This is the best fresh strawberry cake made with real strawberries. The secret is adding a fresh strawberry reduction to your cake batter and mixing the rest into your buttercream frosting for a fresh strawberry cake recipe that tastes like real strawberries!
Many strawberry cakes are made with imitation flavors or Jell-O, but not this cake! This uses real fresh or frozen strawberries and lemon to bring out the strawberry flavor. This cake takes a bit more time to prepare because we have to make the strawberry reduction first then make the strawberry cake but I promise its worth the effort!
What's In This Blog Post
Why This Is The BEST Strawberry Cake Recipe
This is definitely one of my all-time favorite cake recipes. I have never worked so long and hard on one recipe. SO many failed attempts and I almost gave up. I tried adding chopped-up strawberries to my vanilla cake recipe, and the cake turned out very wet, dense, brown, and most of the strawberry flavor was gone.
Next, I tried that recipe where you add Jell-O. Let me tell you, that was the weirdest-tasting cake I have ever tried! I don't know how anyone can call that flavor strawberry but if you like it, more power to ya haha!
I also tried grinding up freeze-dried strawberries and adding them to my dry ingredients. That cake turned out a little better, but I still wanted to figure out a way to use fresh strawberries. I finally nailed this recipe using a strawberry reduction (boiling pureed strawberries until they are thicker and have less liquid) and a high-quality strawberry emulsion!
- Fresh strawberry flavor made from REAL strawberries
- No Strawberry Jell-O mix
- No boxed cake mix
- Moist crumb
Fresh Strawberry Ingredients
Strawberry Emulsion is like strawberry extract but very very concentrated. If you can get it ahead of time, it really adds the best strawberry flavor but if you don't have time to order it, using regular strawberry extract is better than nothing! I got my strawberry emulsion from Michaels in the cake decorating aisle.
I'm using frozen strawberries for this recipe because frozen fruit is ALWAYS in season and so much easier to use. If it's strawberry season near you, by all means, use fresh!
Strawberry Reduction Instructions
1. Place your thawed strawberries into a blender and pulse a few times until they are liquid. 
2. Pour the blended strawberries, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt into a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. 
3. Once bubbling, reduce heat to medium-low and slowly reduce until berries begin to break up and the mixture has reduced and looks like a thick paste.
This can take a while. Mine takes between 40-60 minutes! I know this sounds like a long time but low and slow is the best for keeping all the flavor. Just give it a stir every now and then. 
Step 4 – Occasionally stir the mixture to prevent burning. You should end up with about 1 cup of thick strawberry reduction that looks like tomato sauce. Transfer to another container and let it cool before use.
Step 5 – You will use some of the reduction for the cake batter, some for the frosting, and the rest for filling between the cake layers for extra flavor.
Step-By-Step Instructions
- Bring your butter, egg whites, milk, and strawberry reduction to room temperature and prepare the rest of your ingredients. For the best success, use a food scale to weigh your ingredients. Converting this recipe to cups could lead to failure. Read my blog post on how to use a scale for more information.
- Grease two, 8" cake pans with cake goop or your preferred pan release and preheat the oven to 350ºF/176ºC.
- In a separate medium bowl, combine the milk, oil, strawberry reduction, strawberry emulsion (or extract), vanilla extract, lemon extract, lemon zest, lemon juice, and pink food coloring. Whisk it together and set it aside.
Pro-tip – I use Americolor electric pink food coloring to get my beautiful pink color. It may seem like cheating, but if you don't add it, the color from the strawberries will bake out and your cake will turn out gray. - In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set it aside.
- Add room temperature butter to the stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat at medium speed until smooth and shiny, about 30 seconds.
I'm using my Bosch Universal Plus mixer for this, but you can use any KitchenAid stand mixer or a hand mixer. If you use a hand mixer, you might have to mix for longer. - Gradually sprinkle in the sugar, and beat until the mixture is fluffy and almost white, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the egg whites one at a time, beating 15 seconds between. Your mixture should look cohesive at this point. If it looks curdled and broken, your butter or egg whites are too cold.
You must use egg WHITES for this recipe, the yellow from the egg could turn the inside of your cake peach. - Mix on low speed and add about a third of the dry ingredients to the batter, followed immediately by about a third of the milk mixture, mix until ingredients are almost incorporated into the batter.
- Repeat the process 2 more times. When the batter appears blended, stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. If it looks like ice cream, you did it right!
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. I use a spoon to make a divot in the center so that the cakes bake up flatter.
- Bake cakes at 350ºF/176ºC until they feel firm in the center and a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs on it, about 30-35 minutes.
- Place pans on top of a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Then flip your cakes onto the racks and cool completely.
- Once cool, wrap each layer in plastic wrap and refrigerate before assembling your cake. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours or freeze for up to 1 week.
