If you’re looking for a strawberry cake that is bursting with fresh strawberry flavour, then this recipe is it! Super soft strawberry cake layers are sandwiched between a strawberry cream cheese buttercream and fresh strawberry filling – YUM!
Why This Strawberry Cake is Special
So this might be an unpopular opinion, but I feel like there’s two problems with regular strawberry cake.
Firstly, if it’s a recipe that uses only fresh strawberries, then it often lacks that strawberry flavour hit that you want, from well, a strawberry cake!
Secondly, if it’s a recipe that uses strawberry essence or extract only, then it often has this overwhelmingly artificial taste which just isn’t my cup of tea.
I really wanted to try and develop a recipe that had as much fresh strawberry as possible in the actual cake batter, but with the addition of strawberry extract/essence to really bump up the flavour. Hopefully in a way that simply amplified the natural strawberry flavour, but without it tasting artificial.
How did I achieve this? After MANY fails (the first version I made was SO BAD), I finally got the result I wanted by making a strawberry filling/reduction (which I adapted from my raspberry filling recipe), and that became the base of the entire cake.
I used the strawberry filling in the cake layers, cream cheese frosting and as a filling in the centre of the cake. To then amplify the strawberry flavour, I added additional strawberry essence/extract into the cake layers (it took me a few trials to get the amount juuuust right!) and frosting, and it really took the cake to the next level!
How to Make Strawberry Cake
So this strawberry cake has three elements:
- Strawberry filling/reduction (this is the base of the entire recipe and is made first. It can also be made the day beforehand to save time)
- Strawberry cake
- Strawberry cream cheese frosting
You can find the full quantities as well written directions in the recipe card at the end of this blog post 🙂
Strawberry filling/reduction:
Begin by placing strawberries, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice in a large fry pan and place over a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once the strawberries are soft, using a potato masher, mash the strawberries well. Allow the mixture to reduce for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Combine cornstarch with the water and mix until the cornstarch is no longer lumpy. Add it into the strawberry mixture while continuously mixing to avoid lumps forming.
Reduce for another few minutes and then take it off the heat. You should have about 2 cups. It’s okay if it’s not exact, but if you have a lot more than 2 cups, then you will need to reduce the mixture further.
The filling needs to cool before you move onto the cake. To speed up the process, spread the filling out onto a wide dish and refrigerate for 30 minutes. You can also make this the day beforehand to save time.
Strawberry Cake
Begin by preheating oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 4 on recipe card below if you don’t have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release).
In a bowl, sift together your flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
In a small bowl combine 3/4s of a cup (195g) of the strawberry filling, milk and gel food colour. Mix until well combined. Set aside for now.
In another bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine – see note 2), cream together for 3 minutes until light and creamy.
Add in egg whites in 3 batches on a low-medium speed, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between each batch).
Add in half of your strawberry/milk mixture from earlier, strawberry essence/extract, vanilla and white vinegar. Mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
Finish off by adding in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the remaining strawberry/milk mixture, and fold it in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold it into the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 3). If your batter seems a little dull in colour, then you can add another drop of red gel food colouring.
Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins, and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting with the strawberry cream cheese buttercream recipe below.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Begin by creaming your butter for a few minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Either use a hand mixer or stand mixer on a medium high speed. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
Add in the icing sugar in 3 batches while mixing on low. Ensure that each batch of icing sugar is mixed into the butter well before adding in the next batch.
Next add in your cold cream cheese, strawberry essence/extract and vanilla. Mix just until the frosting is smooth. Avoid over-mixing (see note 3).
Add in a 1/4 cup (65g) of the strawberry filling we made earlier, and mix that in until just combined. You can add additional colouring in at this point too if you prefer.
Assembly
OPTIONAL: Begin by trimming off all the caramelised edges on the top, bottom and sides of the cake layers. Also level the tops if the cake layers have a slight dome.
Place your first cake layer onto your cake stand, and spread out a generous amount of the frosting on top.
Place some of the frosting into a piping bag with a 1A round tip, and pipe a border/dam around the edges of the cake layer to hold in our strawberry filling. Fill the middle with the remaining strawberry filling we made earlier.
Place the next cake layer on top and cover the top and sides with more frosting. If you have a cake scraper, you can use it to smooth out the sides. I like to do a little bit of piping on the top with the remaining buttercream in my piping bag (using the same 1A piping tip) and finish off with fresh strawberries on the top.
