I am thrilled to share this delicious homemade Strawberry Cake with you! Fresh strawberries are pureed then cooked down to create the most delicious strawberry sauce that is then mixed into a thick cake batter. The cake is topped with a fluffy buttercream frosting leaving you with a tasty, moist and velvety cake from scratch!
Hello to the most beautiful cake there ever was. I am on a cake kick these days. I used to not be a cake person but I’ve become one. Maybe it’s because I drink more coffee now and coffee and cake go together like peas and carrots…ya feel me?
And who doesn’t love a pink cake?
I am so obsessed with this cake batter that I could literally drink it. It’s smooth, creamy and so tasty. It’s infused with fresh strawberry puree and pure vanilla extract to give it that delicious strawberry flavor. A few dabs of pink food coloring are used to give it that baby pink color.
Let’s chat about that strawberry puree I’ve mentioned. This stuff is downright amazing. Any sauce tastes so much better when it’s cooked down. Cooked down? Why, what do you mean? I mean slowly simmering if for a long time (in this case, about 30 minutes) until it reduces down and get’s super thick. When you do this, flavor develops.
Can you replace this with strawberry jam or just pureed strawberries? The answer…no. If you want a fresh strawberry cake, this is the way to do it. I made it without reducing it and it just wasn’t the same. The texture wasn’t right and the strawberry flavor wasn’t as strong. So if you’re in it to win it, reduce the fresh strawberry sauce.
This cake is covered in a simple buttercream that’s not too sweet but definitely packs a sugar punch that all cakes need. I often don’t use as much powdered sugar in my frosting recipes because I hear all the time from friends and family about not liking cake that is too sweet. More often than not, the cake is not all that sweet, it’s the frosting. So there you go…
You can have the world’s best tasting cake but it’s even better when it looks good. I think that’s what did it for me with this cake. It won me over with its beauty. It’s perfectly pink and the whipped frosting is just beautiful. Most importantly, it tastes amazing and the texture is super velvety yet slightly crumbly.
I used the reverse creaming method for this cake (see the instructions below) which creates a velvety finer crumb cake. AKA my favorite type of cake. It’s dense without being dense…I know that doesn’t make sense, but it’s true. It’s dense but also light and melt in your mouth. I guess maybe it’s just a heavy cake? Whatever you want to call it, it’s amazing.
Hello beautiful.
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- 2½ cups cake flour (spooned then leveled)
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced or thinly sliced
- 5 egg whites, room temperature
- ¾ cup milk (2% or whole preferred), room temperature
- ½ cup reduced strawberry puree (see below for ingredients and directions)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- Pink food coloring
- 1½ pounds strawberries, stems removed
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup reduced strawberry puree
- First, make the reduced strawberry puree. Add fresh strawberries to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Pour into a medium saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often until reduced by half and thick. Cool completely. I would suggest making this the night before or several hours before so that it's completely cooled and ready for use!
- To make the cake, preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans; set aside.
- Add the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into your mixer bowl and mix well.
- With mixer on low-speed gradually add the chilled butter one piece at a time. Mix on medium-low speed until pea size crumbs form. Turn mixer off.
- Whisk together all the wet ingredients in a bowl; egg whites, milk,1/2 cup strawberry puree, vanilla extract and vegetable oil.
- Turn mixer on low-speed and add half of the wet ingredients then turn mixer to medium speed and mix for 90 seconds until thick, scrape down sides of the bowl. Add food coloring at this time if using. Turn mixer to low speed and add the rest of the wet ingredients in two additions mixing on medium speed for 20 seconds after each addition. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.
- Distribute batter evenly between the two cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes until done. Check with a toothpick if needed. Let cool completely before frosting.
- To make the buttercream, add the butter and shortening to a mixer and mix well. Add sifted powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Lastly, add salt and strawberry puree and mix for 1 minute on high speed, scrape down sides of bowl. Frost cake and garnish as desired. Chill cake in a sealed container to keep fresh for up to a week.
Can the strawberry purée be frozen?
sure! Do you mean freeze it and then defrost and make the cake later?
Question – which mixer attachment works best for cutting in the cold butter? Thanks!
Hello! I just use the paddle attachment.
Can I cool the puree in the fridge? I also want to make a 3 layer cake so should I double the recipe and use any leftover batter for cupcakes? I think that should work, right?
Yes you can! Yes – double the recipe!
Hi Jessica, I must tell you I made this cake 4 times and once I made into cup cakes…. It never failed…. lovely lovely cake!!! Thank you for the recipe ♥️
you’re very welcome!
This is the best cake ever I will be making it again. It turned out exactly the way the photo looked and it tastes wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
Yeah! glad you liked it!
Can you use regular flour or does it have to be cake flour?
