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!
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.
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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.
Susie says
Hello! Me and my Mum have just started to make the cake after a week of me dreaming about it. The recipe is really clear and I am extremely excited! Thanks for making such a nice recipe that doesn’t include jelly/jello (I don’t like the taste either). ?
Rachel says
Made this recipe today and overall it was super simple to follow and delicious! I’m new to baking. I used dark metal non stick round cake pans and the cakes cooked in 20 mins. However they were not ready to flip in 10 minutes and one layer crumbled. I was able to piece it back together for a beautiful finished product. Cake taste was amazing! Frosting was a bit creamy/whipped tasting, would have liked it a bit more dense. Overall excellent and can’t wait to make it again! Thank you for all the tips and tricks you provided, it was very helpful.
Venassa Dsouza says
I made this recipe today for my son, it's his 6 b'day tomorrow! I've made him a semi - naked cake . The buttercream recipe is super easy and tasty?!
Jane says
I can't find strawberry extract or strawberry emulsion. Is there something else that would be comparable?
The Sugar Geek Show says
To make a strawberry cake you need strawberry flavoring. You can leave it out but the cake won't have as strong of a flavor because fresh strawberries do not have a strong flavor.
Shar says
Question, can I use strawberry flavor? I didn’t see strawberry extract but saw a box of strawberry flavor next to the lemon extract box.
The Sugar Geek Show says
I think that is the same as strawberry extract 🙂
Shar says
Thank you!
Lauren Kleiman says
I only have 2 9” cake pans. Will this work?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Absolutely, you can use any cake pan you want to with cake recipes. You may need to increase the amount of cake batter you make if it's a very large cake pan and adjust the baking times.
Beatriz says
I love your recepie.....can I use this recipe for cupcakes?
Thank you!
The Sugar Geek Show says
I haven't personally tried it with cupcakes because I don't make cupcakes often but I have heard others have had success
Alisa Howell says
So I made the frosting the night before I made the cake and put it into the fridge. It looked like how it was described in the recipe and video. However when I went to ice the cakes it looked like the icing separated. I'm not sure what went wrong.
The Sugar Geek Show says
Could be that your frosting was still very cold. Just needs to be warmed back up to room temperature (think about how soft room temperature butter is) and then re-whipped
Jennifer says
Followed the instructions exactly (had to pull my kitchen mass balance!) for the cake except I didn't have any strawberry extract or emulsion. Came out awesome; great crumb, pink color (I was surprised by the amount of neon pink food coloring when putting it in, but appropriate), and great moisture level. Strawberry reduction took about an hour to get to what I assumed was the right consistency; well worth it. Strawberry flavor in cake was subtle, so it makes sense why the extract is there. But I'm not unhappy even though I didn't have that.
A really great cake batter recipe (I didn't try the buttercream icing; went with something else). Thanks for sharing.
DB says
Is the lemon flavor prominent at all? I'm not a fan of lemon so I hope you can't taste it! 🤞
The Sugar Geek Show says
You can't taste it at all, its just to bring out the flavor of the strawberry
Bianka says
Excellent flavour, texture , tried it for the first time tonight.. only deception.. the cake turned out brown... Rather than pink.. , wich was sad since i follow the recipe to a T .. but it was the star of the evening
The Sugar Geek Show says
Did you add the food coloring? That's probably why it turned out brown.
Rachel Friedland says
The cake recipe was divine and absolutely delicious! Thank you so much for sharing! I couldn't find strawberry extract anywhere so I replaced a little of the sugar with strawberry jello and that worked perfectly.
I didn't follow the instructions on whipping the buttercream enough because I was lazy using a hand-mixer. This was a big mistake. Be patient with the butter cream and don't make the mistake I did, grainy buttercream is not ideal on a beautiful delicious moist cake!
Trish McCarthy says
Just made the frosting and will be using to layer a dark chocolate cake! The frosting is sublime!! Love all things meringue and this is absolute heaven!! Thank you!!
Yadira says
I have preserved strawberries from last year, can I use this instead of fresh berries ? And can I replace the strawberry extrac with strawberry syrup instead? Thank you.
Elizabeth Marek says
If your strawberry preserves have added sugar in them it could be a problem because it will add sugar to the cake recipe. Strawberry syrup is not the same as an extract. The extract is a concentrated strawberry flavor. Without it, your cake wont have as strong of a strawberry flavor so keep that in mind.
Larissa Jo Hancock says
My batter was crazy liquidy - Im not sure if that was to be expected? I put a bit extra flour in at end due to this! Base dipped in a bit but seems ok cooling other than that... Oh and I did use gluten-free dry ingredients...?? xx
Elizabeth Marek says
Hi there, unfortunately, you can't just add in more ingredients or change them and have the recipe turn out the same. Changing the flour vastly changes the recipe.
Nena M. says
I made this cake for my son’s 10th birthday about a week ago. The flavor of the strawberry in the cake was really well and not “fake strawberry” flavored. I decided to use cream cheese frosting for my cake and that turned out really amazing. My only complaint is that even after I pulled the cake out slightly before it was done according to the toothpick stick, the cake itself seemed slightly dry. I bake pretty frequently and have professional kitchen experience but I’m not sure what went wrong. I may try making this again and see if I need to cook it for even less time. Overall, the family was happy so that’s all that matters!!
Sunithra says
Hi Liz,
Can this strawberry buttercream be used under fondant?
Elizabeth Marek says
I wouldnt use it against fondant, the extra moisture could cause the fondant to melt
Stephanie Valencia says
Going to try this today! Making my mouth water reading about it!
Sophie says
I can’t wait to try this recipe! I too have tried every way possible to make a strawberry cake that isn’t filled with fake ingredients and fail every time!! I pretty much gave up but I’ll try one last time!!
Vicki says
I loved this cake cane out super good my only thing was it was too lemony for me I don't like lemon cake at all.. can I omit the lemon juice or zest for some more vanilla...i know it needs the acidic from lemon but maybe just less... also can I use pasturized egg whites instead of fresh egg whites. Thanks.
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can reduce the lemon, the lemon is to increase the flavor of the strawberry. Yes, you can use pasteurized egg whites.
Rebecca says
Just wondering if I can use this recipe for cupcakes??
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can
Marla Hutchison says
Frosting question.....how long does it stay food safe? Both in the fridge and at room temperature? Is there an alternate recipe that does not use raw egg whites? I am so excited to make this cake for my friends birthday on Tuesday!
Elizabeth Marek says
Pasteurized egg whites are heat-treated and safe to eat. Just as you drink milk that has been pasteurized. Because this cake contains fresh fruit, it should not be left at room temperature for more than four hours. I keep mine refrigerated until the day we are going to eat the cake then I leave it at room temperature so that the buttercream softens. No one likes to eat cold butter.
Andrea says
Since your recipe calls for strawberry emulsion, should the Lemon and vanilla be emulsions too?
Elizabeth Marek says
No. Im not sure a vanilla emulsion even exists. Strawberry is just a tricky flavor to get so I use a mixture of emulsion and extract
Beth says
Very detailed instructions, and i had success! I didn’t find strawberry extract. Pandemic being what it is, my shopping options were limited. Also, no hot pink food coloring. The strawberry reduction seems key. I got a pretty pale pink cake and frosting. Delicious, and cake is moist. I wanted a cake to help us celebrate a shelter in place wedding anniversary and this did the trick. Made only 1/2 recipe of frosting, as we like a lower frosting to cake ratio. 9” pans, so my cake is less high. Very happy. I would make it again.