Soft Strawberry Cake
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Strawberry Filling/Reduction
- 3 cups (600 g) fresh strawberries - hulled and halved
- ¾ cup (150 g) white granulated sugar - see note 5 if you have very sweet strawberries
- 1 tbsp lemon zest - about the zest of 1 lemon
- ¼ cup (60 g) fresh lemon juice
- 3 tbsp (22 g) cornstarch - also known as cornflour
- 2 tbsp water
Strawberry Cake
- 2⅓ cups (300 g) flour - regular all purpose (see note 1 if you want to use cake flour)
- ¼ cup (25 g) cornstarch - also known as cornflour
- 2½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt - omit if using salted butter
- ¼ cup (60 g) milk - room temperature
- ¾ cup (195 g) strawberry filling/reduction - made in the first step of this recipe
- 1 drop red gel food colouring - optional but recommended, see note 6
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- ½ cup (105 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola
- 1½ cups (300 g) white granulated sugar
- 6 large (225 g) egg whites - room temperature, size 7 eggs
- 3 tsps strawberry essence/extract
- 1½ tsp vanilla essence/extract
- 1 tsp white vinegar
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- 4½ cups (570 g) icing sugar - also known as powdered sugar/confectioners sugar
- 1½ cups (335 g) cream cheese - cold, firm type not spreadable
- ¼ cup (65 g) strawberry filling/reduction - made in the first step of this recipe
- 2 tsp strawberry essence/extract
- 1 tsp vanilla essence/extract
Instructions
Strawberry Filling/Reduction
- Place the strawberries, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice in a large fry pan and place over a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Once the strawberries are soft, using a potato masher, mash the strawberries well. Allow the mixture to reduce for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Combine the cornstarch with the water and mix until the cornstarch is no longer lumpy. Add it into the strawberry mixture while continuously mixing to avoid lumps forming.
- Reduce for another few minutes and then take it off the heat. You should have about 2 cups. It's okay if it's not exact, but if you have a lot more than 2 cups, then you will need to reduce the mixture further.
- The filling needs to cool before you move onto the cake. To speed up the process, spread the filling out onto a wide dish and refrigerate for 30 minutes. You can also make this the day beforehand to save time.
Strawberry Cake
- Preheat oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 4 if you don't have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release).
- In a bowl, sift together your flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
- In a small bowl combine 3/4s of a cup (195g) of the strawberry filling, milk and gel food colour. Mix until well combined. Set aside for now.
- In another bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine - see note 2), cream together for 3 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in egg whites in 3 batches on a low-medium speed, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between each batch).
- Add in half of your strawberry/milk mixture from earlier, strawberry essence/extract, vanilla and white vinegar. Mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
- Finish off by adding in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the remaining strawberry/milk mixture, and fold it in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold it into the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 3). If your batter seems a little dull in colour, then you can add another drop of red gel food colouring.
- Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins, and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting with the strawberry cream cheese buttercream recipe below.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream your butter for a few minutes until it's light and fluffy. Either use a hand mixer or stand mixer on a medium high speed. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
- Add in the icing sugar in 3 batches while mixing on low. Ensure that each batch of icing sugar is mixed into the butter well before adding in the next batch.
- Next add in your cold cream cheese, strawberry essence/extract and vanilla. Mix just until the frosting is smooth. Avoid over-mixing (see note 3).
- Add in a 1/4 cup (65g) of the strawberry filling we made earlier, and mix that in until just combined. You can add additional colouring in at this point too if you prefer.
Assembly
- OPTIONAL: Begin by trimming off all the caramelised edges on the top, bottom and sides of the cake layers. Also level the tops if the cake layers have a slight dome.
- Place your first cake layer onto your cake stand, and spread out a generous amount of the frosting on top.
- Place some of the frosting into a piping bag with a 1A round tip, and pipe a border/dam around the edges of the cake layer to hold in our strawberry filling. I like to pipe a double border so its high enough to get all the remaining filling in. Fill the middle with the remaining strawberry filling we made earlier.
- Place the next cake layer on top and cover the top and sides with more frosting. If you have a cake scraper, you can use it to smooth out the sides. I like to do a little bit of piping on the top with the remaining buttercream in my piping bag (using the same 1A piping tip) and finish off with fresh strawberries on the top.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
163 Comments
Hi! I would really like to use a 13 inch tin to make a larger cake! Would I double the ingredients? How much longer would I add to the cook time for both the cake and the strawberry filling? Thanks!
Hi Ryan! 🙂 If you mean one 13 inch round cake, then you will probably need to double the recipe and the cook time may stay relatively the same if the thickness of the cake layer is similar to the original recipe. I would check it at the stated cook time and then bake more if needed 🙂
If you mean a 9×13 inch sheet cake, then 1x the recipe will be enough 🙂
For the strawberry filling, if doubling the recipe you want to have about 4 cups, so I would cook it for about the same time as stated in the original recipe plus an additional 5 minutes or so at the end when it’s being reduced and then once done roughly measure it to see if you have about 4 cups. If you have quite a bit more, then you will need to reduce it down further 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe!
