Homemade Strawberry Cake
We have a new favorite homemade strawberry cake to share with you!
This incredibly moist, fluffy cake would pair perfectly with a number of fillings and frostings, and has amazing strawberry flavor!
Today we have filled our moist strawberry layer cake with whipped cream and sliced strawberries, and frosted with a creamy strawberry cream cheese frosting.
We think that this will become your new favorite strawberry cake!
Table of Contents
What Makes this Strawberry Cake Different?
We have a few other strawberry cakes in our Recipes Section that we love, including our Strawberry Sour Cream Cake, Scratch Strawberry Cake, Strawberry Pound Cake, and Strawberry Cake Mix Recipe.
What makes today's Homemade Strawberry Cake different, is the cream cheese in the cake batter! We refer to these as our velvet cake recipes.
We love the amazing texture that it gives our cake as well as the added richness that it adds while still maintaining a fluffy, soft crumb.
Buttermilk and sour cream are two staples that we've often turned to for our cake recipes because the added acidity softens the gluten strands which makes for a moist, tender cake.
We are now adding cream cheese to this list of favorite ingredients as well!
More Cakes with Cream Cheese in the Cake Batter!
Just in the past couple of months, we've begun to use cream cheese in several of our new cake recipes including: Almond Cream Cheese Cake, Lemon Velvet Cake, Chocolate Velvet Cake, and Chocolate Cream Cheese Pound Cake, and we are officially in love!
How to Make Homemade Strawberry Cake
You can find the full, printable strawberry cake recipe in our recipe card further down in this post, but here is a quick rundown of our steps!
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch pans. We like to line the bottom of our pans with circles of parchment paper.
- Puree fresh strawberries or frozen strawberries in a blender or food processor to make 1 cup. (You will also use an additional ¼ cup more for the frosting if you'd like to do this now). I used frozen, whole strawberries which I thawed and pureed for the cake batter, and used fresh strawberries for the filling and frosting.
The great thing about a strawberry cake recipe that calls for frozen strawberries is that you don't have to wait for strawberry season to enjoy it!
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds and set aside.
- Combine Wet Ingredients: In another bowl, combine the oil, 1 cup strawberry puree, and strawberry extract. Set aside.
- Butter & Cream Cheese: In the large mixing bowl of your stand mixer, add the butter and cream cheese and mix at medium speed until smooth.
- Sugar: Gradually add the sugar and mix at medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
- Eggs: Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears. As an optional step, we like to add a drop or two of pink color gel to make a prettier shade of pink batter.
- Adding Dry & Wet Ingredients: With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the strawberry mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (We did 3 additions of the dry mixture, 2 additions of wet). Slightly increase the mixer speed just until combined.
- Fill the Pans: Divide the batter between the three prepared pans.
- Time to Bake! Bake at 325 degrees F for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached. The baking time may vary and so keep an eye on the layers as they approach the 28 minute mark.
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack before turning out.
- This amazing strawberry cake recipe makes approximately 8 cups of batter and works for strawberry cupcakes as well (although there will be little to no dome).
Can Strawberry Cake Layers be Frozen?
Yes! Strawberry cake layers can be frozen- in fact, any cake layers can. We freeze cakes all the time and as long as they have been wrapped tightly, these moist cake layers will stay perfectly fresh.
After baking the strawberry cake layers, allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack before flipping out onto foil-lined cake boards.
Wrapping and Freezing
Allow to cool a bit more and then while still slightly warm, wrap in a layer or two of plastic wrap followed by aluminum foil. Into the freezer they go.
If you are baking far in advance, make sure to label the foil with the cake name and date.
How Long Can Cake Layers be Frozen?
When wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and foil, cake layers can be successfully frozen for three months.
That leaves plenty of time for working well in advance, or taking advantage of leftover frozen cake slices ;0) The cakes will still taste amazing.
Thawing Frozen Cake Layers
- Remove the wrapped cake layers from the freezer and allow to thaw on the kitchen countertop still wrapped. Condensation will form on the foil rather than the cake which is a good thing!
- After at least 30 minutes , once condensation has formed, you can remove the wrapping at any time.
- Some decorators even prefer to assemble their cakes when they are still partially frozen since they are less fragile.
Filling for our Homemade Strawberry Cake
There are many fillings that would be perfect for this delicious strawberry cake! Here are just a few:
- cream cheese frosting
- cooked strawberry filling
- strawberry whipped cream cheese filling
- strawberry buttercream
We decided to keep things light and simple with sliced fresh strawberries and whipped cream, as we do with our Strawberry Shortcake Cake and Easy Strawberry Champagne Cake Recipes.
We often use homemade whipped cream as a filling for our fruity cakes- it is a simple combination of whipped heavy cream, powdered sugar, and a bit of vanilla.
This recipe can be whipped up in minutes. We like chill the bowl and beaters/whisk attachment in the freezer for 10 minutes before preparing the recipe.
For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
I frosted the cake with a luscious Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting. This is such a flavorful recipe!
This strawberry frosting recipe is a cross between our usual cream cheese frosting and an American vanilla buttercream recipe as it uses one block of cream cheese frosting rather than two, and more butter.
