This is the best fresh strawberry cake made with real strawberries (no Jell-O, no boxed mix, no fake flavors). The secret is a slow-simmered strawberry reduction that goes into both the cake batter and the buttercream frosting, giving you intense fresh strawberry flavor in every bite. It takes a little extra time to make the reduction first, but I promise the result is worth it.
Quick Glance: Strawberry Cake Recipe
- Recipe Name: Strawberry Cake Recipe
- Why You'll Love It: Real strawberry flavor, beautiful pink color, moist, tender crumb. No artificial flavors or Jell-O needed.
- Time and Difficulty: 20 minutes prep + 50 minutes total (reduction adds 40 to 60 minutes the day before). Intermediate.
- Main Ingredients: Fresh or frozen strawberries, all-purpose flour, butter, egg whites, milk, strawberry emulsion, lemon, and pink food coloring.
- Method: Make a strawberry reduction by simmering pureed strawberries with sugar and lemon until thick. Use part of the reduction in the cake batter and part in the buttercream. Bake, cool, fill, and frost.
- Texture and Flavor: Moist, tender, soft pink crumb with bright, real-strawberry flavor and a creamy strawberry buttercream.
- Quick Tip: Add a drop of pink food coloring to keep the strawberry pink color from baking out into a muted gray.
Jump to:
- Quick Glance: Strawberry Cake Recipe
- Why This Is The BEST Strawberry Cake Recipe
- Strawberry Cake Ingredients
- Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
- Cups of Batter Needed
- Cups of Frosting Needed
- Common Strawberry Cake Problems To Avoid
- Final Thoughts
- More Strawberry Recipes To Try
- Strawberry Cake FAQs
- Watch: How To Decorate A Cake Step-by-Step
- Recipe
Why This Is The BEST Strawberry Cake Recipe
This is one of my all-time favorite cake recipes, and also one of the hardest I've ever developed. So many failed attempts before I landed on this version. I tried adding chopped fresh strawberries to my vanilla cake recipe, and the cake turned out wet, dense, and brown, and most of the strawberry flavor was gone.
Next, I tried the recipe everyone says works, the one with strawberry Jell-O. Let me tell you, that was the weirdest-tasting cake I've ever made. I don't know how anyone can call that flavor strawberry. If you like it, more power to you, but it wasn't what I was after.
I also tried grinding up freeze-dried strawberries and adding them to the dry ingredients. That cake turned out a little better, but I still wanted a way to use real, fresh strawberries. After dozens of test bakes, I finally nailed it using two things: a slow-simmered strawberry reduction and a high-quality strawberry emulsion.
Strawberry Cake Ingredients
This is the BEST strawberry cake recipe you'll ever make, and it may seem intimidating, but I promise it's worth it. There are three components: the strawberry reduction (made first, ideally the day before), the strawberry cake layers, and the strawberry buttercream. Here's why each ingredient matters.
- Fresh or frozen strawberries. The base of the strawberry reduction. Frozen are often better because they're picked at peak ripeness. Thaw them before blending.
- Granulated sugar. Used in the reduction and the cake. In the reduction, a small amount intensifies strawberry flavor and helps thicken. In the cake, it's the main sweetener and creates structure when creamed with butter.
- Lemon juice and zest. Used in the reduction and the cake. The acid keeps the pH low so strawberries hold their bright red color instead of turning gray-purple (anthocyanin pigment is unstable at neutral or alkaline pH). Zest adds aromatic brightness.
- Salt. Used in the reduction, cake, and buttercream. Balances sweetness and intensifies the other flavors.
- Unsalted butter. Used in the cake (8 oz) and the buttercream (16 oz). Use good-quality butter like Kerrygold (or make your own). Cheaper butter has more water and can affect how the cake bakes and how the buttercream sets.
- Egg whites. Used in the cake and the buttercream. Important: the buttercream MUST use pasteurized egg whites (boxed cartons from the dairy aisle) because they aren't cooked in the recipe. The cake can use either separated fresh egg whites or boxed whites. Don't use whole eggs; the yolks tint the cake peach-orange instead of pink.
- Whole milk. Used in the cake only. Lower-fat milk works but the cake won't be as rich.