I made this cake and it was so moist! I hated making a strawberry cake because the recipes I found would only add strawberry essence to the vanilla base. But I loved your recipe, adding the strawberry filling to the cake. Everyone loved it!
Yay! So so happy to hear you loved the recipe Michelle and appreciated the real strawberry in the cake batter 🙂
Really appreciate the feedback 😀
Can I use olive oil instead of vegetable oil?
Hi Sam! I would not recommend it as it will change the flavor of the cake 🙂
Does this strawberry cake will work if I put fondant cake on top?
Hi May! 🙂 If you’d like to cover the cake in fondant, I would recommend using a different frosting as the cream cheese frosting will likely not be stable enough for fondant 🙂
Hello – I am really excited to try this! A few questions from the UK before I start.
1. I always bake with caster sugar (its much finer)? Your recipes all say granulated which is very grainy over here (i only use granulated in hot drinks and cooking!). Am I ok to continue with caster?
2. Cream cheese – I don’t know if the UK has a non-spreadable type. I have only used Philadelphia or Mascarpone before for frosting. Would either of these work?
3. Out of curiosity, why only egg whites? Why not full egg?
Many thanks. I love you detailed explanations!
A x
Hi Angie! 🙂 Answers below:
1) Caster sugar should be fine. I haven’t tried it myself, but don’t think it would impact the batter significantly, plus caster sugar in the UK sounds more like what we call ‘granulated sugar’ here in NZ 🙂 I may be wrong though as we do also have caster sugar here in NZ which is slightly finer than granulated sugar, however our granulated sugar is also quite fine 🙂
2) Yes I have noticed a few people mention that in the UK you can’t really find firm cream cheese. Mascarpone would be too soft I think, so perhaps just use the firmest cream cheese you can find? Or you could also perhaps find a good cream cheese frosting recipe by someone in the UK who would use something similar to what you would use and then add the strawberry filling and flavouring/essence from this recipe.
3) I adapted this recipe from my white cake recipe that only uses egg whites. By not having egg yolks, it gives the base cake a more neutral flavor, which allows the strawberry flavor to shine through more 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe Angie!
My daughter is having a rainbow party for her 4th birthday and wants strawberry cake. Do you have advice on making the cake / frosting rainbow instead of pink?
Hi Darby! 🙂 Due to the natural red color of the strawberry, it may be hard to make the cake/frosting rainbow colors, unless you use a lot of gel color. You could maybe keep the cake and filling as is, but make the frosting rainbow colors because you can play around with the frosting a bit more and adjust the colors until you get the shade that you like. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help but I hope your daughter has a wonderful birthday 🙂
Would this cake mix work in a cake pan for a number? Need about 2 box mixes to fill? Number 4 to be precise 😊
Hi Leah 🙂 I think it should work fine! You would just need to be careful when handling the individual cake layers if the number is quite large as the cake is quite soft 🙂
Also I would recommend covering the sides with frosting too to prevent the cake from drying out. In terms of how much batter would be needed, it really depends on the size of the number. If it is quite a large tin then you may want to make 1.5x or 2x the recipe 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe!
absolutely fill with strawberries flavour hit scrumptious!
Yay! So glad you loved the recipe Megan 😀 really appreciate the wonderful feedback 🙂
Hi! Excited to try this, but was wondering is white vinegar the same as distilled white vinegar? It’s all I have. Whats it’s purpose/would it be bad if i left it out? I’ve never used vinegar in a cake before. Thanks!
Hi Emmy! 🙂 Yes distilled white vinegar will be fine for this recipe 🙂
For more info on why I use vinegar in some of my cake recipes, check out this blog post: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe/why-is-vinegar-used-in-baking/
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe!
Thank you! One more question – if I’m going to make this cake the day before (not the frosting yet just the cake) do I need to refrigerate it or can it stay out?
Hi Emmy! It will be fine to stay at room temp, just make sure to keep it in an airtight container 🙂
Made this cake for my mom’s birthday and it was a hit! Everyone absolutely loved it, even me, and I usually am not the biggest fan of strawberry! My mom said it tasted exactly like the one her mom used to make. 😊I also added a custard filling alongside the strawberry reduction to not let the egg yolks go to waste. Super tasty!
Aww yay! So glad everyone loved the recipe Aster 😀 the addition of custard sounds so so good, I’ll have to try that sometime 😀
Happy birthday to your Mum! 🙂