This homemade strawberry cake is made from scratch with real strawberries and a clever baking trick to keep it incredibly moist. With a soft, tender crumb and creamy strawberry buttercream frosting, this cake is a showstopper!
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*This recipe was originally posted in January 2023.*
Test Kitchen Review
Strawberry cake has always been a favorite in our home, especially when it’s made from scratch with fresh, juicy strawberries. I remember the first time I made this cake for Jorge all the way back in 2013 — it was love at first bite! Some old-school readers will remember when we used to call it Strawberry Dream Cake, because it has the perfect soft and moist texture that is so good, it feels like a dream. The secret? A quick trip to the freezer, straight out of the oven, locks in moisture and ensures every bite will melt-in-your-mouth. The freezer trick is something my mom taught me when making her banana cake, and it’s an absolute game-changer for keeping cakes moist and tender!
What Makes This Homemade Strawberry Cake Recipe So Special?
- Real Strawberry Flavor: Each bite is packed with the taste of fresh, ripe strawberries, thanks to the homemade puree.
- Moist and Tender: The freezer trick locks in moisture, creating a cake that’s tender and soft like no other!
- Simple to Make: Using everyday baking staples, fresh strawberries, and easy to follow steps, it’s a fuss-free recipe.
- Impressive: Bakery-worthy without any advanced decorating skills needed, this strawberry cake tastes as good as it looks!
Ingredients Needed
Below you will find helpful notes for key ingredients used to make this homemade strawberry cake recipe. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and exact amounts!
- Flour: Fluff the flour, then measure it by spooning it into a measuring cup. Don’t dip the cup straight into a packed bag of flour – that results in using too much flour and an overly dense cake.
- Baking Soda: Make sure it’s not expired!
- Butter: Unsalted and softened is the way to go. Don’t forget to leave it on the counter for about an hour prior to using so you don’t wind up with a lumpy batter.
- Extracts: For the best flavor, I like to use both vanilla and strawberry extract! The strawberry extract helps to boost the overall strawberry flavor, but is completely optional.
- Strawberry Puree: To make this, you’ll need about two pints of fresh strawberries and a blender or food processor. You can also use frozen strawberries in a pinch!
Do I have to use food coloring?
Nope, it is entirely optional. Without it, your cake will naturally be a pinkish-brown hue, versus the dark reddish pink shown in the photos, but still taste the same! I personally like to use red gel food coloring, as just a little bit goes a *long* way, but regular food coloring will work too.
How to Make Homemade Strawberry Cake
Whether your favorite part is the cake itself or the fluffy buttercream on top, there’s a whole lot to love here. You can bake this cake in two layers, or three layers, both options work! But keep in mind, if you are baking it in three layers, you may want to make 1.5 batches of frosting to have enough for frosting and decorating. Below is a quick recipe overview, but please scroll down to the recipe card for full instructions.
- Mix the Dry Ingredients: Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix the Wet Ingredients: Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Then, add the eggs one at a time before mixing in both extracts and oil.
- Make the Batter: Add the dry ingredients, to the wet ingredients, along with the strawberry puree. Beating just until the batter comes together. Try not to over-mix your batter! If adding the optional food coloring, do so now.
- Add Batter to Pans: Divide the batter into two greased baking pans. You can butter and flour your cake pans or line them with parchment paper cake rounds, but I prefer to spray them with Baker’s Joy.
- Bake the Cake: Bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes back clean, or with a few moist crumbs attached.
- Place in the Freezer: As soon as the cakes are baked through, transfer them from the oven and into the freezer. I know it sounds wild, but this helps to stop the baking process and keeps the cake extra moist.
- Frost: This batter bakes up fairly even, so you should not need to level the cake layers. Frost the completely cooled cake layers with a thick layer of strawberry frosting in between. Then coat the outside of the cake and decorate as desired. I like to swirl leftover frosting around the edge and top it with fresh strawberries and/or sprinkles.
Chef’s Tips & Variations
- Don’t Over-Mix the Batter: If you beat the batter too much, your cake will turn out tough and dense instead of light and fluffy.
- Oil Swap: You can swap the vegetable oil for applesauce or additional butter, if preferred. However, keep in mind the cake won’t be quite as moist.
- Make Cupcakes: This recipe will make about 26 standard sized cupcakes. Fill your cupcake liners 3/4th of the way full and bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes. Let them cool completely, then frost as desired.
- Frosting Flavors: Switching up the frosting is a fun way to change it up. My chocolate buttercream, traditional cream cheese frosting, or whipped cream cheese frosting are all great options!
- Strawberry Lemonade Cake: Another family favorite in our house is to add some fresh lemon zest to the cake and frosting. For the cake, I add 2 tablespoons lemon zest. For the frosting, start with 1 teaspoon and add more to taste. You can also add a layer of lemon curd to the center!
Homemade Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
Strawberry Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons strawberry extract
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups strawberry puree (see notes below), about 2 pints of strawberries
- red gel food coloring, optional for a vibrant cake
- 1 batch strawberry buttercream frosting
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease two 9-inch cake round pans (or three 8-inch) with non-stick baking spray (like Baker's Joy). Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer (or large bowl with a hand mixer), beat to combine the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time, then beat in vanilla, strawberry extract and vegetable oil.
- Add in the flour mixture, alternating with the pureed strawberries, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Beat until batter is well combined, but do not over-mix! Add in the optional red food coloring, if desired, until batter is a nice dark pink.