- If you want even more strawberry flavor (duh, of course I do Liz) spread some of your extra strawberry reduction directly on each layer before filling with buttercream and stacking. Delicious!
I'm using my 
If you need more information on how to frost and fill a cake, check out my how to make your first cake tutorial
Strawberry Buttercream Step-By-Step
- Place the pasteurized egg whites and powdered sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the whisk attachment and combine ingredients on low, then whip on high for 5 minutes.
You CANNOT use fresh egg whites for this buttercream. Egg whites from a box are pasteurized (like your milk) so they are safe to eat without cooking. - Add in your butter in chunks and whip on high for 8-10 minutes until it's very white, light and shiny. It may look curdled and yellow at first, but this is normal. Keep whipping.
- Add in the strawberry reduction, salt, and vanilla extract, and continue whipping until incorporated.
Pro-tip – If your buttercream looks curdled, it's too cold. Take out ½ cup of buttercream and melt it in the microwave until it's just barely melted. About 10-15 seconds. Pour it back into your whisking buttercream and it will become creamy. - Optional: Switch to a paddle attachment and mix on low for 15-20 minutes to make the buttercream very smooth and remove air bubbles. This isn't required but if you want really creamy frosting, you don't want to skip it.
- Refrigerate the leftover buttercream for up to a week. If you are not going to use buttercream for more than a week you can freeze it for 6 months or more.
FAQ
Either fresh local berries or frozen berries will work for this!
Strawberry jam is just blended strawberries with sugar, so it will not work for this recipe. If you absolutely cannot get fresh strawberries, you can use blended strawberry preserves, but it will be much sweeter. A reduction is needed for this recipe to have the right consistency and amount of strawberry flavor.
You cannot use almond flour, self-rising flour or cake flour for this cake.
If you leave out the emulsion/extract, the strawberry flavor will not be as pronounced. I like to use LorAnn's strawberry emulsion for a really strong flavor or the wild strawberry emulsion from Amoretti.
Yes, this recipe makes about 24 cupcakes.
Yes I have used it under fondant many times. Just be sure to not use cream cheese frosting underneath the fondant, or it will melt.
More Strawberry Recipes
Traditional Strawberry Shortcake
Need more cake recipes? I have so many that are personally tested by me and tried and true for any level of baker.
Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
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Cups of Batter Needed
8 cups
Cups of Frosting Needed
5 cups
Note: measurements are estimated based off the vanilla cake recipe using standard US cake pans and sizes. Measurements used are for 2" tall cake pans only. Your results may vary. Do not overfill cake pans above manufacturer's recommended guidelines.
Recipe
Equipment
- 2 8" cake pans
Ingredients
Strawberry Reduction
- 32 ounces fresh or frozen strawberries thawed
- 4 ounces sugar optional
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 pinch salt
Fresh Strawberry Cake Ingredients
- 8 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
- 10 ounces granulated sugar
- 6 ounces egg whites room temperature
- 4 ounces milk room temperature, whole milk is best
- 6 ounces strawberry reduction room temperature
- 2 ounces vegetable or canola oil
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice fresh
- zest one lemon
- 1 ½ teaspoon strawberry emulsion or extract, I use LorAnn oils bakery emulsion
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Pink food color I use Americolor electric pink gel
- 14 ounces all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Easy Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
- 4 ounces pasteurized egg whites
- 16 ounces powdered sugar
- 16 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 ounces strawberry reduction room temperature
Instructions
Strawberry Reduction Instructions
- I recommend making this reduction the day before you're ready to make your cake.
- Place your thawed or fresh strawberries into the blender and blend until smooth.
- Place the strawberry puree, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice into a medium saucepan and bring it to a boil.
- Once bubbling, reduce heat to medium-low and slowly reduce the puree until you have two cups of liquid and the mixture is very thick like tomato sauce. This can take between 40-60 minutes. Occasionally stir the mixture to prevent burning.
- You will use some of the reduction for the cake batter, some for the frosting and the rest for filling between the cake layers for extra moisture. Leftover reduction can be stored in the fridge for up to one week or frozen for 6 months.
Strawberry Cake Instructions
- NOTE: It is SUPER IMPORTANT that all the room temperature ingredients listed above are room temperature and not cold or hot.
- Make sure to take your strawberry reduction out of the refrigerator 1 hour before making your cake so that it comes to room temperature or microwave it for about a minute so that it's warm.
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat to 350ºF/176ºC.
- Grease two 8" cake pans with cake goop or preferred pan release
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, strawberry reduction, strawberry emulsion, vanilla extract, lemon zest, lemon juice, and pink food coloring.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add room temperature butter to your stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat at medium speed until smooth and shiny, about 30 seconds.
