A strawberry cake mix recipe that makes box mix taste almost as good as homemade!
The best strawberry cake mix recipe! I'm obsessed with a good strawberry cake from scratch but sometimes I just don't have a lot of time and need a good strawberry cake recipe FAST! This is my go-to strawberry cake mix recipe with lemon easy buttercream!
What's the best strawberry cake mix?
I personally prefer Duncan Hines box mixes. I think they taste the best and are very moist. Their strawberry box mix is already super tasty but I add in a few ingredients to make it taste even better.
Adding these ingredients to your strawberry box mix will make the cake a little denser and better for stacking. You can even cover this cake in fondant or stack multiple tiers for a birthday or wedding cake. Just make sure you chill your cakes first to harden the butter that's inside the cake before you try to stack the cake layers.
For more information on learning to make your first cake, check out my how to make your first cake tutorial.
Can you add fresh fruit to box mix?
I have experimented a few times with adding fresh fruit to box mix and it generally works really well. Strawberries work best if you use a reduced puree or fruit preserves so that you aren't adding too much liquid into the cake recipe.
I tried adding chopped strawberries one time and it turned out ok but the strawberries got a little soggy inside the cake and turned grey around the edges.
Adding strawberry puree to the box mix results in beautiful pink layers!
How do you make a strawberry layer cake?
After you mix up your cake batter, divide it into three 8" cake pans. If you only have one pan, you can bake one at a time and leave the leftover batter in the fridge until you need it.
Let your cake layers cool for 10 minutes in the pan then turn them out onto a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way. You can speed this process up by putting the rack plus the cakes in the freezer for about an hour. Then they will be ready to frost.
I decided to frost my strawberry cakes with lemon buttercream! But any kind of buttercream would work like cream cheese frosting, stabilized whipped cream or fresh strawberry buttercream.
To make my easy buttercream into lemon buttercream, I just added in some fresh lemon curd, lemon extract and lemon zest, then mixed it all together. You can leave the lemon curd out if you don't have any but it is pretty yummy and easy to make!
Fill your chilled layers of cake with the lemon buttercream. I shoot for about ¼" of buttercream between my cake layers. Repeat with all the cake layers then cover the entire cake with a thin coat of buttercream. This is called the crumb coat and seals in all the cake crumbs.
Put the cake into the fridge for 20 minutes to firm up the crumb coat. Then you can put your final layer of buttercream on the cake and decorate it any way you like! I decorated mine with sweetapolita sprinkles. This is the "Twinkle" sprinkle medley! One of my favorites!
I love how easy this strawberry cake mix recipe is! I hope you love it too! Happy baking!
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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
Ingredients
Strawberry Cake Mix Recipe
- 1 box strawberry cake mix or white if you can't find strawberry
- 1 cup AP flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sour cream room temp
- ½ cup melted butter
- ½ cup milk
- ¾ cup strawberry puree
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon strawberry emulsion or extract
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract
Lemon Easy Buttercream Frosting
- ¾ cup pasteurized egg whites
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 3 cups unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon lemon extract
- ¼ cup lemon curd optional
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
Instructions
Strawberry Box Mix Cake Ingredients
- The instructions for this cake are super easy. Basically, put it all into a bowl and mix it for 2 minutes! Voila! Cake batter is ready.
- Pour batter into three 8" cake pans prepared with cake goop or your preferred pan release. Bake at 350ºF for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
Easy Buttercream Frosting
- Place pasteurized egg whites and powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Mix on low until combined and then bump up to high and whip for 3 minutes. It will look like royal icing, not meringue.
- Add in your salt then your butter in small pieces while mixing on low until combined, then bump up to high. Whip until light, white and fluffy and it doesn't taste like butter anymore. This can take 10-15 minutes.
- Switch to the paddle attachment and mix on low for 15 minutes to smooth buttercream and reduce bubbles (optional)
- Mix in your lemon curd, lemon zest and extract until combined.
- Frost and decorate your cake as desired
Video
Notes
- Three 6" cakes - baked and cooled
- Easy Buttercream (one batch)
- Food coloring
- Sprinkles
- Strawberry filling (optional)
Laura says
I cannot find any strawberry extract or emulsion, can I skip it this time? If so, should I still add the lemon extract?
I already already the emulsion but it won’t get here on time.
Elizabeth Marek says
If you skip it, the cake will not have a strong strawberry flavor 🙂
Ana says
I love your blog! Question, can this cake be covered in fondant? Will it resist the weight Or do you recommend using another one of your strawberry cake recipes? TIA
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can cover the cake in fondant but I would only use strawberry buttercream as a filling because the moisture from the strawberries might cause the fondant to sweat
Geoffrey says
Hello.
I want to try making this cake but I've got a question or two. Duncan Hines vs Pillsbury for the strawberry cake mix? Would this recipe work for a 9 x 13 pan? Do you have an easy strawberry frosting recipe?