This combination of recipes allowed me to add ¼ cup of strawberry puree for a boost of fresh strawberry flavor making it overly soft. I also love the tiny flecks of strawberry that the puree adds to the frosting!
You can still taste the light tanginess of the cream cheese, which perfectly complements the strawberry. The frosting is also flavored with a teaspoon of strawberry extract.
We added a touch of pink coloring gel (Americolor Deep Pink) to make a prettier shade of pink.
Cream Cheese Frostings are Softer
Cream cheese frostings like this one (as well as our chocolate cream cheese frosting, orange cream cheese frosting, and more) are a bit softer than other frostings.
The heat from your hands on the piping bag, or temperature of your kitchen can soften the buttercream, making it harder to work with.
Not to worry! If this happens, simply pop your bowl of frosting or piping bag in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to return it to it's proper consistency for decorating.
Assembling the Strawberry Cake
Place the first strawberry cake layer on the cake plate or pedestal. Using a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away, pipe a dam or strawberry cream cheese frosting about ¼-1/2 inch from the edge of the cake layer.
The purpose of piping a dam is to keep the soft whipped cream filling from escaping from the sides of the cake when the layers are stacked.
Fill the top of the layer with sliced strawberries, and follow with a layer of whipped cream (within the dam).
Top with the second cake layer, adding the dam, sliced strawberries, and whipped cream.
Top with the third cake layer and fill in any remaining gaps between the cake layers with more frosting. (I fill in the gaps with the same piping bag I used for the dam and then spread with an offset spatula. We want to seal in the filling!
Next, I crumb coated the entire cake with a thin layer of frosting and chilled it in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes to firm things up. (You could also chill in the refrigerator for a bit longer).
Next, apply the second coat of frosting and smooth with a bench scraper or offset spatula. (I like to heat my metal bench scraper under very hot water before gliding over the final coat of frosting to make it extra smooth.)
Decorating the Homemade Strawberry Cake
Decorate the strawberry cake however you like! I kept things simple and added a few fresh strawberries to the top of the cake and piped around them using a Wilton 6B french star tip. I love the look!
You can get a similar effect with any large star tip.
More Cakes with Strawberries!
We love strawberry cakes! We think of them most often when we need a great spring or summer cake recipe or birthday cake recipe , but strawberry desserts are popular no matter what the season!
In addition to today's homemade strawberry cake recipe, we have many more strawberry cakes to share with you- from strawberry doctored cake mixes to homemade cakes, and other delicious fruity strawberry cake combinations.
Some of our favorites are Strawberry Bundt Cake, Strawberry Lemonade Cake, and Strawberry Cake from a Box.
Enjoy the Recipe!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Don't miss our full collection of delicious Cake Recipes, including cakes from scratch and cake mix recipes.
We also have a wonderful collection of velvet cake recipes- each one is so moist with a velvety soft texture.
Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!
Homemade Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened (We used one 8 oz package, full fat.)
- 1 ½ sticks (170g) unsalted butter, softened.
- 2 cups (400g) sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temperature (to save time you can warm them in a bowl of very warm water for 5 min)
- 3 cups (342g) cake flour See notes if you need a substitution.
- 2 teaspoons (8g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (3g) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
- 1 cup (243g) strawberry puree (you can use fresh or frozen strawberries)
- 2 teaspoons (8g) strawberry extract or baking emulsion (We used McCormick. You could also use 2 tablespoons strawberry jello powder if you don't have extract.)
- ¼ cup (54g) vegetable oil (we used canola oil)
- A touch of pink coloring gel optional
Sweetened Whipped Cream
- 1 cup (240g) heavy cream
- ¼ (29g) cup powdered sugar
- 1 (4g) teaspoon vanilla
- Sliced fresh strawberries- approximately 8-10 to be used along with the whipped cream in the filling
For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- 3 sticks (339g) Unsalted butter, softened.
- 8 oz Cream Cheese, softened We used one 8 oz package. Full fat.
- 6-7 cups (690-805 g) Confectioners Sugar (Adjust amount to your liking.)
- ¼ cup Strawberry Puree 3-5 strawberries, pureed in blender or food processor
- 1 Teaspoon (4g) Strawberry Extract
- A small amount of pink coloring gel optional
Instructions
- For the Strawberry Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch pans. We like to line the bottom of our pans with circles of parchment paper.
- Puree fresh or frozen strawberries in a blender or food processor to make 1 cup. (You will use ¼ cup more for the frosting if you'd like to do this now).
- In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds and set aside.
- In another bowl, combine the vegetable oil, 1 cup strawberry puree, and strawberry extract. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and cream cheese and mix at medium speed until smooth.
- Gradually add the sugar and mix at medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears. Add a touch of pink coloring gel if you'd like.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the strawberry mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (We did 3 additions of the dry mixture, 2 additions of wet). Slightly increase the mixer speed just until combined.
- Divide the batter between the three prepared pans.
- Bake at 325 degrees F for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack before turning out.
- This recipe makes approximately 8 cups of batter. Works for cupcakes also (although there will be little to no dome).
- For the Whipped Cream Filling
- We like to make the whipped cream just before it's time to assemble the cake.
