dense enough to be part of a two-tiered cake, correct? I have to make a tier of strawberry and a tier of chocolate chip. Thank you so much!
Brooklyn
@Brooklyn, Yep! I have actually used it in both tiers of a 2-tier cake.
This cake is DELISH! Thank you so much for sharing. My family liked it so much last weekend that they are requesting it again for Easter Sunday!!
THANK YOU for this wonderful cake recipe! I used your butter cream frosting recipe too. This is a cake I will be making over and over again…so much better than a box mix and strawberry jello!
Just adding to the comments thanking you for such a fantastic cake recipe! Getting ready to take it to my Mom’s for Easter this afternoon! So good!
Hi, I’m doing this cake for my daughter’s birthday this sat. Can i do the cake on fri? And can this cake withstand fondant? Thanks!
Yes and yes!
Great and great!!… Thanks so much!
Just made you cake, such a hit! I was even asked to bake another for a co-worker for a bake sale.
@Jennifurla – Glad to hear it!
Hope this is not a crazy question, but why wrap the outside of the cake pans in heavy duty tinfoil? I’m going to make this cake tomorrow and I can’t wait! It sounds so delicious and I have some fresh strawberries that I can’t wait to use!!! Thanks for this recipe from scratch. I can’t stand box recipes!
Amy – not a crazy question! I use those Bake-Even strips every time I bake a cake. It keeps the batter near the edge of the pan cooler for longer so that the cake bakes and rises evenly. I almost never have a dome (or much of one) to level when I bake cakes. Less wasted scraps to munch on while I’m frosting the cake. It’s definitely not mandatory, but I believe they help a ton.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! What a fun website you have here.
My daughter’s third birthday is next weekend, and she very clearly told me she wanted strawberry cake. A google search led me to many recipes calling for jello, but I kept looking until I found your recipe. As a trial, I baked two nine-inch rounds. The cake stuck in the older, cheaper pan I have, so I’m replacing that before I bake the “real” cake. The stuck cake was a crumbly mess, but I put it on top, and the frosting helped me make the cake presentable. I used the cream cheese frosting from your red velvet cupcakes. My husband and I aren’t big fans of cake, and we both agreed it is the best cake we have ever tasted. Most importantly, little Lucy loved it! After three days sitting on the counter, the cake was still moist! I am a former cake mix mom who is starting to figure out homemade is worth a little extra effort. Thank you!
Kelly, Glad to hear you could save it! It really is a delicious cake. And happy birthday to your sweet little Lucy!
I forgot to mention, I made one substitution: I used four whole eggs, and the cake turned out perfectly!
Thanks for letting me know – I’ll update the ingredient list with your results so others can benefit from not having those spare egg yolks sitting around.
PS, I just posted this recipe on my blog!@ Thanks for the kick butt recipe
I made your strawberry cake last night and now I have two very stinky, broken ovens! I am a fairly confident baker and I have been looking for a good strawberry cake recipe from scratch, with real strawberries, so I was excited to try this one. Aaugh! I followed the recipe exactly, and the cakes volcanoed over everywhere in my oven! What was left did not even resemble a cake. So I self-cleaned my oven, and now they won’t even turn on. *sigh* I had high hopes. I have nothing against you, I just wanted to tell you my sob story!
@Nan, I’m sorry to hear that
Those cakes don’t usually rise abnormally, not anymore than a “normal” cake. I hope your ovens return to normal soon!
Sounds like your oven may have a heating proble,. I haven’t heard of a cake volcanoing like that unless it was way too hot. The fact that it’s unresponsive right now suggests that maybe the electrical unit might have been burning out.
Hope things work out!
I’m in the process of making this cake for a dinner get together today. I had a bunch of strawberries laying around (still fresh) so I decided to use them before they went bad. I read some other scratch recipes on other sites and the majority do require gelatin or gello; however, I found a substitute. Agar agar is an asian style gelatin and I was debating trying it out. I am also going to use the 4 whole eggs instead of wasting the yolks. I was also considering adding red food coloring to give it that reddish pink color. Also what do you think of adding a little vegetable oil or sour cream to the batter??? Just wondering.
I’m a *big* fan of using buttermilk, sour cream, or greek yogurt in place of whole milk in baking recipes. I don’t think I’ve tried it here, but it wouldn’t be a substitution that I’d be worried about going in. Let me know how it works!
Thank you for sharing this recipe. My friend’s husband surprised her with wedding vows renewal for their anniversary. I made this cake for the reception afterwards. I had extra strawberry puree so I filled the cake with the puree and add it to the frosting. Everyone liked it a lot. I made it again over the weekend, but I mixed it differently. I creamed the butter and sugar, added each egg yolk at a time, then I added alternated adding flour and liquid, starting and ending with flour. Then I beat the egg whites and added the sugar. Then folded in the egg whites. The cakes did not sink in the middle and it seemed more moist. I love this recipe. I want to try other berry cake recipes (blueberry, raspberry, blackberry). Thanks again for a great recipe.
Hi,
This sounds so wonderful but I am confused, how many eggs did you use? You mention yolks and whites.
I am also confuse about the sugar. You mention it twice, once with the butter, and once with the egg whites?
It’s added to the bowl of dry ingredients (see step 6).
6 egg whites
WoW! definitely great. . thanks for sharing the recipe.. =)
Came across your blog via googling “strawberry cake from scratch” and thank god I did! I made 24 cupcakes and used 4 eggs and they were uh-may-zing..I also used super ripe straight from the farm strawberries- which I think was also key. I topped it with steawberry cream cheese icing (using the extra puree) these were a huge hit at the lunch I took them to.. A couple of other things… Was out of cake flour so had to use AP and because I was worried about it coming out too dense since I used the whole egg.. I separated the whites and beat them until they had soft peaks and folded them in..they came out light and moist and fluffy..
Any reason that this recipe doesn’t call for beating butter and sugar together prior to adding in other ingredients?
Any particular reason
this recipe is the bomb.com!!!!! I kept eating the batter!!! this was my first strawberry cake and I’m so happy! and that foil around the pan tip….LIFESAVER!!! thanks and best wishes!
I haven’t even tried this cake yet and I already want to thank you! My girls can’t have red food dye (they’re “allergic” to it…makes them bounce off the walls) so I was getting frustrated trying to find a strawberry cake recipe that didn’t call for strawberry gelatin! I tried my own strawberry cake a while ago…FAIL! Can’t wait to try this one!!!!!!!!!
@Cakesnob or Foodiebride:
)
Curious how long the recipe converted into cupcakes has to bake – please post! I’m making this recipe tomorrow for my b-day which is Saturday — I also found a recipe for Strawberry Frosting to top it here – http://bigfatbaker.com/blog/frosting-recipes/strawberry-frosting-recipe/
Thanks for filling me in
@Sheryl – ~20 minutes or so, check it with a toothpick at 17 minutes. They don’t dome up, they’ll be pretty flat on top.
fabulous – thanks so much! I’ll be back to this site for sure -
Made this cake for my friend’s birthday- everyone loved it! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe with us.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I was assigned the cake making for my niece’s birthday and was told she wanted a strawberry cake, but not a fake strawberry cake. I thought, “This will be easy, no problem.” Well was I wrong! I can’t tell you how long I searched for a recipe that didn’t have jello in it, or came from a box! This was the first one I found, and I am so happy
Thank you very much!
I am so so sad. I made this cake for my husband’s birthday last year and he loved it so much he requested it for his party tomorrow. I made it TWICE thinking I missed something on the first try but both times I’ve ended up with something that is closer to a cookie than a cake and it’s too late at night to try again.
Sorry to hear. If you didn’t get any rise, it’s very likely the baking powder.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was so happy I found this recipe because I wanted a real from scratch no gellitin strawberry cake.
Wow, thank you for sharing this! I just made it for Father’s Day, and it was excellent. The cake itself was not pink (sadly), but it was very soft and fruity.
Like some of the others, Thank you in advance. I have been looking and looking for a Blueberry cake actually and could not find one…I had decided to take a strawberry cake and convert it to a blueberry cake, and like so many others I was only finding the semi homemade cake mixes. I love to bake, because I can’t cook, and love to bake all homemade. I can not wait to try this recipe and hoping I don’t screw it up in the process with making it a blueberry cake. My son is turning 3 on July 2, he doesn’t ask for much. But the other day I was sharing a strawberry cake with him, that we bought, and he looks at me and says “Dade needs a blueberry cake.” So then I decided to make it for him. I was about to give up when I came across your recipe and blog. Thank you. If you have any suggestions on how not to screw it up that would be greatly appreciated.
Just out of curiousity–could you sub oil for the butter in this recipe? I don’t want to mess this up as it looks delicious, but I have made butter cakes in the past and they always seem to be dense-oil seems to make things more moist, not to mention a little heart-healthier!
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but I am so glad I found a cake recipe that has good reviews that doesn’t call for jello, food coloring and other junk-I try to make everything from scratch and natural for my family so I am really hoping this is as good as it looks! 
THANKS!
I haven’t personally made this cake with oil but I don’t think there would be any issues. The cake is pretty light on its own, even with the butter. Good luck!
Thanks!! By the way, this is a very good website! I have enjoyed looking at all of your recipes- I am looking forward to trying them!
Well, I tried your cake for a special occasion yesterday and all I can say is yes it tasted good but what a total flop. I do not consider myself a novice baker. I bake almost every day and I did not like the way this cake went together and I told my husband when I was putting it in the oven it was not going to be right. I followed the directions to a “T” and if I decide to try it again I think I will try a different mixing method. No, I did not over or under beat the cake, I just think the way it is put together is wrong. I had to make one of my old standby cakes and add strawberry puree to the batter, they turned out perfect, but your flavor was a bit tastier, just very disappointing that it did not turn out.
Sorry you didn’t like it. It definitely has a unique mixing method that Cook’s Illustrated swears by. I’ve never had any issues with it but every time I make it, I think “I’m going to mix the ingredients the ‘regular way’ next time.” And I always forget.
I’m excited to try – NOTHING is from scratch online – NOTHING.
Can’t wait!
Tried and love this recipee…will definitely use as one of my main cake types…thank you so much for sharing!!!
Worked perfectly as a cupcake
I made this over the 4th of July weekend along with your Quick Buttercream Frosting recipe and it was a hit! Everyone loved it! I added some blueberries and strawberries on top to make it festive for the holiday. So, so good – thank you for this recipe. I know I’ll be making it again soon!
Do you have an approximate amount of fruit puree in cups that you add? If using fresh strawberries is it also 24 ounces? It looks like a fun recipe!
Thanks.
Camille – you need 3/4 cup strawberry puree for the cake. Frozen strawberries tend to have more liquid to drain away but using fresh or frozen, you should have a little over the required amount for the cake.
I, like others, got a 4th birthday “order” for a strawberry cake. In my case, it was a “Snow White strawberry cake.” I found this w/ that “strawberry cake from scratch” search, and was excited to try. Even sliced very thin, this disappeared completely at the party. Completely. I had to swipe my daughter’s unfinished piece to share w/ my H (she never eats a whole piece of any cake). But it got a huge thumbs up from the birthday girl and others, including H, who isn’t a “cakey” person. Will be making again soon, and thinking about translating it to other fruit…peaches might be first up this summery July.
Thank you! for the great recipe!