- Gradually sprinkle in the sugar, beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the egg whites one at a time, beating 15 seconds in between. Your mixture should look cohesive at this point. If it looks curdled and broken, your butter or egg whites were too cold.
- Mix on low speed and add about a third of the dry ingredients to the batter, followed immediately by about a third of the milk mixture, mix until ingredients are almost incorporated into the batter.
- Repeat the process 2 more times. When the batter appears blended, stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. If it looks like ice cream, you did it right!
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
- Bake cakes at 350ºF/176ºC until they feel firm in the center and a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs on it, about 30-35 minutes.
- Place pans on top of a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Then flip your cakes onto the racks and cool completely.
- Once cooled, wrap each layer in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze before assembling your cake.
Buttercream Instructions
- Place egg whites and powdered sugar in a stand mixer bowl. Attach the whisk and combine ingredients on low and then whip on high for 5 minutes
- Place pasteurized egg whites and powdered sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the whisk attachment and combine ingredients on low, then whip on high for 5 minutes.
- Add in your softened butter in chunks and whip on high for 8-10 minutes until it's very white, light and shiny. It may look curdled and yellow at first, this is normal. Keep whipping.
- Add in strawberry reduction, vanilla extract and salt and continue whipping until incorporated.
- Optional: Switch to a paddle attachment and mix on low for 15-20 minutes to make the buttercream very smooth and remove air bubbles.
Video
Notes
- Make sure all your ingredients (egg whites, milk, butter, reduction) are room temperature or a little warm so that your batter doesn't curdle.
- For the best success, use a food scale to weigh your ingredients. Converting this recipe to cups could lead to failure. Read my blog post on how to use a scale for more information.
- I use Americolor electric pink food coloring to get my beautiful pink color. It may seem like cheating, but if you don't add it, the color from the strawberries will bake out and your cake will turn out gray.
- I'm using my Bosch Universal Plus mixer for this, but you can use any KitchenAid stand mixer or a hand mixer.
- You must use egg WHITES for this recipe, the yellow from the egg could turn the inside of your cake peach.
- I like to use LorAnn oil's strawberry bakery emulsion, but you can also use extract.
- When making your reduction, the goal is to get as much liquid out as possible without burning the strawberries. The mixture should look like thick tomato sauce and will have reduced by half.
- You will use some of the reduction for the cake batter, some for the frosting and the rest for filling between the cake layers for extra moisture. Leftover reduction can be stored in the fridge for up to one week or frozen for 6 months.
- Make sure your frosting is very light and white before adding in the puree. Give it a taste, if it still tastes like butter, keep whipping it until it tastes like sweet ice cream.
- If your buttercream looks curdled, it's too cold. Take out ½ cup of buttercream and melt it in the microwave until it's just barely melted. About 10-15 seconds. Pour it back into your buttercream, and mix until creamy.
Aquila says
I am a new baker and I just love how you explain and breakdown your instructions. I just love this cake recipe it has been a hit. I have to make a 2 tiered (8in and 6in) cake. Will this work well with stacking?
Sugar Geek Show says
Yay I'm so glad you like the recipe! Yes, it works great for stacking. Just make sure you use straws or supports 🙂
Olivia says
Hi I was interested in making this recipe but for a smaller crowd and I was wondering if I could split this recipe in half.
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can
Myisha says
This is, without a doubt, a brilliant 5-Star recipe! It is perfect as standalone cake, but I went a step further and added a.cheesecake layer right in the middle, which provided a beautiful balance of textures and flavors.
Janet says
I made this cake today for a special occasion. It went well and hope everyone likes it. I did 3 layers. I sampled the top that I cut off to make it flat and made my own piece.;) It was delish. I wasn't sure if I could add the berries with the apricot glaze on top and it be good thd next day so I put them in a container until ready to serve. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Jenny says
Last week I made your Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk cake and much prefer it’s texture to this Strawberry Cake I made today. Would it be possible to use cake flour instead of all-purpose for the strawberry cake to achieve the velvety texture?
The format of your recipes and videos make learning so much easier.
Thank you so much!
Sugar Geek Show says
Thanks so much, I'm glad you like the recipes! The strawberry cake is formulated very specifically to work with AP flour, so cake flour would be too soft to achieve that texture. As a result, the cake is a little more on the denser side, but if you want to get a very fluffy strawberry cake, you could always try my strawberry wasc recipe. https://sugargeekshow.com/recipe/strawberry-cake-mix-recipe/
Daryl says
I made this cake for the first time and my sister (who loves strawberries) ate almost half of it. Just a question if the reduction for the icing could be done with blueberries. This is so I can make an ombre look for the icing. Just an idea I had.
Sugar Geek Show says
Sounds delicious! I haven't tried it, but I don't see why not!
