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
Ingredients
This is the BEST strawberry cake recipe you'll ever have and it may seem intimidating but I promise it will all be worth it! First, we will make the strawberry reduction and then bake it into the strawberry cake. Here's a little overview of the most important ingredients in this recipe and why we're using them.
For The Reduction
The most important part of this whole recipe is the strawberry reduction. Strawberries naturally have a TON of water in them and we want to reduce that water while still keeping as much flavor as possible. This recipe will make enough stawberry reduction for the cake and the buttercream.
- Sugar - Adding some sugar intensifies the flavor of the strawberry and helps thicken it.
- Lemon - Adding in the zest and the juice of a lemon helps the strawberry reduction keep its color.
For The Cake
Make sure you have all your ingredients ahead of time!
- Strawberry Emulsion - It's like strawberry extract but very, very concentrated. If you can get it ahead of time, it really adds the best strawberry flavor. 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.
- Flour - A lot of my recipes use cake flour, but we're using all-purpose flour for this recipe because it is SO moist. I did some tests with cake flour, and it just didn't hold up.
- Egg Whites - Are used because if you include the yolks it will give the strawberry cake a weird orange-y color. You can separate the egg yolks from the egg whites manually or use liquid egg whites. One egg white equals one ounce.
- Butter - Use a good-quality butter (you can even make your own). I prefer Kerrygold for the flavor and high fat content. Lower-quality butter has more water and can affect how the cake bakes.
- Oil - I use canola oil most of the time because it doesn't have much flavor but keeps the cake moist and delicious. You can use any oil you prefer. Just keep in mind that some oils, like olive might impart a flavor.
- Lemon - This isn't for flavor, it's more for color. Strawberries turn a muted grey-ish purple when they are cooked because their natural red pigment, anthocyanin, is unstable and turns purple in neutral or alkaline environments. Adding an acid, like lemon juice, helps maintain the red color by keeping the pH level low
- Pink Food Coloring - Even after everything we do to keep that pink color, it still dulls down a bit after baking, so adding in a couple of drops of pink food coloring, you get a gorgeous strawberry pink color.
For The Buttercream
- Egg Whites - The base of this buttercream frosting uses pasteurized egg whites, so they have already been heat-treated and are safe to eat. When mixed with powdered sugar, it creates a sort of mock-meringue.
- Powdered Sugar - Add sweetness and body to the buttercream.
- Butter - Creates creaminess, cuts the sweetness of the sugar and helps the buttercream stay soft.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Remember to use a kitchen scale to measure out all your ingredients for accuracy and so your cake turns out perfectly. Everything is by weight, even the liquids.
For The Strawberry Reduction
- Place your thawed strawberries into a blender and pulse a few times until they are liquid.
- Pour the blended strawberries, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt into a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
- 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.
- 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 it to another container and let it cool before use.
- 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.
For The Cake
- 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 the sugar into the butter while mixing on medium, and beat until the mixture is fluffy and almost white, about 3-5 minutes.
- While mixing on medium, add in 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. - While mixing 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.
- You can turn this strawberry cake recipe into cupcakes by dividing the batter into a cupcake lined pan and baking for 18-20 minutes at 350ºF. This recipe makes about 24 cupcakes.
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.
Decorating
I like to layer the extra strawberry reduction in between the layers along with strawberry buttercream for maximum strawberry flavor. If you want more tips on how to decorate your first cake, check out my cake decorating tutorial for beginners.
FAQ
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.
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 I have used it under fondant many times. Just be sure to not use cream cheese frosting underneath the fondant, or it will melt.
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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.
Nutrition
More Strawberry Recipes
Traditional Strawberry Shortcake
Wanda Stevens says
I don't understand how these people say this cake is delicious. I wasted about 6.00 making this. Why would a buttercream frosting call for 1pound of butter to 1 pound of 10x sugar. I was not thinking and that is what I used and it tasted like a bowl of butter. Not 1 person that left a message said anything about this. Never again.!
Elizabeth Marek says
Sorry this recipe did not turn out for you. This ratio of butter and sugar is very common in professional recipes but requires you to whip it to incorporate enough air. So if your buttercream tasted like butter, it's because it was not mixed enough. Thanks for your feedback. I hope it helps someone else reading this.
Amy Maxwell says
Question for you, So I don't have strawberry extract and was noticing the strawberry flavor is a bit weak in my cake, do you think that making a strawberry simple syrup would be okay and possibly the the cake a bit more of that strawberry flavor?