Glad you liked it! And it definitely works great with blackberries, for sure
My boyfriend asked for a strawberry cake for his birthday. I made this one (dairy-free because he has a lactose allergy), served it with homemade (lactose-free) ice cream…. and everyone who ate it absolutely LOVED it!! Thanks for this great recipe…I’m all about making things from scratch! Keep up the good work
***** (Five star rating) Thank you so much for this recipe. This was just what I was looking for. I needed a summer cake that was not too sweet for a Korean friend’s party, and she loved this. I found a whipped cream frosting that had cream cheese in it as well to make it more stable for the summer heat, put some chopped sweetened strawberries on top of the frosting in the middle layer, and served the left-over strawberry puree as a sauce on the side. It was such a hit! Also, I understand why it is important to use the bake strips/aluminum foil around the pans in baking. I neglected to do that and it browned unevenly. But still tasted great and was gone in about 5 minutes at the party. A real crowd-pleaser!
I made this cake and it really did turn out delicious! I used cream cheese frosting for the top, and I flavored that with the strawberry puree’ also. One secret to making the cake more pink without adding dye, is to throw a few fresh or frozen (depending on the season) cherries to the puree’. They will darken the color without changing the flavor too much.
While the cake is ultra delicious, mine turned out a bit funny. I think next time I will stick with the 6 eggs whites rather than 4 whole eggs.
I just made a trial version of this cake today for my sister to taste for her upcoming birthday. I halved the recipe and just put the batter in a 8×8 inch pan. After baking and letting it cool for a little over two hours, I took it out and it turned out really dense. I made the whole egg version but whipped the two egg whites separately. Could using the whole eggs be the cause of it being so dense?
I’m icing it now and so far…wow!
Wasn’t as pink as your picture but I added cream cheese, as well as some of the puree, to the icing and wow. The cake was super moist, the icing was super delicious. I took advice from an earlier baker about creaming the butter and sugar together, adding a yolk at a time and then folding in the egg whites (after beating them) and that has brought me to this super moist cake. Great recipe!
I have always done cakes the fast easy way but have gotten into doing cakes as a business. I was looking for a raspberry cake recipe and found this recipe. I think I will try doing a decorated cake from scratch for a change!! Hope it works with raspberrys also!
Hi I have a question I hope you can answer and soon!!!
I want to make this cake for my daughter’s first birthday, happen to be HORRIBLE at math. I want to do a three tier (actually a 9x9x3, 7x7x3, and 4x4x3) and just want to make sure we (I called hubby lol) got the right amounts, when adding 50% 
36 oz strawberries
3 tsp sugar
heaping 1/3 (I don’t have 1/8 measuring cups)
9 egg whites
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla
3 c 1/3 heaping OR 1/2 weak sifted flour
2 c 1/2 heaping of sugar
6 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
18 tbsp/ 2 c softened butter
I really appreciate the assistance, this is my first time baking something of this nature. I usually just use a boxed mix. Thanks again!!
Looks good – the butter should be 2 sticks + 2 Tbsp. Good luck!
I saw that there was a mention to French Vanilla Cupcakes in this article. Is there a recipe for this?
Debbie, that reference was about the boxed cake mix. If you want a great vanilla cake/cupcake recipe, try this one: http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/archives/714
Can you tell me how you filled the cake in the pic? Did you just our some of the puree on top of the frosting and then put the second layer on top?
Yep! I spread a thin layer of puree onto the cake, piped on some frosting, and then topped that with the next layer of cake.
Thank you so much! I used a Pampered Chef tbsp measurer when I did the vanilla, and I don’t know if it leaked into the back area, would definitely have added 1.4- 1/2 tsp too it, but there is a tad too much vanilla for me, hubby says its good.
With that being said, I definitely ate the top layer 
The only other thing is it didn’t fill up even the 9x9x3, it’s only about 2 inches. When I went to the website for the pans, I need 20.25 cups of batter. I would like to make my little girl, an additional top piece so she can have all to herself. Total I would need 22.50, I am completely and utterly new to this. Any suggestions? 
I am about to attempt to make another round, I only ended up making the bottom layer before kiddos woke. Onto another note, I am going to use that Vanilla cake recipe, I have a birthday cake to make for this weekend! You have such amazing recipes, thank you so much for sharing with us!!!
Ericka, I’d double the recipe, use what you need for the 9x9x3, and then if you have any batter leftover, maybe make a handful of cupcakes?
This cake taste good but it was really heavy Not light and airy as I had hoped…
Sorry, Sheri. I don’t think I’ve ever had issues with it being too heavy.
Sheri I noticed the same thing, I have decided to make it this weekend for a friends birthday party. She is used to using the Betty Crocker Strawberry and said it must be that it’s homemade? I have never made a cake from scratch. The only thing I could find about lightening the cake up a little was milk…I am not sure though.
One more thing, when I put the butter cream on the cake it didn’t work so well. Well it went on nicely but this being my first time icing a cake I am chucking it up to me doing it wrong.
But I wanted to know if you could use a fondant on this cake? I read somewhere that if your cake has a layer that requires refrigeration it’s best not to use fondant. What do you think about using it? Thanks again!
Ericka – What happened with the frosting? Was it hard to spread/too thick? And I’ve used fondant on this cake before several times with no issues. The cake was always completely eaten within the first two days so I don’t think it would have suffered any from lack of refrigeration.
I’m so glad I found this- We are just starting to make our own cake pops and we love to work with real, organic ingredients. Next week, we wanted to try strawberry cake pops with white chocolate coating- I think I’ll probably do a buttercream frosting to mix with your cake recipe. When we make them, I’ll link back to your page so folks can see where the natural strawberry cake recipe came from! Thanks! The cake is a beautiful color!
I’m going to make this today for my friend’s birthday! I just want to confirm something. You only use 3/4 puree in the cake, right? Thanks for you help!
Yep!
I am making this for an 8 year olds birthday cake in the am, THANK YOU so much for a Strawberry Cake with NO jello – I was amazed that I had to look thru hundreds of recipes to find it. Strawberry Cake has been frequently requested in our house (5 kids) and the chickens laid lots of eggs finally so your cake should be a huge hit!!!
I was wondering, I have fresh (true) buttermilk and would like to use it in the place of the milk, good idea or not??? Thanks!!
Athena, I’ve never ever gotten my hands on real buttermilk so I can’t say exactly how it would turn out. BUT there’s only 1/4 cup of it in the recipe – that small amount probably wouldn’t do too much damage, you know?
We made cake pops using your cake and cream cheese frosting recipe! They came out great!!! Both recipes really worked for the cake pops- And, I can’t wait to try your cake and frosting recipe as a frosted cake.
I have folks coming back to your site for the actual recipes since I didn’t want to misrepresent anything and I wanted to give full credit to you guys! Such awesome recipes. Thanks!
http://crittersandcrayons.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/fresh-strawberry-cream-cheese-cake-pops/
Haven’t used cake flour much, did you sift before or after you measure?
Post measurement. I spoon the flour into a measuring cup, level it off, and dump it straight into the sifter. It sounds a little fussy but it will keep the cake light.
Tried the cake out for my sister’s birthday. I found it to be was more reminiscent of corn bread than I would have liked, but it DID have a very good berry flavor, especially for using fresh strawberries. Any suggestions on how to make it a tad fluffier?
You must be in Austin with the CM conmment. The cake looks lovely!
This is my first cake and from scratch and it turned out wonderful. Thank you for this recipe, it beat so many other fakes. This one really takes the cake!
I cannot wait to make this cake. My son is turning 5 in a few weeks and he wants a strawberry cake. Red is his favorite color and strawberries are his favorite fruit. Only problem is that he is allergic to all food coloring, especially reds. Thank you so much for your recipe and I will let you know how it turns out!
What will happen if i use strawberries with the seed in it?
You might be able to detect them when eating the cake.
Explain it to me clearly what to do w/ the foil? Is the regular foil ok?
So excited to try this. I’ve made strawberry cake from the box a few times and my honey says its his favorite. Not a fan of using the box mix except in those moments you mention, 9 pm, craving something sweet stat! I make everything else from scratch so if I can recreate his favorite cake….I will truly be the kitchen goddess! thank you!
looks like a great recipe – can it be used for cupcakes?
thanks!
I’m so late in reviewing this, but I just had to leave you a note of thanks. I made this for my 2 girls’ summer birthday party, and it was AMAZING!!! I used fresh, in-season, delicious strawberries and topped it with my favorite cream cheese frosting (with pureed strawberries mixed in). I’m telling you, the cake disappeared. Everyone raved about it. Thank you so much. I will definitely be making this again. and again….
Glad you liked it! And the frosting sounds super delicious!
I tried this cake twice. The colour did not come out right. You would think I made it with Brown Sugar. Cake way too dense. Is it suppose to be light like a chiffon cake or bit heavier like a pound cake? What could I be doing wrong?
The color has everything to do with the strawberries used – the prettiest pink cake comes during strawberry season. Or with strawberries from the freezer section that come packed in the concentrated liquid (just be sure to drain, but not rinse). The cake should be very light – the recipe is based off of Cook’s Illustrated Classic White Layer Cake, which is a light and fluffy cake.
I am going to bake this for my little princess 4th years old birthday as she request for a strawberry cake and would like to know if this is a sponge cake as i have baked and throw many sponge cake
does not rise or not spongy.
Just would like to know when do i put the combine puree, milk, egg, vanilla. is this refer to item 6 add liquid? Also you mentioned in a bowl of stand mixer, add sifted flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and user mixer to beat until combine before adding the butter. is that right? Thanks.
YAY! I can’t wait to try this recipe! I am making a topsy turvy cake, bottom chocolate, middle strawberry, top vanilla and I hated seeing so many “fake” strawberry cakes and that “strawberry cake” mix from a box is DISGUSTING! Gross, makes me cringe just thinking of it. Thanks for a real recipe! I will definitely let you know how it turns out!!
I tried the recipe and follow the directions, but why did the center sank? *tears* and I didn’t quite get the strawberry pink, mine turned pink-brown hahaha. Was that the strawberries? But for the taste, its great!
Anastasia, it was the strawberries. The color comes from the strawberries alone. In the off season, I find that frozen strawberries usually give a better color than the “fresh” ones which are usually underripe and from half a world away. A cake will sink in the center if there is too much liquid in the batter or it was over mixed. Sorry it didn’t totally work out for you!
I just made this with my giant cupcake pan I just bought to test drive it and it came out amazingly! Thanks for the great recipe its delicious!
Thank you so much for this! I have a daughter who can’t have red dyes and we do try to keep non food items out of our food as much as possible!
I find the instructions here a little confusing. In step 5, you’re mixing the puree with stuff in a small bowl and then in a separate bowl you’re doing other things with sifted flower. Then in step 6 it says to “add liquids” to the second bowl. Does it mean the stuff from the small bowl or is the small bowl used only to put in between the cake layers? If so, why is that in the same step (5) as something that shouldn’t be mixed together? Or am I misunderstanding, and in step 3 when it says “use leftover puree to fill the cake” that’s the part that gets used between the layers? The last step ends with baking the cake, but it doesn’t talk about putting it all together…
- Bart
Bart – you mix the liquids together (puree, eggs, etc) and then add the liquids to the dry ingredients. If you have extra puree leftover that wasn’t used for the cake batter recipe, then you can use that to put between layers of the cake if you wish.