- Chill the mixing bowl and beaters/ whisk attachment in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Pour the whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla into the chilled mixing bowl, begin beating on low speed gradually increasing to medium high speed.
- The cream begins to thicken (approx. 1 ½ minutes) and soft to-stiff peaks form- peaks that hold their shape or slightly bend over. Watch closely as this happens quickly. Do not over beat.
- (When assembling the cake, we will also use sliced strawberries between the cake layers)
- For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- Put the softened butter in the bowl of your mixer and mix until smooth.
- Add the pieces of softened cream cheese to the mixing bowl. The cream cheese should be soft enough that it combines easily into the butter/powdered sugar mixture. Beat on low/medium speed about 1 minute or until the cream cheese is blended in.
- Add the powdered sugar, strawberry extract, and ¼ cup strawberry puree. Add a touch of pink coloring gel if you'd like.
- Beat on Medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes (a bit longer if using a hand mixer). Scrape the bowl mid-way through. Do not over beat. You can add more powdered sugar if you'd like to thicken it up more. Refrigerating it for 10-15 minutes will also thicken the consistency.
- This frosting should be refrigerated.
- Assembling the Cake
- Place the first strawberry cake layer on the pedestal or cake plate. Pipe a dam of the frosting around the edge of the cake (about ½ inch from the edge) using a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.
- Fill the top of the layer with sliced strawberries, followed by a layer of whipping cream (within the dam).
- Top with the second layer and repeat above steps. Then top with the third layer.
- Fill in any remaining gaps between the cake layers with frosting using the piping bag with tip snipped away. Crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of frosting. Chill in the freezer for 10-15 minutes (or longer in the refrigerator) to firm things up.
- Apply second coat of frosting, smooth with bench scraper or spatula. Decorate to your liking- I applied a few strawberries around one side of the cake on top, surrounded by french tip stars (Wilton 6B or similar larger star tip/french tip)
Hi.. question can this cake be made into a 1/2 single layer sheet cake thank you ..
I have a question and it might be a dumb one... would you recommend storing the cake in a fridge since it has cream cheese or room temperature is fine? I'm excited to bake it this weekend
Hi Cassandra! Yes, you'll want to refrigerate the cake-- you can remove it 2-3 hours before serving so that it will have time to soften back up again ;0) - Glad that you are making it!
Made this cake for my cousins birthday party this past weekend and I don't even like strawberry cake but when I say I just made another one fir my family because it was so awesome. Everyone loved it. It was super moist and the flavor had my pallets just dancing. This recipe was everything and as my 6yr old granddaughter would say "this cake was bussing, bussing ". Thanks so much for sharing your recipe with us and I'm looking forward to trying something else soon.
Hi Nicole, We are so happy you enjoyed the cake! Thanks so much for posting your nice review of the recipe!
hello! i cant find strawberry extract anywhere and i was wondering if i should just substitute it for vanilla or just not use any extract?
Is it necessary to deseed the strawberries before using them in the cake? Thank you.
Hi Rachel, no, there is no need to deseed the strawberries. I hope you will enjoy the cake.
Was first attempt at a strawberry cake. Very pleased with the results. I am new to cake baking so it was a little dense. Assuming I over mixed something along the way. Wish I knew for sure when to stop mixing after each step. But it was very tasty and my family expects more in the near future. Thank you for sharing.
Could I use Strawberry Preserves? In Texas Cottage Law, they don't like you using fresh strawberries. I know y'all probably haven't tried it but I'm just asking for your opinion. I'm for giving it a whirl but if you think it wouldn't work or ingredients would need to be altered.........
Do you mean preserves in the cake batter? If you give it a try, let us know how it goes! The closest we have done to this that I can think of is mixing preserves into batter to create the Raspberry Swirl in our Almond Raspberry Swirl Cake.
You could also just make our Vanilla Velvet Cake and flavor it with strawberry extract or a few tablespoons of Strawberry Jello powder. (We flavored our margarita cupcakes with lime jello powder, based on our Vanilla Buttermilk Cake). Good luck!
Ok. That sounds like a good solution too. I was just trying to get some chunks of real strawberries in it from the preserves since I can't use real preserves. I'll try and let y'all know. Thanks so much!
Could I substitute an extra 1/4 cup of butter for the oil?
Hi Carrie, it would probably be fine but we haven't tried it so I can't say for sure.
I love doing this I did I twice and my family loved it. I do have a question, how many cupcakes does this recipe would make ?
Hi Kennedy! So glad that you all like the recipe. Each cupcake uses approximately 1/4 cup of batter. This cake recipe makes 8 cups, so it will give you around 30 cupcakes or so.
I just received your recipe for the Strawberry Cheesecake Cake in my emails. Then I saw this recipe. This the cake in the cheesecake cake denser so that it holds the cheesecake layer? Can this recipe of strawberry cake be used for the cheesecake cake too? I love the idea of having the cheesecake layer between cake layers.
Hello, would your Strawberry cake using cream cheese be sturdy enough to use for making a wedding cake or should I use your sour cream recipe instead?
That you for your response.
Hi Sandy! This cake is sturdy enough for stacking ;0)