Cake flour is preferred!
Wow. It looks delicious. I love strawberry cakes. So, I will try to make it. Your recipe will help me. Thanks for sharing.
of course!
Hi, Making the cake tomorrow. Just made the puree but I don’t have food coloring. How will the cake look without it?
Thanks!
Hello! You will love it. It will just be a white color with a hint of pink maybe? It will still be beautiful. Enjoy!
Do we need to use vegetable oil and shortening… can vegetable oil be substituted with canola ..
yes canola oil can be substituted!
You can sub the canola oil and you don’t have to use vegetable shortening for the frosting…you can use all butter if you want.
Does the puree thickens more after it cools? I’ve been simmering for two hours.
Yes!
I’m hoping to make the puree a few days before the cake. How long does the puree last in the fridge?
3 days!
hi! i forgot to get milk from the grocery store but grabbed buttermilk for a different recipe. would the flavor of the cake change too drastically if i substituted buttermilk for the whole milk?
I think it will be fine. 🙂
Why do you need to used egg whites rather than whole eggs including the yolk? Please let me know. Thanks.
Using just egg whites yields a fluffier cake Using whole eggs adds fat and makes a denser cake. Because this recipe uses the reverse creaming method, whole eggs would make this cake very very moist and too dense. Egg whites help balance it out. Also, as far as flavor, I think the egg whites allow the strawberry flavor to come through more. Whole eggs are generally used in yellow cake and chocolate cake to make a richer cake. Hope that helps.
Tripled the recipe to make a half sheet cake for someone…..fingers crossed this turns out good!
Let me know how it works for you!
It worked perfectly! I was so nervous, because you just never know how it’s gonna bake, but it was wonderful! I could have maybe even quadrupled the recipe to fit my pan but it still was awesome!
so glad it worked!!
I made it and LOVED IT it was my birthday yesterday so I made myself a pink cake with my boyfriend and loved it !
So glad!!
I am making this cake for Easter Sunday and was wondering if it can be made in a 9 x 13 baking dish instead of 2 rounds?
You’re going to love it! Im sure it can but I have never done it. I would just reduce baking time a little and check it for doneness. enjoy!
Bonjour Jessica from Paris!
I have a small question… I would like to bake your cake for the 40th birthday of my best friend, but we are 50 guests. With your ingredients is the cake to serve for 10 or more ? Thanks for the info. All the best!
Yes it can serve 10 if you slice a little smaller. 🙂
how many cups of batter does this make?
Hi Robin – I am not sure unfortunately. If I had to guess maybe 4-5?
Jessica, can this recipe be doubled for a bigger cake?
I’m sure it can! however, I have not tried it so I don’t want to say yes, but I would do a test run to see if it works!
Hi! I want to make this cake for my mother’s birthday, but I live in Spain. The grades for the oven are Fahrenheit or Celsius? Thanks!
Fahrenheit. Happy Birthday to your mother!
Can you use the unsweetened hole frozen strawberries if fresh aren’t in season?
yes, that should be fine! Just make sure they are cooked down so the flavor is concentrated.
I actually just did this recently and it turned out great! I let mine simmer longer than directed because my strawberries were not thawed all the way when I started, therefore adding more water to my mix.
The cake itself was delicious! I made it as my mother’s birthday cake and got great reviews! 🙂
So glad!!
Hi Jessica! Can I use this recipe to make cupcakes and do you know how many cupcakes can be made with a simple batch?
Hi Maria – I haven’t made this recipe into cupcakes but I think it would be just fine. They may not dome up because this is a velvety cake versus and fluffy one. I would think it would make somewhere between 20 and 30 cupcakes but the only way to know would be to try!
Hi 🙂 just double check the cups are US cups? attempting this in the UK so wanted to double check
Best, Chloe
yes, that’s correct. Enjoy!
This sounds great! I would love to try it, but it doesn’t include the recipe for the strawberry puree. Where can i find that? Thank you!
Hi Katie! It’s in there – under” Other Ingredients” is how many strawberries you need and the recipe explains how to make the puree in the first paragraph! I hope you like it!
I’d love to start food blogging! I’ve been cooking for a while but have never tried creating a recipe. Any tips?
Dive right in! What is your favorite recipe or type of food to make? Start with that then go from there. If you love cheeseburgers, create a recipe that you would enjoy. Doesn’t always need to be “restaurant” worthy. Practice, practice, practice. hope this helps!
Hello, thank you for this delicious cake recipe.
My question is, can I used freeze dried strawberry powder instead of strawberry puree?
Many thanks.
Hello! That’s a good question. I have not tried that so it’s hard for me to tell you it would work. With that said, If you do decide to use freeze dried strawberries, I would add some Greek yogurt or sour cream to add some moisture as the strawberry puree does.