I will be testing this recipe out for my niece, she wants a pink unicorn cake with pink frosting and pink sprinkles. She also loves strawberry so that's what has sent me on the hunt for a good and easy strawberry sheet cake recipe. Your channel is amazing and I will admit, I have never seen a mix like yours before now!
Thank you!
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can pour this recipe into a 9"x13" pan. It will take longer to bake so just keep an eye on it. For strawberry buttercream I would just add some of the puree to the buttercream (make sure the puree is warm)
Bill Judd says
Made this for a friend's birthday and she raved about it. I iced it in stabilized whipped cream and filled it with strawberry preserves mixed with whipped cream. Am now making it right now for my daughter's birthday.
Ellis says
My mother-in-law’s favorite dessert is strawberry cake; she LOVES this stuff. For Mother’s Day, I tried my hand at baking with this recipe! I doubled it to have 4 layers and piped roses all over it and added flower shaped candies!!
It was such a hit!! Not a single piece was left!
Thank you, Liz! ❤️❤️
- the new favorite daughter-in-law
Malena Thomas says
so I am a little lazy and don't want to make my own strawberry compote. so I use the strawberry preserves in a jar from the store, but I cut the sugar to half a cup because the preserves are already so sweet. It comes out perfectly every time!
Carmell says
Hi Liz, can I reduce the sugar in this recipe? I have another doctored cake mix recipe that calls for one cup of additional sugar, and in my opinion it made it too Sweet. Maybe the strawberry purée in this counteracts that?
Elizabeth Marek says
I don't think it would be a problem to reduce it a little but keep in mind that sugar is also what keeps a cake moist so your texture of your cake might be a bit more bread-like when you reduce the sugar.
Michelle says
Hello!
I was wondering if the oz measurements in your recipe are weight oz or fluid oz. I'm Canadian and don't typically use this type of measurement. Thanks for your time!
Elizabeth Marek says
Everything is by weight.
Megan says
It's been a few years since I used a doctored mix... I recall them changing the amount of cake mix and it throwing some recipes off. Is this for 15.25 oz cake mix? 🙂
Also, I'm going to be making a barbie doll cake, the bottom will be rounded. I plan on using my circle cake molds, should this do well in this molds?
Elizabeth Marek says
I haven't changed anything for the new cake box sizes. This will do just fine in a doll mold pan.
Michelle says
Hi Liz, is the strawberry extract necessary? I can't find it anywhere around where I live.
Elizabeth Marek says
Many have left it out but be aware that the strawberry flavor will be much less pronounced
Michele says
Hi Liz! Would you make any changes for high altitude? Thank You
Elizabeth Marek says
Here are my tips for baking with high altitude https://sugargeekshow.com/high-altitude-baking-hacks/
Jona Anderson says
Due to epidemic and quarantine I made some changes..didnt have flour so substituted aunt jemima original pancake mix...didnt have lemon so used lime..didnt have strawberry extract but just rolled without it..as for icing..I used rest of strawberry reduction, 2 egg whites, 1 c UK p of powdered sugar, pinch of salt, 2 sticks of blue bonnet margarine and get this 1 container of duncan Hines strawberries and cream creamy homestyle frosting..OMG best cake EVER..did conventional oven 3 layers 25 min ..perfection!!
The Sugar Geek Show says
Wow that's amazing!! I love that you just rolled with it and had great results!
Lonemama says
I made this twice in three 8” pans and again in 2 quarter sheet pans (to make two layers). I lined them with parchment because the first attempt resulted in sadness. This recipe is perfect. Box cake comes out too foamy (is that the right word? Like a foam mattress) but this allows for more layers and the texture is more hearty. It’s better than trying to make a strawberry cake completely from scratch because it’s got a stronger strawberry flavor. As for the buttercream, I wanted to make a theme cake, so I needed it to hold up. I made a buttercream using only butter sugar and cream, then added a tiny bit of strawberry emulsion for color, and squeezed a lemon into it. It was delicious. This is my second favorite cake, because my favorite will always be chocolate cake (especially the preppy kitchen version)
Savannah says
Hi, I love your tutorials. I recently made this recipe, and it was delicious; however, I underestimated how big it would be. I would suggest 2 (8") pans or maybe even 3 because it literally overflowed my 6" pans. OMG!! It was almost a disaster, but I managed to cut off the tops, so the inside could bake. I did have a quick question. I made the icing, and it was super good; however, it wasn't stiff enough for Russian balls tips. What can I do to make it a littler stiffer to decorate more with different designs? BTW, I used strawberry jam instead of puree, and it would great. Thanks
The Sugar Geek Show says
Try american buttercream for a stiffer frosting 🙂
Heather W says
I’ve made this recipe twice so far and it’s been delicious! But both times I’ve made the cake, the tops end up so sticky feeling and make it had to level out. Help!!
The Sugar Geek Show says
The stickiness is from the moisture in the cake and is normal
Susan says
This was so yummy and easy to make! I used the batter to make cupcakes. I actually completely forgot my melted butter in the microwave until I had already baked the cupcakes! They still turned out pretty good, so maybe a slightly healthier version if anyone is interested. Haha.