This is the first blog comment I’ve ever posted and I haven’t even made it yet, that’s how excited I am. I’m thinking about beating the egg whites and folding them in. Would that ruin my cake? I’m also going to use a white chocolate frosting, cause white chocolate and strawberries are the ultimate combination. I’m also planning on wrapping the outside of the cake with white chocolate cigarillos ant topping it with fresh strawberries to give it a classy look for the bday party. Can’t wait!!!
I just read that you used this cake recipe in a blackberry version and was wondering how it turned out and if you made any changes when using blackberries
i am so excited to try this, have been looking for a strawberry cake recipe that did not include jello or jams for some time. i am gonna make this for my daughters birthday, but modify it into a sugar free cake with sugar free whipped cream frosting.
I made a gluten free version and it turned out wonderfully. I was so excited. I substituted for the 2 1/4 cups cake flour, 1 1/2 cups white rice flour soaked in 1/2 cup buttermilk plus 1/2 cup potato starch (not flour) plus 1/4 cup tapioca flour (same as starch) plus .625 tsp xanthan gum (version of food.com’s Gluten-Free Cake Flour Mix). When dry ingredients were mixed with butter it resembled mashed potatoes, not moist crumbs. Used good fresh strawberries drained overnight. Baked at 325 convection. I was so pleased to offer a gluten free, naturally colored, naturally flavored strawberry layer for my grandson’s Neapolitan birthday cake. Thank you sooooo much.
I made this cake tonight for my daughter’s 2nd birthday, since all of the comments have been nothing but raving about this recipe. Iam alittle disappointed to be honest. It tastes like a white cake and cant even see the strawberries! When I take a bite, I can only taste the seeds of the strawberries mixed in the cake. The cake doesnot look like the picture. Its not pink by any means, more off white. I dont know what I’ll do now. I guess I will stick to another recipe I know that is alot better than this one!!
Sorry you didn’t like the cake, Renee. When fresh, ripe, in-season berries are used, it most definitely doesn’t taste or look like only a white cake. Please refer to the FAQ above for tips.
In the picture it looks like a filling what did You use for the filling
I used Quick Buttercream Frosting and leftover strawberry puree.
Hi! I love to bake myself and asked my husband what kind of cake he wanted this week and the answer was strawberry. I came across your blog in search of a scratch strawberry cake. Let me say the whole time I was making the cake I couldn’t wait to taste the cake. I used a 9×13 glass pan and the cake was a touch warm when I put the icing on. I also used your buttercream frosting and added a couple of tablespoons of the puree. We just split a small piece because we couldn’t wait for dinner first. The cake and icing was THE BEST scratch cake I have ever made. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your strawberry cake recipe! Needless to say I will be visiting your blog more often and trying your various recipes. Thanks so much.
What size pan did you use to bake the cake in
I think 9″ is pretty standard.
FINALLY! A cake without Jell-O! My son wanted a fresh strawberry cake and I’ve been searching and searching for a cake that didn’t need food coloring or Jello!
THANK YOU!!
I just love this recipe. I had this basket of strawberries sitting in the fridge on the borderline of going bad. I just thought I need a strawberry cake. Can’t wait to try it, gonna go make one right now. And those thing 1 and thing 2 cupcakes are way too cute, my nieces would go crazy for them.
-Gina-
I made this into cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. The batter tasted like strawberry ice cream! Haven’t tried the cupcakes yet. Only thing was that they didn’t get the nice rounded cupcake top, but instead were more flat on top (they did rise and spilled over the top of the cups, just no rounding).
I also only had a bag of frozen strawberries that was 14oz and after draining I still had more then 3/4 cup puree.
SO TRUE! I have searched high and low for a strawberry cake with natural ingredients-just strawberries. I cannot wait to make this cake.
Thank you!
Hi,
My husband and I love fresh strawberry cake…had it at our wedding, but cannot find anyone to make it now
I was wondering if you could sub rice or quinoa flour for the cake flour and it still turn out well?
Thanks,
Jeanette
Hi Jeanette, I’m afraid I don’t know – I’ve never used either in a cake recipe.
See my post #246 for a gluten-free version using rice flour and other non-gluten ingredients instead of cake flour.
Made this for my daughter’s 2nd birthday and it turned out great! I upped all the ingredients by 1 1/2 X what the recipe called for to get that desired 3-tiered effect. I had bought a bag of strawberries that were 32 oz, I pureed them all but still had some I didn’t use. I’m not a fan of buttercream so I made cream cheese icing instead. Everyone raved about it!!! I’d certainly recommend this to anyone who wanted to make a deliciously pure, straightforward cake with just the right amount of strawberry flavor.
I am planning on making it this week for a friend’s bday. However, I wanted to bake the cake over the weekend and freeze it so I can ice it the morning of before I go to work. Do you think it is ok to freeze?
Can’t wait to try this recipe! Thank you!
It freezes great!
hello, i attempted to make this cake in the form of cupcakes.. and so far, sadly to say its not working out
from the get-go the batter seemed a bit too watery, and now it doesnt seem like the cupcakes are rising. also, when i check the cupcakes, there is excessive amounts of steam coming up from them. any idea what i did wrong?
I made this cake yesterday. Well I started it yesterday…Anyway it was different baking experience. The cake was not nearly done enough after 25 minutes so I baked it another 15. They seemed soft but the toothpick came out clean so I took them out of the oven. They were hard to remove from the pan but that may be my fault because I let them sit overnight. (Fell asleep waiting for them to cool). When I finally got them out the cakes were lopsided and started to sink a little in the middle. I didn’t have any vanilla flavoring left for the icing so I used a dash of lemon and a dash of rum flavorings. And I only had two cups of powdered sugar. The icing was divine nonetheless. I put some of the strawberry puree in the center of the cake and then frosted over that. It gives a fruity moist filling. However, this is the ugliest cake I ever made but the best tasting strawberry cake I ever had. I call it my butt-ugly strawberry cake. Oh yeah, I had four egg whites left from another recipe and used those and one whole egg in the cake batter. Thanks for the recipe.
I was happy to find your recipe in time for Valentine’s Day. . . my family loves strawberry cake and I wanted to make a good and proper scratch cake. The flavor was outstanding–well done! I did experience a problem with the center of both layers collapsing though. A quick and unrelated search through Cookwise (by Shirley Corriher–fab book if you don’t already have it) allowed me to stumble on the words “Fallen Baked Goods”. I learned that too much baking powder can actually be counter productive and cause the cake to fall. She recommends a ratio of 1 tsp baking powder per cup of flour (she gives a max of 1.25 tsp/cup of flour). I thought of your ratio of double that–2 tsp/ 1 1/8 cup of flour and immediately wondered if this was the problem. I will try again with 2 tsp of baking powder and see if I have better success. Just thought I’d mention this for your consideration, as well as your readers. I just filled the gap with fresh strawberries–not a bad way to go! I also found that 25 minutes was nowhere near enough time–I left them in for an additional 10 or 15 minutes. Thanks again for a truly delicious cake!!!
Hi! I got lost. Please help! So I puree 24 oz of strawberry. But I am only suppose to put 3/4 cup of puree into the cake mix? What do you mean use the rest of the puree to fill the cake?
I tried this recipe. But I put all 24 oz of puree into the cake mix. It didn’t turn out bad but I want to bake this cake the right way. This is my first time baking. Any help would be great. Thank you!
Yes! Only 3/4 cup of the puree goes into the cake batter. You can use the rest to put between the layers of the cake, if you want, by either spreading it on top of the first layer or by mixing it into some frosting and spreading that over the top of the first layer (before topping with the 2nd layer).
Thank you for your reply. I will try again. Even though I did not follow the recipe correctly, the cake turned out quite good. It was sweet but not too sweet. Maybe I will get it right next time. Thank you!
Love the site and the recipe! How long the cake lasts? I want to do it on a Friday, cover it with fondant in the Saturday to serve in Sunday. Do you think it will keep fresh? Do I need to refrigerate it? Thank you so much for the site and help!
It will be just fine to bake on Friday and serve on Sunday! I’ve done it myself exactly that way before. You only need to refrigerate it if you’re frosting or filling it with something perishable.
I made this recipe over the weekend for my son’s 2nd birthday, and it was so good! I baked it in a 13×9 pan for 30-35 minutes and then used it to construct a fire truck cake. Everybody was impressed with a strawberry cake made with natural ingredients!
I’m planning to use this recipe to make cupcakes. Does this recipe require refrigeration, or can I leave the cupcakes in an air tight container for a couple of days?
No refrigeration necessary, unless you fill the cupcakes with something perishable.
Just used this for cupcakes for my girls’ 5th birthday party. Oh my god….so good. Moist flavorful. Wow. Used 4 whole eggs and AP flour (adjusted as suggested in another comment.) Perfect. Tons of compliments. I used a different icing. But added some if the strawberry puree.
The last two times that I’ve baked this cake it sinked in the middle. Do you have any idea what I might be doing wrong. The first time I made it it turned out beautiful.
Great recipe! My husband doesn’t usually like cake, but he loved this one!
Hi I made this cake last your cake recipe last night but found the cake did not have lots of strawberry flavour to it, the cake is lovely and fluffy and moist so a great recipe but just want it to have a bit more of a strawberry zaaz to it
Thanks
I would like to make this cake – but need it for a larger group??? Do you know what the adjustments might be for 9 in cake ???
The recipe is the same for an 8- or 9-inch round pan, no adjustments necessary.
Hi,
I just found your site, and this recipe through pinterest. After searching for a fresh strawberry cake recipe this one by far looks the best. I do have one question though, do you think it would be okay to add chunks of fresh strawberries in the batter along with the strawberry puree. I like the idea of having little bits of strawberry in the cake. How much, if any, would you suggest adding without altering the texture.
Thank you so much for your help!
The liquid from the fresh strawberries will bake out and weigh the cake down quite a bit. If you want strawberry chunks, consider adding sliced strawberries between the cake layers instead, as long as you plan to eat the cake within a couple of days.
I forgot to mention that I would like to bake this cake this weekend for my dad’s birthday so any insight you can give me before then would be very much appreciated.
Thanks again!
I see. Thank you so much for your quick response. I love your creations! I will make just as the recipe says.
Can you use the Bake Even Strips on non-rounded pans? Like rectangular or square?
Okay, just a few more questions I promise. I’m planning on making the cake this weekend for a birthday party, can you tell I’m a little nervous. What is the process for freezing a cake? and then for defrosting? Do you think this cake would pare well with a white chocolate buttercream or do you think it would overpower the strawberry cake? Do you know if you can color white chocolate buttercream? If I use your Quick Buttercream Frosting without the puree, and without the vanilla bean, will I need to add more vanilla extract? If I do put some of the strawberry puree in it, will it make it look pink? Can I tint that frosting even with the puree in it? Will this need to be refrigerated? Sorry so long.
Thank you a ton for your help!
- To freeze a cake, let each layer cool completely out of the pan. Double-wrap each layer separately with plastic wrap and freeze flat. If you’ve got more than one layer, don’t stack them on top of each other until they’re frozen.
- To defrost, take the cake layers out of the freezer the night before and let them thaw on the counter overnight – leave them wrapped in plastic.
- I think a white chocolate buttercream sounds great! A couple of drops of food coloring should do fine.
- Taste the frosting and then add vanilla if you think it needs it.
- Adding puree to the frosting will make it look a little pink and you can add more pink/red food coloring to it.