Elizabeth Marek says
You could add more strawberry puree between the layers
shuah says
Hello if I was to make a vanilla cake recipe and just add in some chopped up freeze dried strawberries would I still get a strawberry flavour in the cake?
thanks 🙂
- this looks amazing and I would try the reduction method you suggested but I am quite short on time for baking a cake ahah
Elizabeth Marek says
Check out my freeze dried strawberry cake recipe 🙂 https://sugargeekshow.com/strawberry-cake-from-scratch/
Halta says
Do I get frozen strawberries sweetened or unsweetened? I plan on baking this tomorrow for a birthday on Sat. Thank you
Elizabeth Marek says
Unsweetened. Just regular strawberries
Erin says
Hi! This cake sounds delicious, will be trying this weekend. Will this buttercream work well for decorating?
Elizabeth Marek says
It has chunks of strawberry in it but you can definitely pipe it
Cecilia H says
Hi! Just wondering what type of milk you use for this recipe. I usually use buttermilk with cakes but I have never made a strawberry cake before. Trying it this weekend! Thanks!
Elizabeth Marek says
Just regular milk for this recipe
Tracey says
Omg! I am SO Sorry!!!! I left a review a few hours ago stating how awful my cake was. Even bragging I’m a semi-professional baker. I had to find out what went wrong as all other reviews were so good. I retraced my steps and remembered my BF measured the flour. He measured out 1 lb 4 oz. not 14 oz., almost 50% more flour, hence the pasty flour result. I am redoing this cake, without my BF. 😊
Sheri D. says
Liz, this cake is so delicious! I made it 3 times in 2 days and see many more of these cakes in my future. I'm not a lemon fan so I did reduce the lemon a bit. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly as written. I thought I'd share the results of each of my bakes. First, I used a 9" x 13" pan. By the time the center was cooked through the cake was overbaked on the edges and the bottom. I was so sad and I had to cut away half of the cake. (The middle was excellent hence the 2 more bakes) On the second attempt I tried an 8" square pan (I needed a square strawberry cake) and the 6" round. So much better! The 6" round cake was perfect but the square cake was still overbaked in the corners and on the edges. There wasn't near the waste as with the 9" x 13" pan. Last, I had to try cupcakes. They are amazing! The first batch of cupcakes went in and out of the oven a few times as I adjusted the cooking time and the amount of batter in each cup. What worked for me was filling each cup just under halfway and baking for 19 minutes. I piped some strawberry reduction in the center of each cooled cake and I topped them with your strawberry buttercream. Devine! The absolute BEST strawberry cake ever! Thank you so much for perfecting and sharing your recipe.
Elizabeth Marek says
Thanks for all the feedback Sheri! Little tip for using sheet cake pans (9"x13") you can get a heating core which helps those big cakes bake more evenly 🙂 They sell them on amazon 😀
Jessica says
I made this cake for my daughter’s birthday and it was amazing (thanks!) Do you think I could use this recipe (or a version of it) to make a blackberry cake? I was thinking of making a blackberry reduction, or maybe mixing blackberries and strawberries. Not many recipes out there for a blackberry cake and was wondering your thoughts. Thanks!
Elizabeth Marek says
ummm that sounds amazing haha!! Yes! Please tell me how it turns out! I might have to try that too!
Ashley says
Would subbing a pre-made strawberry filling (like the ones that come in a plastic sleeve) for the strawberry reduction in the cake batter work? Trying to avoid a trip to the store if I can!
Elizabeth Marek says
I'm not sure it would work the same because it's not a reduction, it's just strawberry filling. I hope that makes sense 🙂
Michele says
I love your story on all the work you put into perfecting this!!! My daughter has asked for strawberry (pink!) cake for her 6th birthday this Saturday, and I’m planning to make it. Can I trouble you with two questions? 1) can I skip the lemon and zest? I usually am not a fan of lemon interfering :). 2) is there an alternative to pasteurized eggs in the frosting? Trying to avoid an extra trip to the grocery store these days as I have everything else - including the lemon if you say I really need it! Thank you
Elizabeth Marek says
Thanks Michele! Yes you can leave out the lemon 🙂 You can make my swiss meringue buttercream frostin with fresh egg whites and then add in the strawberry puree 😀 https://sugargeekshow.com/swiss-meringue-buttercream/
Lauren says
Can I freeze the reduction for later use?
Elizabeth Marek says
Absolutely
Robin says
Hi! Do you have any idea how far in advance I can make and assemble the cake if I leave it in the fridge until the day we intend to serve?
Elizabeth Marek says
I wouldnt leave it for more than two days or it will start to get stale.
Michele davis says
Hi there, I made this cake yesterday and it was delicious. But I changed things a little due to what I had available so I thought id share since groceries are hard to come by for some. I made this cake without strawberry extract and red food coloring and buttercream frosting. The cake is still delicious. I frosted it with stabilized whipped cream and layered with strawberries.
Juanis Gonzalez says
Hello Liz I tried your cake recipe, and omg it’s yummy. Just wondering if I Can use oil instead of butter?
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR RECIPES ❤️
Elizabeth Marek says
Sorry, oil is not the same as butter 🙂 you need the solid form of the butter to mix with the dry ingredients