Margo says
If I puréed the frozen strawberries will it still reduce.
Elizabeth Marek says
yes, the heating will thaw the strawberries
Mary Pasley says
I made this today for my daughter-in-law’s birthday. Strawberry cake is her favorite. Yes, it took a while to make, especially with the reduction, but it was so worth the time. This batter worked like a dream. Looked just like ice cream when done. Glopped into pan (I used just 1 square pan), cooked beautifully and put it on wires to cool. Made the icing, my first time to make scratch buttercream and it was delicious! Turned around to start icing and BAM! Cake had cratered in the middle. This has always been my issue with cakes. Both scratch and mix cakes. Always craters. Does anyone have any idea what I am doing wrong? I have checked my oven temps. Oh well, I just did what I alway have done and had a wonderful icing party in the middle 😂. I just wish I could figure out what I do wrong. I am in no way blaming this recipe. I will definatley use again. Thanks for listening
Elizabeth Marek says
could be your elevation, try reducing the baking powder by 1/2 tsp
Whitney says
Do you open your oven door to check your cake? If you do, you're letting out the heat and your cake won't fully cook properly. Over mixing can also make your cake cave. Also, all ovens are different. 350°F may be perfect in my oven, but yours may need to be adjusted 25°-50°F up or down. I am not a professional by no means! Just trying to help 🙂
Patrice says
I made this cake for my sister’s birthday. Everyone loved it and she declared it one my top 3 cakes of all time! Thank you!
Michelle says
Every year I make my niece's birthday cake. When she asked for a strawberry cake I found this recipe. It was a HUGE hit and she asked for it again on her little sister's birthday (too young to pick own flavor). I currently have 2 trays of cupcakes in the oven for her birthday again this year. She loves it so much!
The calculator is super helpful but it doesn't say how many cups each one makes. The batter and frosting calculator gives cups the but the adjustment slider is in servings. I need around 36 cupcakes so I just moved the slider to 36 servings. Hopefully that'll get me near the number I need! Not sure on cooking time for them so I started at 15-20 mins and will go from there.
Alice says
Good texture, but the addition of lemon juice and zest made it taste too much like lemon instead of strawberry.
Lisa says
Are these all weight ounces or are some fluid ounces? Like the milk? And what about the egg whites? Fluid or weight? Thanks!!!
Elizabeth Marek says
Everything is by weight 🙂
Cathy Herold says
Your recipe shows a 2 layer cake and your video shows a 3 layer cake how do you convert to a 3 layer 9" cake pan?
Elizabeth Marek says
You can make a 1 1/2 recipe
Courtney says
How many egg whites are you using for the cake itself? The ingredient list says 6 oz - can you advise how many eggs that would be?
Elizabeth Marek says
One egg white is equal to one ounce
Amanda says
Hi! I was wondering if the egg whites in the cake batter should be fresh or pasteurized egg whites (from a carton)? I'm making this tonight into tomorrow, so I'll use fresh this time, but I was wondering for the future. Thanks!
Elizabeth Marek says
You can use either
B Talbot says
I used this recipe just for the icing. I admit I used a box strawberry cake to save me some time as this was for Easter and I do a whole spread by myself for my family including from scratch sourdough and yeast rolls. I digress, this is by far the BEST icing I've EVER made. I'm pretty new at baking from scratch and this recipe is going in my permanent rotation. Thank you for the ease of directions. I only have a hand mixer but will be getting a stand mixer now as my love of baking grows because of recipes and instructions like yours. God has blessed you tremendously with your talent.
Shellie T Walker says
Most delicious cake! The family loved it for Easter
MJ Perry says
I made this for Easter this year; it was fantastic. I was worried my puree was too wet but it was not. A very moist cake and instead of buttercream I used strawberry whipped cream all over the cake. Next one I make, I will add dripped ganache to it with chocolate covered berried over the top to make this a decadent cake. mmmmmmmmm
Lorrie says
I made this for my granddaughter’s 8th birthday. Everyone loved it.
My question is, if I make it into cupcakes with your recommended frosting, can they be frozen?
I love your recipes. Thank you so very much.
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can definitely freeze them. Freezing after baking actually locks in moisture!
Gabrielle says
Hello! Could you please help me adjust this recipe to do three 6 inch pans? I might just do a 1 and 1/2 batch and use any left over batter for cupcakes or cake pops.
I just don’t want to mess up the chemistry in anyway. I’m baking this for Mother’s Day and it has to be perfect! Thank you!
Elizabeth Marek says
This is enough for three 6" pans so no adjustments needed. Happy mothers day!
Anna says
The BEST strawberry cake without the need for jello! I promise you'll never find a better recipe.
Elizabeth Marek says
Thank you so much <3