- Divide the batter evenly into the prepared pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (If using three 8-inch cake pans, start checking in around the 25 minute mark.)
- Remove pans from oven and immediately place in freezer for 45 minutes. This is optional step, but it's my secret tip to help keep the cake moist by immediately stopping the baking.
- Assemble the cooled cake layers with a thick layer of strawberry frosting in between each one. Apply one final thick and even layer around the outside of the cake.
- Store cake in the fridge, in an airtight container, until ready to serve. For the best soft texture, let the cake sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Categories:
More Homemade Layered Cake Recipes To Try
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Hi, I tried making your recipe and it was so wonderful….good job,!
Can I cover fondant with it?
I made this cake for a party today and everyone RAVED about the taste. I liked it too but I had a really hard time cutting it as it was very soft. I thought the texture was almost under baked but my hubby said it was fluffy to him. I also made the dark chocolate dream cake as the bottom tier and its texture was perfect. I use your vanilla dream cake as my go to and have even adapted it for a pineapple cake.
I think I was thrown off by the freezer thing. We weren’t coming back right away so I put the cakes in the fridge. Would that have messed it up? Is that step completely necessary?
Thanks for these recipes! I’m looking forward to trying out all the dream cakes!
Nope, the fridge is just as good. If you can’t do either, and need to let the cake rest at room temperature — the cake will still be tasty, just a little dryer. By going straight from the oven to the fridge/freezer, it stops cooking faster. Hope that helps!
I really really like cream cheese icing on my strawberry cakes, would you recommend this for yours?
Thanks!
can I use frozen strawberries?
Could I turn these into cupcakes? How long and on what temperature should I cook them at?
How many cupcakes would this make?
Hi Jessica- I have just found your website recently and have tried a few things and they have all come out great. I would love to try this cake !! My question is (and it’s probably a stupid one) is that when you put the cakes in the freezer after baking should you cover the top of the pans with some foil or plastic to protect them ?
Thanks so much.
Hi Jessica- I have just found your website recently and have tried a few things and they have all come out great. I would love to try this cake !! My question is (and it’s probably a stupid one) is that when you put the cakes in the freezer after baking should you cover the top of the pans with some foil or plastic to protect them ?
Thanks so much.
Hi Donna, I would not cover the pans when cooling the cake. That will cause a lot of moisture to collect on the foil and it will fall back into the cake….and wet cake is never a good thing. 😉 Hope you enjoy the cake!!
My cakes are in the freezer right now and i’m not going to be eating it til saturday, but I want to make the frosting today. Should I put the icing on the cake and store in the freezer? Or should I put the icing in a container and place it in the refridge or freezer?
I have made your pumpkin dream cake and it was delicious! Can I make this using frozen strawberries?
I have commented on this post plenty of times and just wanted to let people know my experiences. I made this recipe just as written into cupcakes and it came out great. The cupcakes did pull away from the wrapper some and didn’t dome at all, but they were so good and everyone raved about them.
This weekend I made it into a cake, but used Frozen sweetened strawberries instead of fresh and added jell-o. That was NOT a good idea. The cake sunk really bad in the middle and to me had a gummy texture. Maybe it was too much sugar?? Not sure. All I know is that I am sticking to the original written recipe from now on :)) I promise this will be my last post. Thanks Jessica!
Thanks Jessica! This helps so much! 🙂 I am making this as a cake on Friday so now I know exactly how you measure 🙂
Looking forward to trying the banana dream cake soon. Thanks! Have an awesome day!
I made this recipe as cupcakes and it came out great! Question: how do you measure your flour? I read an article that said a cup of flour should weigh 4.25 ounces so I weighed my 3 cups of flour and used loran strawberry oil cause I couldn’t find extract. Also, these don’t dome as cupcakes but they were so good! Thank you for the recipe :))
So glad you liked them!
I fill a measuring cup with flour until the required amount is obtained. (Scooping a measuring cup directly into flour bag can firmly pack flour resulting in too much flour required for a recipe.)
I am making this Saturday morning, but into cupcakes! I am so excited. This will be my first recipe from your blog 🙂 I pray this is the end of my from scratch strawberry cake recipe :))) Thanks so much!! 🙂
Why dont you use milk in this recipe, like the other dream cakes?
Because of all the added liquid from the pureed strawberries. Strawberries have a lot of water in them naturally when compared to Pumpkin or Bananas. So with the addition of pureed strawberries, you don’t need any more liquids.
I cannot wait to try this. I make all of my cakes from scratch except my strawberry one cause I have not found a good one that is moist enough.
I make Paula Deen’s strawberry cake with a mix, frozen sweetened strawberries and the strawberry gelatin, but since they have the cut the sizes of the mixes down I have been on a lookout for a scratch made cake.
I think I will add the jell-o and frozen sweetened strawberries to this cake to see if I can get the same result. Thank you! I love your blog!!!
I just want to thank you for posting this recipe. I made it for my daughters cake auction last night and it was the highest selling cake. It was moist and full of strwberry flavor. The couple that purchased it said it was the best strawberry cake they have ever had. I can’t wait to make it again in the summer!
Amazing recipie! It came out brilliant!
Yum, this cake looks and sounds so delicious. I love the pink frosting too!
I’m so jealous of your FL strawberries!