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A fresh strawberry cake recipe made completely from scratch. Incredibly soft layers filled and topped off with mouth-watering cream cheese frosting. You’ll love how fluffy, delicious, and moist this homemade strawberry cake is.
I wanted to bake a dessert that was easy, entire from scratch, and super delicious. Let me tell you, I accomplished that mission. This old fashioned strawberry cake is made without gelatin. It gets all its strawberry flavor from the fresh strawberries and strawberry jam. I added 1/4 cup of jam to the cream cheese frosting for a more intense flavor. You may use seedless if you’d like. Although I did add a couple of teaspoons of red food coloring, feel free to omit it.
Top Tips and Recipe Variations
- Use fresh strawberries for this recipe, I did not use frozen strawberries nor do I recommend them.
- Puree two cups of fresh strawberries in a food processor and then cook the strawberry puree in a saucepan over medium heat for 25 minutes. Let it cool completely. Do not add any sugar to it.
- Let the strawberry cake layers cool completely before frosting.
- Do not overmix the batter.
- Please use real buttermilk and cake flour, I wouldn’t advise replacing it with whole milk and all-purpose flour.
- If the cream cheese frosting is a bit too loose, add more powdered sugar. I recommend using 5-6 cups.
- Use room temperature eggs and softened unsalted butter.
- Only bake for 27 minutes at 350 degrees F or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Please do not overbake this, it will dry out.
Can I Frost This With Whipped Cream Instead?
You may, however, keep in mind that a cake frosted with whipped cream will need to be refrigerated. I recommend you enjoy this cake at room temperature.
Is There a Substitute for Buttermilk?
Buttermilk is necessary to make this super moist. Although I highly recommend store-bought buttermilk you may also make your own at home. To make homemade buttermilk, simply mix 1 tbsp vinegar and 1 cup whole milk. Let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before using it.
Can I Use Store-Bought Frosting?
Making strawberry cream cheese frosting is super easy and only requires a couple of ingredients. I personally think homemade frosting is what makes this cake truly special.
Can I Make This in a 9×13 Cake Pan?
Yes, just make sure to grease the baking dish well and bake for about 40 minutes.
How Long is This Strawberry Cake Good For?
This could last up to 3 days at room temperature if covered properly. It should last for up to 5-6 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
This strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting is such a great recipe and the perfect dessert for the summer and holidays. Make this for your next party and your guests won’t believe you made it yourself. It’s that good!
More Cake Recipe Ideas…
This No-Bake Cheesecake and Lemon Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake are two other summer favorite dessert recipes. You will thank me later!
Did you enjoy this old fashioned strawberry cake? Let me know in the comment section down below! You can find more delicious recipes and cooking tutorial videos on Youtube and Facebook.
Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh strawberries, pureed and cooked (see notes)
- 3 cups cake flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs, room temperture
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 tsp red food coloring
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup strawberry jam
- 1 tsp red food coloring
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. and grease two 9-inch cake pans with butter or baking spray.
- Place the strawberries in a food processor and puree. Add the puree to a saucepan and cook over medium heat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let it cool completely.
- Mix the unsalted softened butter and sugar for 2 minutes or until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time along with the vanilla extract.
- Add the vegetable oil and mix for an additional 10 seconds.
- Combine the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the cake flour mixture to the sugar mixture alternating with the buttermilk. Start with the flour mixture and finish with the flour mixture. Do not over mix the cake batter. Add the red food coloring and mix for 5 seconds.
- Fold in the cooled strawberry puree. Pour the cake batter evenly into the greased cake pans. Bake for 27 minutes or until fully cooked through.
- To make the strawberry cream cheese frosting, mix the softened cream cheese and unsalted softened butter for 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar, red food coloring, vanilla extract, and strawberry jam and mix for 4-5 minutes or until the frosting is light and fluffy.
- Let the cakes cool completely before frosting, garnish with fresh strawberries, if desired, and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Remove the green leaves from the strawberries and then place the strawberries in a food processor and puree it. Place the strawberry puree in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for 25 minutes. Once the 25 minutes are up, let the pureed strawberries cool completely.
- Please use real buttermilk, cake flour, and room temperature eggs.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How much strawberry puree should we end up with after cooking it? Or how much should we use in the recipe? Thank you!
About 1/2 cup. Shouldn’t make too much of a difference if it’s 1/2 cup or 1/3 cup. Just make sure to measure the strawberries whole.