- If you add puree to the frosting, you should probably refrigerate it.
Oh, and does the frosting need to be refrigerated once it is put on the cake because it has milk or heavy cream in it?
Nope, the sugar in the frosting acts essentially as a preservative to such a tiny amount of milk/cream.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! for getting back to me, you have been more than helpful! =)
I want to make this cake, but only want to make a smaller cake,what would the measurements be if I was to only make a half of a cake?
Half a recipe will fit in 2 6-inch pans or a single 8- or 9-inch layer.
Thank you! My daughter is turning 6 and wants a strawberry cake. I have always made both my kids’ cakes from scratch, and was having trouble finding one! I can not wait to make this for her!! I will then decorate it as Hello Kitty! Perfect!
Hi! I just found your recipe on pinterest, and I am very excited to try it! But I do have a question. I do not have a stand mixer and I feel like my electric hand mixer might be too fast and cause me to over mix the batter. Before I found this recipe I had been trying out another “from scratch” (except it included jello) recipe, and I could never seem to get that one light and fluffy. Maybe it was never meant to be light and fluffy to begin with, but I am wondering if you have any tips for me and my hand mixer to keep me from over-beating or under-beating my batter. I’m really looking for that fluffy and soft but moist cake that is characteristic of boxed cakes but without the box and artificial stuff
.
Love this cake! it takes absolutely delicious and is super moist. My first attempt was a complete disaster. Cake seemed very greasy and totally caved in the middle. I did not all the ingredients sit to room temperature before I made it so I question if that is why it caved? My second attempt the cakes came out absolutely PERFECT! Today I am baking two 9 inch cakes and two six inch cakes. My 9 in cakes look ok although there is a slight curve towards the center, they started to cave slightly, but still useable. My 6 inch cake however looked great while baking up to the last 5 minutes and then started to cave! I have another 6 inch to bake, hopefully the same doesn’t happen. What am I doing wrong. Everything has sat at room temperature for hours, I used the bake even strips….HELP! This cake is for a bridal shower this weekend!
Please don’t throw out the juice that drains out of the defrosted strawberries, and do frost and defrost even fresh strawberries. Press on those defrosted berries to get the maximum juice out. Then reduce the juice to 1/5 th of its original volume in the microwave in a glass bowl. Let it cool, add a couple drops of lemon juice, then add back to the puree. Maximum strawberry flavor. Idea not original – taken from The Cake Bible by rose Levy
I just made this cake to occupy my young nieces for the day. Have just tasted it and it has this very odd aftertaste. I followed this recipe to the letter.
I’m based in Australia and I’m wondering whether our versions of vanilla extract are the same? Normally you would put what we call vanilla essence in cakes, not extract. But following the recipe, I used vanilla extract (which is brown and syrupy). I’m wondering whether you are actually using essence which is more of a clear liquid?
In the US vanilla extract is brown, but not syrupy. It contains just alcohol and vanilla. (the good stuff anyway). You can sub the insides of 1 vanilla bean per tsp extract. Or you can make your own extract with beans. Put 5 beans in a jar with 1/2 cup 70-100 proof vodka and let sit six months or so. It will be a dark brown and very vanillay when done.
My daughter requested strawberry cupcakes for her 3rd birthday and I really wanted one without a whole bunch of junk in it. Thank you! It turned out really well converted to cupcakes. Moist cake with a wonderful flavor. I iced them with strawberry cream cheese frosting which was perfect. I recieved a ton of compliments at her party!
I’m completely new to cake baking but my son’s birthday party is coming up this weekend. I have one cake pan — will the batter act funny if I bake one cake in the pan then bake the other? Should I refrigerate the batter while I do this? Sorry for this totally newbie question, but this cake looks delicious & I’d love to do it without having to buy another cake pan.
Nikki – it might act a little funny. When I bake the recipe as cupcakes, I only bake one pan at a time, but I have the second one on the counter ready to go. Don’t refrigerate the batter – leave it in the bowl at room temp while the other layer bakes, cools. You’ll have to wash the pan, dry it well, and then re-nonstick it. Try to be as quick about it as possible without rushing anything.
Thank you so much for your quick reply. On your suggestion I just went out & picked up another cake pan — since it was my first from-scratch cake I didn’t want to mess with any tricky situations. The cake was definitely a success! What a great recipe! My son loved it & so did our party guests. Thank you!
I made this cake and used it for cake pops..the cake alone was AMAZING! Thanks for posting the recipe! I’ll definitely be using it again! When I made the pops though, the strawberry flavor didn’t stand up to well to the chocolate coating. Do you think adding more strawberry puree would mess up the cake? I’m sure you’ve tried different amount of puree in the batter. I used fresh berries…maybe next time I’ll try draining the ones frozen in syrup and using those. Does that usually add more flavor for you?
Thank you!
Adding more puree would definitely throw off the ratio of wet/dry. There’s a suggestion a few comments up that I plan to try this spring – making more puree than needed and then simmering it to reduce to the amount needed to concentrate flavor.
Thanks for the quick reply! I figured that would mess up the cake. Maybe I’ll try simmering the puree first. This is a great blog!
Whats the chance that this would work in a bunt cake pan? I’m thinking @350* for 40 min or till done?
I made this for Easter and it was a hit. I used the following frosting and it was perfect!
http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/thate28099s-the-best-frosting-ie28099ve-ever-had/
do you think i could use carton egg whites instead of cracking 6 eggs? i’m not quite that adept at separating egg whites yet. thank you! i’m planning on making this cake for this weekend.
Should be no problem!
Hi. This cake sounds delicious and I love the idea that it’s made with all fresh ingredients – no boxes required! I do not do much baking and do not have a standup mixer. Do you think I could make the entire recipe with a hand mixer? Thanks!
Yes!
HEY! i really want to try out this recipe… Any tips???
I read all 300+ comments and there were some really good tips. I didn’t have spray with flour so I used Pam and then put flour on after. This worked perfect. I made 2 8″ and 2 10″ cake layers. Each cake pan was 2″ deep. The first batch I took out after 30 minutes and the centers sunk. I left them to cool but when I transferred them after an hour the centers were doughy! I put them back in the pans and stuck in the oven for about 10 minutes more. I think they needed more time since they were so full and big. The second batch turned out perfect after 30 minutes. For the 4 layers I tripled the recipe. Hopefully I can salvage the bad layers with frosting since I am doing a tier cake. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you for a cake using real strawberries. I typed in strawberry cake from scratch and the first one that came up used strawberry jello – ugh. We need the internet to understand what “natural” means, very overused and misleading to the point of dishonesty.
I AGREE WITH U ABOUT THE NATURAL .IM WONDERING IF U CAN HLP ME UNDERSTAND THE 3/4 PUREE,IS IT FOR THE FROSTING OR CAKE.IM A FIRST TIMER LOL.
IM CONFUSED ASBOUT THE PUREE ,U SAID PUT 3/4 ASIDE DOES THT GO IB THE CAKE OR FROSTING.
i made it,its in the oven.i tasted the batter and its thee most delicious batter ever.thank u.im gonna make the frosting next.
omg i made this last night and it is yummy. everyone loved it !!!! thanks
Really great cake! I followed the instructions exactly – even the different mixing technique & draining the strawberries & separating the eggs (all of which I was tempted to ignore). The cake was amazing with a buttercream including some of the remaining strawberry purée. Thanks for a wonderful recipe that met & exceeded my little boy’s birthday wish for a strawberry cake. (It’s his hands down favorite food.) Everyone loved the taste and I loved that our sweets were real food.
FANTASTIC!!! Made these for a wedding shower. I have been dying to find a recipe that did not end up tooo heavy. This was perfect! I wanted to add more strawberry puree, I tend to go overboard with strawberries, but I was afraid it would be too runny! But again turned out perfect!
Thansk for sharing
Delish! Moist! LOVED that this cake was from scratch- no jell-o, no strawberry extract, no cake mix. Straight-up strawberry cake. Next time I will add a little beet juice for a more “pink” cake- somebody at the party asked me if it was a spice cake. I was appalled- NO! It’s strawberry!
I made cupcakes with the recipe, piped on Strawberry Rum Swiss Buttercream. Heaven.
Thank you!
You saved the day (and more importantly, our party!) with this cake. Thank you!!! Earlier today I had made a cake using one of those Jello recipes. It turned out so terrible. Into the trash it went and as I was measuring the ingredients to try it again, I discovered this recipe. On a whim, I changed my measurements and just started making this! It seems to have turned out beautifully, and I could only try crumbs, but we will dig into it on Saturday and I will let you know how it tastes.
In the meantime, I would like to make a Swiss Meringue Strawberry Buttercream to go with this as a filling and frosting, in fact, I plan on making a ruffle cake so I need the meringue to be pretty firm so the ruffles hold their shape. Do you have a recipe or this? I have never made this kind of frosting before, but really want to try it — plus I promised the birthday girl those ruffles.
Hi there!
I just made this cake and based on the fact that you have soooooo many people that have made this cake and love it, I have to assume that my issues are user error. But if you have had any feedback at all from people who did NOT have success, maybe you could help me?
I followed your recipe exactly and the only two steps that I didn’t follow are that I used 4 whole eggs instead of 6 egg whites. The cake seemed to fall in the middle and I read somewhere that might be the cause?
I also didn’t use foil on the outside and it seems like the outsides got done way to fast. I have never had this be a problem with any other cakes I’ve made, so I don’t know exactly why it was this time, but I’ll know next time to make sure to follow that step.
Lastly, the cake is not pink at all. However, I did have the freshest, reddest strawberries. We had picked them the day before and they were super ripe. The cake is definitely not pink though.
I’m not sure what I could’ve done differently there.
I haven’t tried the cake yet- it literally just came out of the oven and is cooling, so we will see. Maybe it will turn out okay in the end. But I’d love any thoughts you have!! Thanks for the recipe! Hope to try it again with better luck!
Okay, so I just took the cakes out of the pans and it isn’t salvageable enough to frost. I am not sure what I did wrong. Maybe it was not using egg whites, I’m not sure. I tasted it and it tastes pretty good, just doesn’t resemble anything close to a cake!! LOL! Oops!
Hi Sharon! I *just* made this cake this week, part cupcakes and part 6-inch layers. I have still not had a problem with it sinking in the middle. I know others have reported it in some of the comments. I didn’t use the bake even strips either – the edges do brown a little more, which looks weird when it’s supposed to be a pink cake. One thing I did differently this time, and I’ll mention it above in the FAQ, was that I cooked my strawberries down on the stove instead of making a puree and discarding the liquid. Seemed like such a shame to keep throwing out all that strawberry goodness! It was a beautiful (almost artificially so) pink (those are the cupcakes in the picture above). I need to test it out another time or two to make sure the reduction:milk ratio is right, but I think doing this will really help the color of the cake when the berries won’t give up enough color the other way.
Oh, please do let us know the ratio of that method. I was wondering about that, as I make homemade strawberry glaze pies; for the glaze, I mash the strawberries right in the pot, add a little water and cook it down on the stove. I always have such beautiful color for the glaze and never have to add food coloring. Also, flavor-wise, it is awesome, too.
So, I’ve made this cake twice now and feel I have made errors with measuring. Third time is a charm, right? Should I try the strawberries on the stove? Can you share how to do that and if there are any other adjustments that need to be made to the recipe? I plan to start here any minute so if you are on your computer, I would LOVE some help. Thanks!!!!
