If loads of real strawberries baked up in a pink dream are what you crave, I’ve got your answer with this Old Fashioned Homemade Strawberry Cake recipe! We’re talking a dreamy, soft strawberry cake wrapped in a fluffy strawberry buttercream that’s guaranteed to make all your berry dreams come true.
You can get serious melt-in-your mouth strawberry flavor using real berries.
I get your hesitation. I’ve had a few of those disappointing from-scratch strawberry cakes that just didn’t cut it in the flavor department too. But forget the homemade strawberry cakes you’ve had in the past.
Forget finding the right cake mix or recipes that promise the only way to the strawberry flavor you love is through using gelatins, strawberry extracts or emulsions.
Because if loads of real strawberries baked up in a pink dream are what you crave, this is it.
This homemade strawberry cake recipe is absolutely bursting with real berry flavor from a whole pound of strawberries, plus a few secret ingredients and tricks that will guarantee you always make the best fresh, real strawberry cake around!
What’s Different About This Recipe
- We’re not just adding chopped berries to our homemade strawberry cake. We’re not even adding pureed strawberries. We’re taking 10-13 minutes and making a strawberry reduction on the stove top. Our cooked-down berries will be rid of their extra water, leaving only strong, concentrated flavor and dark, rich color in its place!
- Next, we’re using freeze dried strawberries to really pack in the strawberry flavor and bolster our fresh berries. Secret ingredient alert! They are a genius all-natural way to add that extra punch of strawberry flavor we all love about strawberry cakes without relying on artificial ingredients.
- When it comes to color, this strawberry cake recipe uses only egg whites in the batter to let as much natural berry color come through in the cake as possible. They also contribute to the light, airy texture of the cake.
- Speaking of texture, we’re adding a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch too. Cakes with fruit tend to be dense and heavy. Cornstarch makes sure the berries don’t weigh down the cake while also reducing gluten formation, resulting in a lighter, more delicate homemade strawberry cake! Just the way it should be!
Recipe Ingredients & Overview
I’ll walk through an overview of ingredients & steps in these next sections along with helpful tips!
Look for specifics at the end of the post in the recipe card.
Homemade Strawberry Cake
- strawberries
- freeze dried strawberries
- sour cream
- evaporated milk
- sugar
- salted butter
- cooking oil
- egg whites
- pure vanilla extract
- cake flour
- baking powder
- salt
- cornstarch
- food coloring (optional, but recommended)
Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
- salted butter
- confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
- freeze dried strawberries
- strawberry reduction from strawberries listed above
- vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
How to Make The Best Real Strawberry Cake
Strawberry reduction. Remove the tops of the strawberries, slice in half and wash. Place the berries in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stirring continuously, let the berries cook down for about 12-15 minutes. As the berries get soft, use your spoon to mash and break berries into pieces. When the berries have been reduced to about 1 cup, remove sauce pan from the stovetop and let cool. Set aside 4 tablespoons of the strawberry reduction for the buttercream frosting.
Mix the wet ingredients. Using a stand mixer cream the butter, oil and sugar together until fluffy. Mix in egg whites, sour cream and vanilla until all ingredients are incorporated.
Mix the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients- flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt.
Combine. Add the dry ingredients and the evaporated milk into the the wet ingredients by alternately adding ⅓ of the flour mixture, then ½ of the milk, then ⅓ of the flour, the rest of the milk, then the rest of the flour mixture. Mix just until everything is incorporated.
Add the strawberry magic! Mix in the strawberry reduction (minus the 4 tbsps set aside for the frosting), the freeze dried strawberries and 1 drop red gel food coloring. Mix until all of the batter is pink.
Bake. Bake until the centers spring back when lightly touched- just 25-35 minutes!
See recipe card for the Homemade Strawberry Buttercream recipe + frosting and assembly tips!
Strawberry Cake + Frosting Tips
Whip the butter first. When making buttercream, whip room temperature butter until it becomes fluffy before adding the sugar.
Making frosting is more about texture than measurement. The strawberry buttercream recipe for this cake calls for 4-6 cups of confectioners, or powdered, sugar, but you could end up adding more. How do you know when to stop? Start by adding 2 cups and mixing and then adding 2 more and so on until you get the consistency of a thick, but soft frosting.
If your buttercream becomes too stiff, add 1 tablespoon of room temperature milk to loosen it up. You could also use 1 tablespoon of warm water.
Be careful not to over bake the cakes. You want the centers to be soft and spring back when touched. If your cake is dry, it’s been baked too long.
Want even more strawberry flavor? Add more ground or chopped freeze dried strawberries.
Where to find freeze dried strawberries in the grocery store? You should find them on the snack aisle where other fruit snacks, like fruit rollups, dried bananas slices and dried apples are.
For max flavor, peak-of-season strawberries work best for making this homemade strawberry cake.
Making Homemade Strawberry Cake Ahead of Time
Homemade Strawberry Cake is perfect for making ahead of time! As a matter of fact, an extra day in the refrigerator does something magical between the flavors of the buttercream frosting and the cake. They just get better… together! But if you’re garnishing with fresh berries, do that the day you serve it for the best presentation.
