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!
Whats 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.
I even tried that recipe where you add Jell-O and 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.
Strawberry Cake Instructions Step-By-Step
- 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!
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
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8 cups
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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.
Ella says
Made this cake over the last few days and it was so delicious, recipe was also very easy to follow.
Great that you pointed out the things that need to be room temp, this must be where I normally go wrong as my cakes always split!
Only thing was when putting lemon into milk it make it curdle, but it turned out fine anyway 😊
Thankyou!
Elizabeth Marek says
The curdled milk is not a problem 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Sondra says
Ok looks like you have done all of the heavy lifting on testing. I was asked to bake a strawberry layer cake and I’m super leery of baking something for someone else, untested. I’m going to go with it! Wish me luck!
Anita says
The cake was moist and tasty, but would not come out of my pans, I knew I should have used parchment paper. The buttercream did not work at all, I have never heard of a buttercream with egg whites in it, it stayed curdled even though I followed the directions. I had to throw it out and just made a regular buttercream with no egg, but with reduction/ my daughter loved it!
Elizabeth Marek says
Hi there. If the buttercream was curdled, it just needed to be mixed more. This cake has been tested and baked by hundreds of people (please see the comments). Every buttercream has egg whites except American buttercream which is mostly powdered sugar.
Kalpana says
Hi i made this cake and it was the first cake my kid enjoyed and ate. I personally liked the way the cake turned out in every step..such an awesome recipe. Thank you so much.
Rachael Burton says
What altitudes would this recipe work for? My elevation is 5000+... I have been experimenting on yellow cakes and now strawberry cakes and I just can’t seem to get it right!
Elizabeth Marek says
Please refer to my altitude baking hacks post https://sugargeekshow.com/news/high-altitude-baking-hacks/
Sage says
Hello! I had a quick question.
I'd love to make this for a birthday party out of state. Do you think the cake layers, buttercream, and excess strawberry reduction will survive being made the night before, packed up in a cooler, and assembled together once I arrive at the event?
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Elizabeth Marek says
If its kept very cold then it should be ok but keep in mind that fresh fruit can go bad pretty quickly
Ivana says
I made this cake for my wedding, last month, because my husband loves strawberries. Everyone loved it, especially my husband. I tweaked the frosting recipe for a simple plain butter cream and used fresh strawberries cover in the reduction between each layer of frosting, to enhance the look and guarantee fresh strawberries with every bite.
Albert Jordan says
Mine didn’t turn out all so great !!
Moraine says
Hi there!
My 8 year old daughter wants to make this with me for Father’s Day.
My go to buttercream is a American buttercream recipe. Do you think the strawberry reduction will mix into that ok or should I venture and try the Swiss buttercream? Usually we prefer the taste of the American buttercream 🙂
Elizabeth Marek says
The ABC is much sweeter than this buttercream so it's up to you but you can definitely mix the puree into either kind of buttercream
Ruben says
Made this today for my wife's birthday and it was very good! A bit of work but fully worth the results! Hobby Lobby had some of the secret ingredients! Make the strawberry reduction a day a ahead as suggested if you are a busy person. As mentioned in the recipe make sure to bring it close to room temp before enjoying it.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipe! Everyone loved it!
Jocelyne says
Thank you for this recipe. I make a buttercream very similar but the strawberry reduction is MAGICAL!!
We will have it for Father's day tomorrow. Can't wait! Thank you!!
Christy says
The cake was wonderful. I had an issue with the buttercream being too heavy and it turned hard when refrigerated then I looked more closely at your butter measurements and noticed I think you have an error. It says 16oz of butter but 227g which is really 8 oz. I put 16oz and I think maybe I put too much?
Elizabeth Marek says
Buttercream gets cold in the fridge.Just bring the cake out of the fridge for a few hours to let it warm up again before eating it.
Jessica says
Made this today and am sad. It turned out dark tan colored and dry. The only ingredient I didn’t have was strawberry extract- but I used strawberry syrup instead. Maybe oven was too hot for dark pans? Not sure how to fix the color though - ohhh I didn’t use the food coloring!
Elizabeth Marek says
Strawberry syrup is not the same as strawberry extract. Sounds like you did not add the food coloring if the color was off. Over-baking can make the cake dry. I use magic line or fat daddio cake pans because the dark pans always burn my cakes. I hope that helps.
Happiness Oby says
Hello Liz, thanks for always sharing great recipes on your site. I noticed you only used egg whites for this recipe. Will something go wrong if one use egg york also just like other cakes?
Elizabeth Marek says
The egg yolk will affect the color of the cake and make it a peachy/orange color
Jackie says
Hi Liz
Is this the original buttercream amounts or is this the reduced amounts in the recipe. According to comment Alice made 5 months ago the buttercream recipe was way too much for this cake.
Elizabeth Marek says
The buttercream listed is the perfect amount for the cake in my opinion. Enough for 1/4" of buttercream between each layer and the outside with a little leftover for piping rosettes on top.
Debra says
Wondering if I can freeze the layers to use at another time? I make and freeze cakes to use when I’m super busy!
Also could I do a white frosting for a different look? If yes what would you suggest?! Thank you very much!
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can definitely freeze the cakes to use later. If you want white frosting then just leave out the strawberry.
Janice says
Hi, I'm very excited to try this. One question - for the pasteurized egg whites (in the frosting), I'm assuming this is 4 fluid ounces? Not weight ounces? Is that right?
Thank you!
Elizabeth Marek says
All the measurements are by weight
Caitlin says
DELICIOUS. I made these into cupcakes and they are absolutely perfect. Such an amazing flavor, and the perfect pink! And the easy buttercream as a strawberry flavor is perfection!
Gillian Connell says
Halved the measures and made cupcakes. They turned out wonderful!!!!
Kim says
This cake is fantastic. The recipe looks intimidating but is easy to follow and very detailed. I found it helpful to print this recipe so I could easily read ahead and physically check off steps as I went. Made it for my niece’s 1st birthday - Got so many compliments and already have requests for it for other occasions. My only problem was that the cake was very moist and stuck to the pan/fell apart. So not the prettiest cake in my case, but the taste definitely made up for it. (But this is the very first cake I’ve made from scratch other than pound cake, so I’m sure there was some baker’s error factored into that!). Love it!
Dakshyani says
Recipe was on point! I halved the recipe to cater to a smaller crowd and was still perfect. Thank you!
Elissa says
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. I made this for my husband's birthday, because strawberry cake is his favorite! It was perfect! I'm going print this recipe and use it when I get orders. You did a good job! Thank you again.
Melanie Elia says
Hi Liz, thank you for sharing your recipe, it looks fantastic. My son's birthday is coming up soon and he's asked for strawberry cake, so I will try your recipe. Just wondering if I can use IMBC instead of SMBC for the strawberry buttercream? I have tried your IMBC and it is amazing.
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you sure can
Gwendolyn Martindale says
Hi Liz, I’m actually just down the way in Wilsonville! My daughter turned 8 on Monday and wanted a strawberry cake. After looking at a few recipients, I settled in yours because it didn’t use jello. Oh.my.gosh! It could not have been more of a hit! Absolutely fabulous! My husband, who is a pie-guy, LOVED it and said it was the best cake I’ve ever made (a huge compliment coming from him!) thanks for this recipe and for the tips as well, they came in handy! The buttercream was also amazing!
Karissa says
Hi! If I froze this would I just leave it in the fridge the day before use to defrost?
Elizabeth Marek says
Yep! It will need at least a day to defrost if fully frozen (a fully frosted cake)