Carolyn
I cut the green tops off of a generous 1 lb of strawberries, cut them in half, tossed with 2-3 tsp of sugar and 1/4 cup water. I simmered that on the stove until the berries were very, very soft (completely flatten with very little pressure from a spoon). Then I poured it through a fine mesh strainer and used a spoon to press every drop of liquid I could get from the strawberry pulp. I reduced the strawberry liquid to ~1/3 cup, let it cool to room temp, and then added milk to reach 1 cup for the recipe.
And, I haven’t been draining any liquid from my purée since they are fresh strawberries. Should I be? I am just cutting the strawberries, mixing with sugar, letting them sit, pure ring and then using. And, I am using the recipe another commenter saved on adding 50 percent for three layers. With that recipe, how much strawberry purée should I be using? 3/4 plus 1.5/4 equals…oh I am terrible with math! I really hope you can respond soon so I can give this one more try. Party s getting closer! Thanks!!!
The recipe as-written is for a 2-layer cake. Increasing by 50% will get you 3 layers – but if you increase the puree by 50% and nothing else, that will probably just get you a big mess
Thank you so much for your response! For some reason i couldn’t see it earlier so I just made it as described originally (will have to try stovetop next time). I made sure to be very careful with the measurements and I just pulled it out if the oven. It rose beautifully and smells delicious! I followed the instructions for adding 50 percent to all ingredients and added three drops of soft pink color. Tomorrow I will tackle the Swiss meringue buttercream. I will check out your recipe for that right now. Thanks for everything!!!!
I am making 1 – 9inch cake right now. Smells so good. I will cut it in half once its cooled and fill it. Thank you for this recipe!!
This recipe has taken me pretty much all day. Waiting for things to cool and come to room temp is pretty time consuming. Hopefully it tastes like I have been baking it all day, since that is pretty much what I have been doing!
So I just made the batter and haven ‘t baked the cake yet. But the batter is super delicious! Ready to bake the cake.
I’ve made this cake about 20 times now (will be doing so again this weekend for a baby shower), and it never fails to get rave reviews. It’s absolutely fabulous. Thanks!!!!
Thank you for the recipe. I have tried a couple of Strawberry cupcake recipes and have had no luck. I can’t seem to find one I like. I am trying this one.
Wow, this recipe is definitely a winner!!! It was exactly what I envisioned baking when my child asked for a strawberry cake for her birthday. The strawberry flavor is perfect! In fact, it’s the best cake I’ve ever made. It was delicious with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream with just a touch of the strawberry purée in it. It’s the first cake my family ate in entirety over the few days. Thank you for sharing the recipe! I followed it exactly as another commenter had figured out to make it for three 8 inch cake pans. The only changes I made were to use all purpose flour and subtract 6 T. I just like the taste of ap flour better. Be sure to sift the flour after measuring as that’s how it’s indicated in the recipe. I also used vanilla bean paste in lieu of extract. And the color with two drops of Americolor gel made it a gorgeous pink shade. Everything else I followed exactly as written. Can’t wait to make again. Now if I can find both vanilla and chocolate cake recipes just as good…..
Oh, and I used fresh strawberries. I did one package (cleaned and sliced) with 3 tsp of sugar and let that sit for a few hours. Then puréed and used in recipe a portion of it. Yum!!
Does this cake have to be stored in the refrigerator?
Nope!
I made this cake for my son’s 3 year old birthday party and it was BEYOND successful. I had children and adults flinging their hands up in the air, exclaiming how DELICIOUS, the cake was. One change I made was that I used a gluten free all purpose flour. I think it always changes the flavor some but it was still amazing. I also had a conversation with a friend about food coloring etc and she said why not add some beat juice. I was not necessarily needing the cake to be pink perse, so that wasn’t a big priority to me but her comment did make me wonder if others have tried using beat juice as natural coloring. I imagine you could get some amazing hues but maybe it turns brownish after baking? Anyway, cake was amazing and will be sending my friends to this recipe and maybe even post it, yes post it, on a list serve I’m a part of. My granola, make it yourself, community will LOVE it!
Side note: I had a few say the frosting tasted like cotton candy, although it could have been the same person running in circles in ecstasy! Thanks for the recipe.
My neice and I recently baked not one but two of these wonderful cakes,got rave reviews from all,will be using this recipe again,thanks1
My neice and I recently baked not one but two of these wonderful cakes,got rave reviews from all,will be using this recipe again,thanks!
I am making two cakes for my friends’ joint shower. I thought it would be fun to do a blue cake and a pink cake, because one is having a boy and the other a girl. I was thrilled to find your food coloring & jello free strawberry cake recipe and decided to try substituting blueberries for the blue cake.
I just made a trial blue cake and it came out perfect! I used the uncooked puree method. The blueberry batter was very purple before I baked it, but baked into a vibrant blue color and the flavor is superb! I’m planning to make a lemon cream cheese or lemon butter cream frosting to go with it.
Other changes – In addition to substituting blueberries, I used the 4 egg whole egg variation and AP flour. I’ve never made cake batter using the mixing method in the recipe , so I mixed it in the traditional way – cream butter & flour, beat in eggs and alternate wet & dry ingredients. I’m very interested to try the method described in the recipe, but hesitant because my cake came out so nicely. The cake took about 7 minutes longer to cook, but many factors may have contributed.
I made these and turned out great. Fresh and yummy. Pics here: http://www.purllamb.com/2012/05/fresh-strawberry-cupcakes.html
Planning to make this in cupcake form and then fill them with peanut butter and frost them with a strawberry frosting of some kind to make PB&J cupcakes!
Hi! I am planning to try this tomorrow. What kind of icing did you use? I was thinking of going with a coconut icing…? What do you think?
I use the buttercream recipe linked in the FAQ above the recipe. I’m not a fan of coconut so I wouldn’t ever try it, but if you like it, go for it.
this looks delicious! one question though – for the cooked strawberry puree method, is there a reason why you strain out the pulp and only use the juice? could i just puree the whole thing, juice and pulp and seeds and all? thanks!
I did that to increase the strawberry flavor/red color from the extra strawberries, but without weighing down the crumb of the cake with the extra pulp.
ah, i see. thanks for replying! can’t wait to make this, i think i’m going to use the frozen/thawed strawberry puree method so that i can see the flecks of pulp/seeds in the cake! thanks!
I am making this cake tomorrow, and really frightened by all the “fallen” cakes. I bought frozen strawberries. So I will be making the cooking puree method. Did you happen to say, that you changed the liquid amount to make sure the cakes don’t fall?
I also have a layer of cheesecake, (pre-baked) that I will be adding to the middle. Have made it before for a carrot cake recipe, and it is so wonderful tasting and moist.
Please let me know if I am too anxious over the cake falling!!!!….Will let you know how it turns out!
I didn’t reduce the overall liquid level but there is a different ratio of purée:milk, depending on which purée method you use. I can’t recall ever having this cake fall but if you’re worried about the liquid level, maybe reduce it by 2 Tbsp? Having never had the problem, I wouldn’t suggest going any further than that. And I think the cheesecake layer sounds awesome!
OH …forgot to mention…the cheesecake layer will be added after the Strawberry cake is baked and cooled!!!!…OOPS!
This looks fantastic! I need to make this cake on Wednesday, but I bought strawberries from the farmer’s market on Saturday. The strawberries are currently perfectly ripe and will probably go bad well before Wednesday. Can I make the puree now while the strawberries are perfect and then freeze or refrigerate it until the day I make the cake? If so, would I just thaw it and it will be ready to go? Thanks for any suggestions anyone has for me!
Sure – you could also just freeze the hulled strawberries and then thaw them Wednesday.
Well…made my strawberry cake with a layer of about 3/4 inch cheesecake. Everything worked out, cake didn’t fall, texture was perfect to hold up the cheesecake layer. Only problem…no strawberry flavor. I used the cooking of frozen strawberry method. Cooked it down to 1/2 cup. Absolutely no flavor.
Will use a strawberry extract flavoring next time. Loved the color of the cake, was just unhappy with the taste outcome. Better luck next time.
Quick question: How many cupcakes does this make? Should I fill the cupcake tins half way or 3/4? ThankS!
24 cupcakes, aim for 2/3-3/4 full.
Was craving a strawberry cake and found this one which appealed to me since its 100% strawberry cake. I made it this afternoon with the leftover puree in the middle and no frosting as I dont really love it. It was soooo good, thank you for such an easy and great recipe!
So my cakes have been in the oven for 30 minutes and the top is light brown but the center is completely liquid still. I get the feeling my first attempt at a cake from scratch will be a dud
I don’t own a fancy mixing bowl so I just used my hand mixer and my cake pans are quite old and silver(vs. non-stick). I’m not sure where I went wrong, any ideas?
Made the cupcakes and they were delicious but I added a cup and a half of strawberry puree because I like them to taste like strawberries completely!
I also was searching for a strawberry cake that was natural, as opposed to the ubiquitous strawberry jello and cake mix recipes. Thank you so much for this gorgeous recipe!!! I made it for my daughter’s third birthday, and it was moist and delicious. I followed the recipe exactly, but added vegetable-based red food dye to make it pinker. I frosted with Best Friends for Frosting’s strawberry buttercream, but subbed your strawberry puree (uncooked) for the strawberry preserves in that recipe. The finished product was beautiful and yummy! A huge hit with parents and preschoolers alike. Thanks again!
Just wanted you to know how MUCH I appreciated your recipe for the Strawberry Cake. I cooked the pureed fresh strawberries and then reduced them. I then sliced each layer and added the puree and put the Strawberry Frosting as the middle layer and frosted it all over. You would have blushed had you heard all the raves!!! I used puree to flavor and thin my frosting instead of the milk. Fabulous and it is now a family favorite. I have a picture but don’t know how to send it to you.
I hosted a baby shower for a friend a couple months ago, and decided I wanted to make a strawberry cake. Little did I know, until googling “strawberry cake”, that most are made from all kinds of ungodly ingredients! I was so glad to find your all natural version. My friend and the other guests went nuts for it! The cake was a little difficult to work with because it was so moist, but I managed to get it frosted and make it fairly presentable-looking.
Definitely keeping this in the repertoire!
Hi, I am going to making 60 cupcakes this Friday, 6/22/2012 and would like specific information on where the strawberry puree would fit into making the cupcakes? Teresa
No changes for the puree needed for cupcakes, you simply make the batter as if you were baking an entire cake.
My grandson has requested a strawberry cake with strawberry icing for his birthday. Having never made a strawberry cake before, I started with a Google search. THIS is the recipe I’ve decided to use . . . love that there’s no jello, no artificial flavors nor other similar stuff in it. I’m quite the ingredient snob and label reader.
I’ll be baking the cake Thursday.
I have an order for a strawberry flavoured treasure chest cake in a couple of weeks so went searching for a great Scratch Strawberry Cake (as all my cakes are scratch cakes), then I came across your page and this recipe..
I decided I would trial the cake on my Sister’s Birthday this weekend, so, I have 2 x 8″ layers just out of the oven.. currently no problems with it, I used the fresh Strawberry method as i needed fresh strawberry puree for some Macarons this weekend anyway.. (and also because i couldn’t find frozen strawberries anywhere.. I don’t think they exist over here (South Australia!)..