Storing Leftovers
Store leftover cake covered in the refrigerator for 1 week. The buttercream does become stiff when it gets cold. If you don’t like that, you may want to let the cake come to room temperature before serving.
More Fresh Strawberry Recipes To Love
- Classic Strawberry Shortcakes Recipe
- Easy Fresh Strawberry Pie
- Farmstyle Buttermilk Strawberry Muffins
- Strawberry French Toast Casserole
- Strawberry Cream Cheese Sandwiches
- Chilled Strawberry Soup
Old Fashioned Homemade Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
- 16 ounces fresh, ripe strawberries
- ½ cup salted butter (1 stick) (room temperature)
- ½ cup cooking oil
- 1 ¾ cup white granulated sugar
- 6 large egg whites (room temperature eggs)
- ½ cup sour cream (room temperature)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups cake flour
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup evaporated milk (room temperature)
- ¼ cup ground freeze dried strawberries
- red gel food coloring
Homemade Strawberry Buttercream
- 1 ½ cup salted butter (3 sticks) (room temperature)
- 4-6 cups confectioners sugar
- 4 tablespoons strawberry reduction (see instructions below)
- ¼ cup ground freeze dried strawberries
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Spray 8 inch round cake pans with cooking spray and cover the bottom of the pans with parchment paper.
- Strawberry reduction. Remove the tops of the strawberries, slice in half and wash. Place the berries in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stirring continuously, let berries cook down about 12-15 minutes. As the berries get soft, use your spoon to mash and break berries into pieces. Turn down the heat if needed to keep the berries from scorching. When the berries have been reduced to about 1 cup, remove sauce pan from the stovetop and let cool. Set aside 4 tablespoons of the strawberry reduction for the buttercream frosting.
- Make the cake. Using a stand mixer cream the butter, oil and sugar together until fluffy. Mix in egg whites, sour cream and vanilla until all ingredients are incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients- flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt.
- Next add the dry ingredients and the evaporated milk into the the wet ingredients by alternately adding ⅓ of the flour mixture, then ½ of the milk, then ⅓ of the flour, the rest of the milk, then the rest of the flour mixture. Mix just until everything is incorporated.
- Lastly, mix in the strawberry reduction (minus the 4 tbsps set aside for the frosting), the freeze dried strawberries and 1 drop red gel food coloring. Mix until all of the batter is pink.
- Pour strawberry cake batter evenly into the prepared cake pans. Tap the pans lightly on the counter top to remove any air pockets in the batter. Bake until the centers spring back when lightly touched- 25-35 minutes. Remove from ovens and set aside. After 10 minutes, remove cakes from pans and cool on cooling racks or put in freezer to cool- about 30 minutes.
Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
- Whip room temperature butter until light and creamy. Add in 2 cups of sugar. Mix in on low speed to keep sugar from dusting up. Add in 2 more cups and mix, then add in sugar 1 cup at a time until you reach 6 cups. Mix in the reserved strawberry reduction, freeze dried strawberries, vanilla extract and pinch of salt. Whip until your buttercream is thick and fluffy. (see notes)
- Assemble and frost. Place 1 cake layer on cake plate or pedestal. Add about ⅓ of the frosting to the center of the cake. Using a spatula, work the frosting out to the edges of the cake. Place the 2nd layer on top and press down lightly. Spoon out the rest of the frosting on top of the cake. Using your spatula, work the frosting from the center of the cake over the edges. Then keeping your spatula at a 45° angle against the sides of the cake, turn your plate or pedestal and ice the sides. Work more frosting from the top over the edges as needed. Use your spatula to make swirls on the top of the cake to finish.
- Garnish suggestion: Add whole and half berries to one side of the top of the cake. Sprinkle extra chopped pieces of freeze dried strawberries. Add a sprig of mint or two.
Notes
Nutrition
My 6 yo Granddaughter, Callie loves this cake. We are having it for Easter.
Hi, Lois! I’m with Callie! I love strawberry cake. I can’t wait for you to make it!
Is this a two layer or three layer cake?
Hi, Cecille! It’s a 2 layer cake1. Enjoy!
To make this into a 3 layer cake, would I need to make any adjustments to the quantities on ingredients for the cake or frosting?
Hi, Elizabeth! You could just divide the batter into 3 pans instead of 2. The layers would be thinner, but you would have 3 and avoid any of the pitfalls that come with scaling a cake recipe. You would need to increase your frosting quantity to account for filling another layer. Increasing by 1/3 would probably create a little more than you would need, but would be a safe amount to make sure you have enough. Let me know how it goes!
Seriously, the best strawberry cake I’ve ever had!! I made it for my husband for his birthday, with a chocolate ganache in place of frosting. It was such a huge hit!! Thanks for all your tips and tricks!
Btw, I didn’t have corn starch, so I used the alternative method of 2 C of sugar. 😋
Hi, Lisa! You are welcome! I’m so tickled to hear this! The freeze dried strawberries really bring the flavor! Thank you for letting this recipe be a part of your birthday festivities.