The only thing I would say about the cake is that I personally think you would need to make a 1.5batch to get the real 2 x 8″ cakes.. My batter made 1300g of batter, separated into 650g per pan, which has made them only about an inch high, where as I prefer them to be closer to 2 inches (so the finished cake is 4″ tall) but I guess, that’s just my personal preference as a decorator..
I will post a link of the finished cake and of the cut cake on Sunday.. I hope it tastes good!
Hi
The recipe sounds yummy. I just have a small doubt, is it possible for you to give the measurent of butter in grams? and also 24 oz of strawberry does it mean 24*30gms of strawberry? is it not too much or have I got it wrong? It would be really helpful if you could reply immediately because I want to try it out this weekend as a trial cake for my sons b’day next week.
Thanks a million in advance.
Hi
Another question, you have mentioned all the measurements in cups, is it possible for you to say how many grams of each you have meant?Or what is the measurement of the cup that you are using?
Please reply when you have time.
thank you,
Gaya
Hi, it’s just a standard US 1-cup measurement. I don’t know the recipe in grams but you should be able to find a recipe converter/calculator online.
Hi foodiebride,
finally i made the cake for my sons b’day. everybody loved it. Thank you for the wonderful recipe. I| followed ur recipe word by word and the cake came out soft and moist and the frosting was perfect and delicious.
Gaya
DO NOT DISCARD THE LIQUID FROM THE STRAWBERRIES! Simmer the strawberry liquid and reduce by about 2/3 to 3/4! Strawberry concentrate to add to your buttercream! Super tasty. Or you can brush it onto the cake or poke holes into the cake and use the concentrate as a soak. Really truly, do not discard that liquid from the frozen strawberries!
Haven’t even tasted the cooked cake yet, but the batter was so delicious that I had to let you know how excited I am to try the cake. Too bad I’m making it for a birthday party and have to wait until tomorrow to try it!
So, I made this cake on Wednesday, iced and decorated yesterday, and finally tried it today… I was happy with the taste, although I think it could be slightly stronger in strawberry flavour (i used the fresh strawberries), and I found it to be a little heavy/dry.. I wonder if this is coz it was a few days old? (usually don’t have this problem tho).. I need to make another one next week, do you think I could do 3/4cup strawberry puree with 1/4 milk?? instead of the 1/2 ea? also, do you now if there are any other tips on keeping it moist? or to make it a bit fluffier??
Overall, I’m happy with the cake, but it was only good with the vanilla buttercream!!
The recipe calls for cake flour, but I do not have that. Should I buy, or can I substitute regular flour?
Do you have cornstarch? A common cake flour substitute is to replace 1 Tbsp in a cup of AP flour with 1 Tbsp cornstarch.
I just, I just HAVE to give ALL KINDS OF PRAISE to this recipe!! I had never worked so hard for such a recipe before, but it was SO WORTH IT!! I have tried SO many strawberry cupcakes (from local bakeries to designer bakeries) and THIS RECIPE is the best!!! It needs so many capital letters and exclamations. THANK YOU for sharing it!! Will definitely be my go-to summer recipe. *:D
Help! I followed your instructions but im confused…..do i use the strawberry pulp or the juice in the cake? I did the cook fresh strawberry method……im about to pick one and proceed but im not sure…..
You discard the pulp.
ok great thanks so much for your response!!!
I made some delicious cupcakes! But I can’t understand why you would discard the pulp in the frozen puree version. I think next time I am just going to try puree-ing frozen strawberries and see what happens. I think I could still have too cook it down some, because these were very moist, even though I boiled down the juice.
About to start this recipe and I am really excited. I just wasted an hour making a recipe from Country Living and it was DISGUSTING! Had no strawberry flavor at all. So excited to make this one! I will let you know how it turns out! p.s. I am going to put lemonade buttercream frosting on them!
I made a cake first….turned out very tasty but the top crumbled off and made icing difficult. I just finished cupcakes, and they taste even better! Somehow they are fluffier than the cake was….
I’m not sure I understand the “discarding the pulp” part either….I ate a lot of it, seemed like a waste to throw away. What happens if you put all of it (pulp included) into the batter? Would it be runny?
Pulp or not though, this is a great recipe! thanks!
I made this cake over the weekend and I must say its the best tasting strawberry cake that ive ever made, better than the jello ones. However mine didn’t come out as moist as I’d hoped, it was quite dry after cooling. Any advice for making it more moist? And it is possible to use oil instead of butter? Thank you!
what about frosting? A simple buttercream, a cream cheese/buttercream…what is the suggestion? I didn’t see it in the recipe. Thanks
want to make it for my daughters 9th birthday.
This was DELICIOUS! The cake came out very moist. It was very obvious that this cake was made from scratch and it was truly special. We made it for my father in law’s birthday and were so pleased with it. Here are some of the tweaks we made (my mother in law and I). We used the 4 whole eggs versus 6 egg whites. We cooked the strawberries and measured the 1/2 C of liquid, but then we also added most of the pulp into the cake batter. This gave a unique texture and really made the cake seem fresh and not from a mix. We ended up adding several drops of red food coloring, as we didn’t get quite the color we desired from just adding the strawberry juice. We made icing with powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and a few TBSPs of the liquid from the cooked strawberries (not the pulp). We kept adjusting the powdered sugar and strawberry juice combo, until we got the strawberry flavor strong enough, as well as a good texture, for the icing. I am making this one for my own father next!
Since finding this recipe last year to make a dye free strawberry cake for a friend (my requirements not hers). I have made it numerous times because the flavor is simply amazing. I have even made it Gluten Free by substituting “Authentic Foods Bette’s Gourmet Featherlight Rice Flour Blend” for the flour one to one, adding Xanthan gum (gluten is what gives wheat flour the stretching and sticking power) and an extra egg. I love the way this cake melts in your mouth.
This year I decided to make a blueberry version for my sister’s birthday by simply substituting Blueberries for the Strawberries. It was amazing!!! I used a cream cheese icing, but I think I’ll used a whipped cream next time so that the cake can be the main flavor, the icing overwhelmed the cake.
Thanks for sharing this recipe.
So I made this cake for my daddy’s 43 birthday last weekend and it turned out AMAZING! The cake was fluffy and wonderful. I had to use a substitute for the cake flour because I didn’t read closely enough but it worked out wonderful. I feel like the next time I make it I need to add more strawberries to the cake but other than that it was great. I iced it with my family’s cream cheese frosting mixed with some of the leftover strawberry puree. My dad and stepmom both loved it. I have to make it again soon so that my mom can try it. =) Thank you for this great recipe!
Hello! My daughter requested a strange cake combo for her 5th birthday, and that’s how I found your recipe. However, she wanted Strawberry/Vanilla/Blueberry… so instead of making 3 different cakes, I used your recipe to make all three. Instead of mixing the puree in with the wet, I made the whole batch Vanilla, and separated them after everything was mixed, and put a third into a pan, a third with Strawberry puree, and a third with Blueberry puree. It came out WONDERFULLY! All three were so yummy alone, and together. Thank you! OH, and I used a stick blender and that worked very well.
I have a picture on my FB, if you’re interested in seeing. Thank you again.
Any suggestions on how to make this into a cookie? My daughter loves strawberry cookies but the recipes always uses a strawberry cake mix box. I’m trying to eliminate the box and go with scratch.
Maybe someone else can help but I don’t have any experience making cookies from the box mix.
I was horrified to realize as the cakes were baking that I COMPLETELY forgot about the butter!!! No butter, no oil… (i haven’t been baking that long…heh heh) I hurriedly made another batch before my birthday-guest-of-honor came over but as that was baking I cut off a slice just to try it… and I gave it to all the other 5 people who were standing in the kitchen… and they all really liked it!! So we made the first butter-less batch into a layer cake as suggested (w/straw. puree and buttercream frosting) and the (correct) buttery one i frosted w/ sweetened whipping cream. The birthday girl liked your original buttery recipe the best but my husband and i actually preferred the butterless one (although it was a little… salty?) anyway if anyone wants to be super-healthy, or runs out of butter, it will work out, surprisingly!!
I made this cake for my husband’s birthday. He continues to rave about it and there’s not even any cake left! I’m usually pretty critical of the things I make, but I have to say, this cake was unbelievable. The cake part turned out almost too moist (I thought it wasn’t fully cooked), but that made it better in my opinion. That could be because I added a little too much of the reduced strawberry juice hoping to make the batter pinker, but it didn’t really make it any pinker. The cake was just barely pink when it was done and I couldn’t taste a whole lot of “strawberry” in the cake part, but my husband said he could.
I followed the directions to a T, including simmering the fresh strawberries and reducing the liquid. I ran out of time to reduce the liquid to the correct amount, so I just used what I needed and reserved the rest. Perhaps this is the key to why my cake wasn’t as strawberry as I’d hoped? I also saved the strawberry pulp leftover after straining the cooked berries. To speed up the process, I had to stick things in the freezer and fridge to get everything cool enough, but it worked just fine. This is a time-consuming cake to make, but luckily I had all afternoon.
For the icing, I made your version of cream cheese icing. It tasted great, but didn’t seem to have the same consistency or flavor of other cream cheese icings I’ve had in the past–but no complaints. I mixed a little of the leftover strawberry liquid into the icing to make it pink, too. Then, before I iced the cake, I smeared the strawberry pulp in between the layers and on the top of the cake and drizzled it with the remaining liquid. I hoped this would soak into the cake and make it like strawberry shortcake (an idea I got off Pioneer Woman’s blog). The strawberries mixed into the icing as I spread it around, which actually created a nice look.
All in all, everyone loved it and my husband was beyond thrilled. Thanks for a great recipe.
I am in the process of making the cake. I used the fresh strawberries and cooked puree. Next instruction says to strain and reserve the juice, put in sauce pan to reduce. Then in the directions for the cake, step 3 says to put in blender. I assume this is only if you are using frozen berries? Otherwise, I would be putting juice in the blender. Thanks! Can’t wait to taste it.
Have you ever tried making this cake gluten free?? It looks yummy! My daughter wants a strawberry cake for her birthday but i need to figure out a gluten free way! Any help would be great! Thank you!!
Do a search on this page for gluten and you will find some suggestions.
Just made a gluten-free version of this cake for a dinner party last night and everyone thought it was wonderful. Love the fact that it calls for fresh strawberries–I think that is key. It was delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Glad you liked it! Would you be willing to share what you did to make it gluten-free? I get questions/emails about it from time-to-time and I know next to nothing about gluten-free substitutions. Thanks!
See my previous post to make it gluten free.
I’m thinking of making this cake for my mom’s birthday tomorrow. I live in Europe so I had to convert everything to the metric system and also I’ve never made a cake before so I could say that I’m a little scared
Oh and I have a question, since I can’t find vanilla extract anywhere in my town, do you think using rum instead would be ok?
Thank you!
Have been reading all the reviews…been getting many good tips. I have been looking for a good strawberry cake batter to make a strawberry cheesecake cupcake with and this one looks very promising. Have a question regarding frosting/icing…which one of the ones recommended does not require refrigeration or stand up better? I had made some cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting for an event my husband’s place of employment had and by the time he got them to the event, the frosting was melting. Any recommendations? Thank you for your help!
Would it be alright to put white chocolate chips in? I don’t want it to fall . . .
Well, they’ll melt and give the cake a heavier texture. But that might not be a totally terrible thing, if that’s what you’re looking for.
Thanks so much! My son is going to love this!
I also love when my food is simply what the ingredients should be!
I tried this cake today after having it bookmarked for a while. I was very disappointed- I can’t seem to think of what went wrong, because it was not the cake everyone here is raving about!
I used unbleached cake flour, which I’ve only used one other time. Does that make a difference? The taste of the batter was good, but after baking it tasted wheat-like and very bland. I followed the recipe to a T and made sure my strawberries were very sweet and fragrant, so this came as a surprise. Even the texture was strange, though I know the cakes weren’t overbaked. Any ideas about what might have gone wrong?
Wow! Just made this cake for the first time and it was GREAT! My hussband could not stop talking about it. I used a chocolate glaze with a little of the strawberry puree mixed in it. We both Loved it!
Thanks for a great cake recipe!! If you haven”t made this your missing out on Heaven!
Greetings from Sussex England and thank you for this fantastic recipe!
I was asked to make a triple stacked wedding cake for the daughter of a friend, she asked if the middle 1o inch one could be strawberry flavour and I found your recipe. Thank goodness for the net! The test cake was delicious and I made the wedding cake for last weekend. It was a whopper, 18 egg whites in all made in three layers. The Bride wanted a confetti cake so I added half a tub of multi coloured sequins, stirred in just before baking. The only tweaks I made were to add a bit of red food colour to improve the colour as the strawberry season here is over, and a half teaspoon of flavour to ramp up the taste a bit. I cooked the cakes over the Sunday and Monday before and kept them in the fridge, well wrapped in cling film. I filled and fondant iced them on Wednesday evening and they travelled down to Devon (about 200 miles) on Thursday. The cake was kept in the fridge until Saturday and was by all accounts, delicious- The bride missed out on the day and went back for a taste the next morning and All three cakes had been eaten!( The top 8 inch layer was coffee and pecan and the bottom 12inch was devils food cake filled with black cherries and kirsch)
I have just baked the recipe again in cupcake form for a friends Birthday dinner tonight, this time I didnt push as much puree through the seive so the colour was very vibrant. Instead of milk I used strawberry fromage frais and this has made the cakes very moist and light. Im just about to frost and decorate them.
I make lots of cakes for various reasons and I am sure I will be using this recipe again and again so thank you SO much for posting the recipe!!!
Hi,
I’m a newbie to baking ha! Thanks!!
I’m a little confused on cooking the strawberries for the purée! it says to keep the juice & discard the pulp? Don’t I need the puree/pulp? also am not following what then to pht back in the pot to cook before cooling & adding to the cake! could you clarify this step? i want to do this since you say it gives it a stronger strawberry taste! Baking this for my husband’s bday tomorrow
Hello,
I found a website that sells pure strawberry extract…no preservatives or anything of the sort. I plan on purchasing this to make your strawberry cake and buttercream frosting. When using the extract for the cake, how much should I use along with the milk? Should I still use 1/2c. liquid (extract) & 1/2c. milk? Thank you in advance.
I’ve never seen strawberry extract before so I don’t know it’s strength or recommended servings. Usually extracts are much stronger, concentrated flavors so you’d only use a little (ie, vanialla).
I want to thank you for posting this amazing recipe! My son requested a strawberry birthday cake with strawberry icing for his fifth birthday. I doubled the purée recipe and froze the extra for a second cake for his kid-party this weekend. The first cake turned out amazing! I added some of the purée to the basic buttercream frosting you posted and I think it was the best frosting I’ve ever made! So now I’ve baked this cake twice, in two different shapes, and it turned out great both times. This is a recipe I imagine I’ll be using for years! Thank you!! If its ok, I’ll be linking to this post when I blog about his cakes. Have a great weekend!
Just made these for my 3-year old’s birthday party. I was looking for a pink, homemade cake and decided on your recipe before I realized I had a huge box of frozen raspberries in my freezer. So I substituted those and everybody loved the cupcakes! They were a bit more on the purple side of pink, but delicious.
I just used this recipe to make cupcakes for my daughter’s 3rd birthday. My experience is that for cupcakes and muffins, the lower fat content, the more they stick in the wrapper. So, I used the 4 whole eggs instead of 6 egg whites – just for the higher fat content – and they turned out PERFECTLY. My oven always bakes quickly, so they were done right at 17 minutes. I frosted them with my favorite cream cheese frosting, which I mixed the extra strawberry puree, along with a little extra powdered sugar, into the frosting and it was AMAZING. Everybody raved and raved, and my 3 year old birthday girl proclaimed them the “best cupcakes ever!!!” – They were NOT bright pink, which is fine by me, since the reason I used this recipe was the LACK of artificial dye. LOVED this recipe!
Hello, do u have any advice on replacing the sugar with another sweetener such as apple juice concentrate or agave syrup? My baby girl turning one and loves strawberries! Just wanting to make the cake as healthy as possible but yummy for her as well
thank you for the recipe, it was terribly hard finding a good recipe that didn’t use jello. In any case i followed your instructions with minor modifications. I didn’t have access to fresh strawberries, when I made this cake for a birthday, so i settled for grocery store berries, but i picked the ripest berries I could find, ripe but not spoiled, since they have more developed flavors. They were chopped like the instructions said, tossed with sugar, a few drops of lemon juice and very little water. I let them sit overnight in the fridge, so the flavors could soak in. other then that, I followed the instructions, i used 4 whole eggs, chopped some more strawberries, tossed them in with the batter, put it in the oven and the cake came out wonderful. It was full of flavor and moist and had a nice pale pink color. Now with the leftover pulp i didn’t discard that (since that too was full of flavor) instead i used some strawberry preserves, a few tablespoons of the pulp, pureed them together, until it had a nice consistency and used it for the filling in between layers.
I’m not sure what I’ve done wrong but my batter split. I made sure the strawberry puree was cold (I cooked frozen strawberries as per the note) before I mixed in the wet ingredients (I used 4 whole eggs, not 6 egg whites) and then mixed in the wet mixture to the dry mixture that had already beat butter in to resemble bread crumbs. I don’t know where I went wrong because I followed the recipe to a T… Any suggestions for next time? I’m currently baking the mixture anyway, to see if it will work out. Better than throwing it out, I think.
Hi, everyone. I make a strawberry cake nearly identical to this one for my youngest son’s birthday every year since I first made it for him when he was 6 (he’ll be twelve this year). I just wanted to offer a slight variation especially if you’re taking this cake to a party. I can’t tell you how many people have given me some borderline risque compliments on this, particularly the frosting/icing. I use two pints of strawberries, hulled and placed in bowl. Sprinkle with some sugar and drizzle with some grand marnier and let sit and macerate for an hour or so. Drain (by all means try the syrup with ice cream, or better yet gelato, even frozen yogurt). Then chop to fine dice or larger if you love strawberries. If you don’t like grand marnier, try good cognac. Reserve half the strawberries and puree for to add the frosting–I sometimes make a cream based frosting, sometimes a butter cream, and sometimes mascarpone (Italian cream cheese–smoother and slightly less sour than Philly).
This cake is exactly what I was looking for. My granddaughter requested strawberry cake for her fourth birthday in November. I could have made a white or yellow cake and filled it with whipped cream and fresh strawberries, but I thought a pretty pink cake would be better. This recipe was a bit of work as I used the cooked method, but it was worth it. Great flavor and texture! The instructions were clear and easy to follow — thanks for doing such a good job with them. I filled the layers with French pastry cream mixed with the leftover puree and laid half strawberries on the cream. Came out pretty when cut.
I just finished baking a batch of cupcakes and they are amazing! I eat four cupcakes and could have eaten the entire batch of cupcakes, they are that good.
Hi, I baked this cake for Valentines Day and it was a big hit ! ! My husband loved it. I made the cake as instructed using fresh Strawberries. It was beautiful light pink and a wonderful flavor. I used the cream cheese frosting and added the solids from the strawberries, delicious and lite. This is Strawberry Season and I will make this cake again, this is a keeper. Thank You.
The recipe sounds awesome =) I would love to try that but I am not sure how much 1 cup is. Is one cup 250ml or less?
Amazing recipe! I sub. to make it dairy free for my daughter … 1.5 cups of purred strawberries ( lightly cooked) and 1/4 rice milk and 2 full sticks of vegan butter… Cupcakes were fluffy and soooooooo delicious!
I saved some purée for the frosting and then lightly drizzled some on top!
Hi…. I m very tempted to make ur cake….but since we r only. 2 I just wanna make cake which is small… Can u help me with recipe for 2 6 inch cakes plz?
Half the recipe will make 2 6-inch cakes.
LOVE this cake! Have made it 3 times and it turned out great. I even did it with gluten free flour. It was great. Thanks so much
Just made this and wanted deeper color and more concentrated flavor, so I put some freeze-dried berries in my processor and mixed into the heated puree. WOW! Intense flavor and rich color, just what I wanted but didn’t expect to get. Used it in my cream cheese frosting, too. Now my mind is racing and anticipating a whole arsenol of fruit cakes – mango, pineapple, peach, yum! Thanks so much for this great interpretation!
Made yummy cupcakes with this recepie and topped them with some frosting made with fresh strawberries
Am I missing something? Why does the recipe call for 24 oz. of fresh strawberries yet only uses 3/4 cup of the puree? Why call for so many if not being used?
When you cook down the strawberries to turn them into the puree (as shown in the recipe) it yields a very small amount of puree. That is why you need so many fresh strawberries…
I made a wedding cake with this recipe and people absolutely loved it. Thanks for sharing.
By the way, I forgot to say how wonderful it is to see a recipe like this posted on a website. Thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful-looking (and I’m sure tasting, as well) strawberry cake! Most of all, I appreciate that it is made with all natural ingredients and still has gorgeous color. My little girl is highly allergic to all food dyes, and it can be a challenge to make her fun-looking stuff like her siblings enjoy. I think we’re all set for her birthday cake this summer!
Just made this for my daughter’s birthday, with last year’s frozen strawberry puree and it was amazing. I thought that the sweet buttercream frosting almost took away from the cake. Have you ever made it as a Bundt cake with just a glaze or sprinkle of confectioner’s sugar?
I’ve always found that oil based cakes turn out lighter and moister. Could I substitute oil for the butter?
This recipe is amazing. If I were wanting a more strong strawberry flavor and color do you think I could sub out the half cup of milk for another half cup puree?
I haven’t done it yet – but worth a try! Or what about starting with an extra 8oz strawberries to cook down and concentrate?
What would you recommend for someone wanting to turn this recipe into a quarter sheet cake? So, a double layer 9×13 size cake? Would you quadruple the recipe? And what about the baking temp and time?
Thanks
One recipe will make a standard “box mix sized” 9×13, so if you want a full-sized second layer, double the recipe (my assumption is that you’re using 2 pans). Leave the temp the same and expect it to take a few minutes longer (but still check doneness about 5 minutes before the stated time to judge from there).
Should I bake both layers at the same time, or one at time to be safe?
Also…I’ve never put foil on the outside of cake pans, but esp in this case being 9×13 I think it will need it. Where exactly do you put it? Just on the outside part? Or do you cover the top or bottom perimeter at all? I’m making this for my sons’s 1st birthday party this weekend. And one more question…if regular flour was used instead of cake flour, does that mess with the results?
The cake flour will make a tighter crumb but all-purpose flour will not ruin the recipe. If you have cornstarch, you can “make” cake flour by substituting 1 Tbsp of cornstarch for 1 Tbsp of all-purpose for each cup of cake flour in the recipe. I never bake 9×13 but I do think other cakes benefit from using the “bake even” strips. You only wrap the sides of the pans, nothing over the top/bottom.
Either should work – unless your oven has given you trouble before with baking two pans at the same time.
I tried your recipe and the cake had really good flavor but turned out denser than a regular cake. Is it suppose to be that way?
i made a strawberry jalepeno version of this cake! lol. just FYI. it turned out great first run. i love your notes–very helpful, i went for the puree/reduction version. btw i just used regular all purpose
I am now in the process of cooking my strawberry puree, and I have a question. Is it supposed to be somewhat tart? I’ve added a couple teaspoons of sugar, and the berries were quite sweet to begin with. I didn’t want to add too much sugar and ruin the whole cake, if this is how it normally tastes in the beginning. I am quite excited to make this cake. I plan to have it for Easter! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Don’t add too much sugar – the cake will be plenty sweet enough.
I have to tell you this is one of my all time favorite cakes. Ever. We are a dye free family and as a mom and wife that LOVES to bake, dye free makes things hard sometimes. I was instantly over the moon about this cake. I made it last July for my 2 year old girl’s birthday party and everyone went crazy over it! I just made it again for a friend’s baby shower tomorrow. I doubled the recipe and with the leftover batter I then filled a tray that holds 6 little bunny cake molds. Pink bunnies…too cute!!! I cannot thank you enough for this recipe. It is a staple in our home. And btw, I have never had it not feel light and yummy! Always perfect! And I will add that I only do egg whites. I personally think the yolks change things a bit. Personal opinion I guess. Thank you!!!!
I made this cake for Easter 2013 and it turned out wonderful, ppl were fighting over the cake. The strawberry pureed turned out beautifully but I layered the cake and make a cream cheese frosting and then took the puree and drizzled it on top of the cake.
It was so fantastic, delicious, a very big hit!!
Hi there! Could I frost the cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting the night before and leave them out and if so will they be moist?
Thanks,
Melissa
You’ll need to cover them somehow – cake dome, carrier, etc – but they’ll be fine.
OMG! I too made this for Easter today! It was half gone and it was soooooo soft and actual flavor! I served ice cream and sugared strawberries with it! Everyone loved it but I was impressed because the flavor was so good! I too used a cream cheese frosting and I added food coloring to make a tad more pink! Slam dunk my friend! Garlic Girl approval!
Ok so I made this cake tonight as a trial run for a strawberry cake I have to make tomorrow. I think I have tried the original version of this recipe before and love the addition to the recipe of cooking and reducing the berries first it makes a HUGE difference especially working with frozen berries. I really liked the texture and moisture level of the cake however I noticed that I could taste the baking powder (I think I’m sensitive to the taste :/ ). I really liked the volume of the cake and I’m not well versed enough in cake making to feel comfortable changing anything so I figured I would ask for help. What can I do to get rid of the baking powder taste without altering my visual and texture results??
Hi there – I want to try to make this cake on sunday… I only have one question. If I want to do the cooked puree method, I cant tell from your instructions if I need to strain the strawberries after cooking even if I am using fresh strawberries. so – do i?
Yes, I strained it (see the last paragraph of the question about cake color in the FAQ).
My 4 yr old wants a strawberry cake for her birthday. A shell shaped one…(did I mention she is 4) Before I have used a cake mix and a half to fill my 14 inch round cake pan. What is your experience with this idea and this recipe?
Make 1.5 of the recipe – as written, it pretty much is the same as a standard box mix.
Just used this recipe with sour cherries from the freezer that we picked last fall. Awesome colour to them. omitted milk and instead used milk powder because the blended cherries were a bit over juicy. The smell in here this afternoon is amazing.
I made this in a 13×9 sheet and it was perfection. I did the cooked puree method. I couldn’t get the puree to reduce down much, even while gradually increasing the heat to medium over 30 min, so I used almost a cup with just a splash of milk added. The flavor on cooling was amazing, but it became even fruitier and moister the next day. Not that it survived much of the next day, we’re talking an under 18 hour lifespan here. I frosted it with some Cool Whip Icing I had laying around.
Mouthwatering, moist, and delicious.
So i am pretty upset with how this cake came out..i tried making it for my dadsbirthday and it ended up really soggy and not cooking right. Im not sure if it is because I didnt puree the strawberries, I just threw them into the mixer and the kinda just got squished and choped up in there and my mother said it would be fine like thatt..or because iput all the batter in one 8inch pan instead of two (also my mothers idea) so yeah, now im stuck with a soggy cake and a nasty store bought chocolate cake for my dad instead, which really upsets me because im the baker in the family and I always make everyone special cakes for everyone. Oh well. Any tips on how I can make it actually work next time? I am thinking of trying the cupcake version this thursday and would love some tips! It would much appreciated
This might be one of the few times where moms aren’t always right. Definitely at least puree the strawberries (don’t put them in whole or coarsely chopped) and in order for it to bake correctly, you’ll either need to use *2* 8- or 9-inch pans or 1 9×13. A single 8- or 9-inch pan will not get it done.
I’m trying to make this cake but I’m really confused on your cooking the pulp directions. Your directions say, “Pour into a fine strainer set over a bowl. With a rubber spatula or spoon, scrape and press the strawberries through the strainer until all of the juice is in the bowl and you’re only left with the juiceless pulp (don’t rush this step – it’s important). Discard the pulp and transfer the juice back to the sauce pan. Reduce the liquid down to 1/2 cup and cool. Proceed with the recipe, using 1/2 cup of milk.”
I don’t understand why I’m “discarding the pulp and transferring the juice back to the saucepan” when the recipe calls for the pulp. I can’t see anywhere where the directions call for the 1/2 c. cooled liquid. What am I missing?
Sorry for the confusion – used the cooked down/reduced mixture in the cake mix. The stuff left in the strainer can be discarded.
Wow that was a super fast response! Thank you!
This recipe is amazing. I made this for my husband who loves strawberry cake and it turned out wonderful. I made an eggless version with egg substitute . Thank you , your recipe is a sure keeper
Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU for this fantastic recipe. I wanted so desperately to make a strawberry cake from scratch for my son’s first birthday but recipe after recipe was from a joke. I had just about given up my search when I stumbled upon your site. I made a practice cake tonight. It’s perfect. I wish I was able to put into words how much this has made my day. I wanted so badly to make his first cake and it to be perfect. This cake…..it’s gonna make it pretty darn close to perfect as I can do (I’m not that great with decorating!).
My family and I visit the Strawberry Festival in Louisiana every year. I bought extra strawberries to make a cake, hoping I’d find a good recipe. I made this cake using those strawberries and it was so good!! I only have a few questions… the cake wasn’t as moist as I would’ve liked. I know I had to have done something wrong! I don’t know if this makes a difference, but I don’t have a stand mixer. I had to use my hand mixer. Also, the cake flour says 2 1/4 cups, sifted. Does that mean I measure the 2 1/4 cups and then sift it or should I sift it while measuring the 2 1/4 cups? Also, I didn’t have a scale or anything like that so I know I used more than 24 oz of strawberries, but after I reduced it down, I only used 1/2 cup of the cooked puree. I would love to try this cake again because my family really loves strawberries and I’m so excited to find a great recipe! If you have any suggestions as to how to make it moister I would greatly appreciate it
This looks great. I am going to try it for my son’s 6th birthday. He requested strawberry cake with chocolate frosting! Thanks for the from scratch recipe!
Loved the cake. And super easy to make. I will never make boxed strawberry cake.
Regarding if color is not pink enough add food coloring–
PLEASE DON’T ruin an all natural cake with dye. A few drops
Of beet juice makes the MOST beautiful red! Work s great
In icing too ( it doesn’t affect flavor and is loaded with antioxidants
This recipe is amazing! Thank you for sharing it. My family has absolutely fallen in love with it. Even my husband, who is not a fan of cake likes it!
I highly recommend using this same recipe for other fruit. Where I live, strawberries don’t always seem fresh and I’ve turned to other fruit that looks better. So far, I’ve used this recipe with blackberries and plums. Both were wonderful. Again, thank you. And, as always, enjoy baking.
This recipe sounds really good. I am planning to make this for my birthday. I have some doubts though. When using frozen strawberries do we have to add sugar and water when making the puree. Also can I use sunflower oil instead of butter for the cake. Hope you will respond in time
If using frozen berries, just thaw them and put them straight into the pan. You won’t need the sugar and you’ll probably have enough liquid that you won’t even need the water. I’ve never made this specific cake with oil, but as a general oil-for-butter substitution, you’ll want to use 20% less oil than the stated amount for butter.
Hai Shawnda, thanks for the reply. I am definetly going to try this recipe and will give you the results. Looking out for more cake and desserts from you. Tc
I made this cake for my grandson’s birthday, his request was a strawberry cake. It was delicious. The best strawberry cake I’ve ever had. I was looking for a recipe which did not include a box cake and or strawberry gelatin, this recipe is it.
I was a bit confused by adding the butter to the dry ingredients and creating a crumb like mixture, I bake often and never used a recipe like this but I followed the instructions anyway. Well once I added the liquid ingredients it just looked like crumbs mixed with liquid, it was not incorporating together all the way but I baked it anyway. I made 24 cupcakes baked for 20 min with 1/4 tsp almond extract added, they were tasty but the color was off since the white cake mix did not blend completely with the strawberry mixture.
I was looking for a strawberry cake that used real strawberries when I found this recipe and everyone LOOOVED it!
I easily made it dairy-free for the allergic ones among us (eggs okay) by directly substituting coconut milk drink and earth balance margarine. It came out great – very moist.
For intense yummy strawberry flavor and pink color it is all about the cooked puree method! I think I’m going to use the same method to make some strawberry frozen yogurt this summer.
I split the recipe between three cake pans and baked for 15 – 20 minutes for three thinner layers with strawberry slices and frosting in between and it turned out a lovely height. Thank you!
Can this recipe be doubled without trouble? I need to make this into a 10″ plus 6″ layered cake, and I’m thinking I’ll need to double it in order to have enough for both.
Thanks!
Tai
It’s a standard-yield recipe so you will have to double for a 10-inch. I see no reason why you’d have any issues with it!
What do I do with the butter? I’m right in the middle of making this cake, and there’s no instructions for the butter!!
Also, I’m not sure why I needed 24 oz of strawberries because I now have a ton of puree!!
Tai
I just made this and it’s delicious! I made cupcakes and I’m filling them with ganache and topping with a vanilla buttercream.
I am about to make this cake but I do have a question. I like fluffy cakes and I don’t like my cakes to be dense. I know cake flour makes them more dense than all-purpose flour. Has anyone tried using all-purpose? If so, please let me know.
Thanks!
Found the butter instructions. Sorry.
Oohhh so yummy!!! Made these for a party and everyone lived them(made cupcakes) so moist and perfect sweetness!!!
I want to make this cake for my daughters first birthday because of the natural ingredients. Can I make it a single layer mini 5.6×2.5
I just made this cake for batchlorette party, and the cake was amazing. My only question is how do you make it more moist. I just like a relly moist cake. The cake is very flavorful, and the strawberry folded into the filling is absolutely amazing. Would you suggest butter milk instead of regular milk?