- Vegetable or canola oil. Used in the cake only. Keeps the cake moist for days. Any neutral oil works (grapeseed, sunflower). Avoid olive oil because the flavor comes through.
- LorAnn Strawberry Emulsion (or strawberry extract). Used in the cake only. The emulsion is much more concentrated than regular extract and adds real strawberry depth without artificial sweetness. I get mine from Michaels in the cake decorating aisle. Regular extract works in a pinch.
- Vanilla extract. Used in the cake and the buttercream. Rounds out the flavor and balances the strawberry.
- Americolor electric pink food coloring. Used in the cake only. Even with lemon juice protecting the natural color, strawberry pink dulls during baking. A few drops keeps it vivid. This isn't optional if you want a vibrant pink cake.
- All-purpose flour. Used in the cake only. Cake flour is too tender to hold up to all the moisture from the reduction.
- Baking powder and baking soda. Used in the cake only. Standard leavening combo for this recipe.
- Powdered sugar. Used in the buttercream only. Sweetens and gives body.
- Strawberry reduction. Made in step 1 of the recipe (using the strawberries, sugar, lemon, and salt above). Used in the cake batter, the buttercream, and as a thin filling between cake layers for extra flavor.
Strawberry Cake Step-By-Step
Use a kitchen scale for the rest of the recipe; converting to cups is the most common reason this cake fails.
- Make the strawberry reduction (one day ahead). Blend thawed strawberries until smooth, then simmer with sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a saucepan over medium-low heat for 40 to 60 minutes until thick like tomato sauce. Cool completely. This is the secret to real strawberry flavor in both the cake and the buttercream, and doing it the day before saves time on bake day.
- Butter, egg whites, milk, and the strawberry reduction all need to be at room temperature before you start mixing. Cold ingredients are the number one cause of curdled batter. While the ingredients warm up, grease two 8-inch cake pans with cake goop and preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Whisk the milk, oil, strawberry reduction, strawberry emulsion, vanilla extract, lemon juice, lemon zest, and pink food coloring together in one bowl.
- In a second bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Setting these up separately keeps the batter from getting overworked later.
- Beat the butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until smooth and shiny, then add the sugar gradually and beat until the mixture is fluffy and almost white.
- Add the egg whites one at a time, beating briefly between each. The mixture should look cohesive; if it looks curdled, your ingredients were too cold.
- On low speed, add about a third of the dry, then about a third of the wet, mixing just until almost combined. Repeat twice more. Stop, scrape the bowl thoroughly, and mix briefly to combine. The finished batter should look like ice cream.
- Split evenly between the prepared pans, then bake until the centers feel firm and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cake in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto the rack to cool completely. I put mine in the freezer for about an hour to firm up before stacking and frosting.
- Make the strawberry buttercream. Whip the pasteurized egg whites and powdered sugar in a stand mixer until fluffy, then add softened butter in chunks and whip until light and white. Add the leftover strawberry reduction along with vanilla and salt, and continue whipping until smooth and silky. The reduction is what gives this buttercream its real strawberry flavor (no extract needed).
- Assemble and decorate. Layer the chilled cakes with strawberry buttercream and a thin spread of extra strawberry reduction between each layer for maximum flavor. Crumb coat, chill, then frost the outside. If you're new to layer cakes, my cake decorating tutorial for beginners walks through every step from leveling layers to a clean buttercream finish.
PRO TIP: Refer to the recipe card below for a complete ingredients list of all the strawberry components and watch the video for more information on assembling the cake.
Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
Select an option below to calculate how much batter or frosting you need. Adjust the servings slider on the recipe card to change the amounts the recipe makes.
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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.
Common Strawberry Cake Problems To Avoid
- Skipping the room temperature step. Cold butter, egg whites, milk, or strawberry reduction will cause your batter to curdle and break. Set everything out at least an hour before mixing, or microwave the milk for 20 seconds and the reduction for about a minute to speed it up.
- Using poor quality strawberries. Out-of-season fresh strawberries often have very little flavor, and a flavorless reduction can't be fixed downstream. Frozen strawberries from a quality brand are usually picked at peak ripeness and taste better than mediocre fresh ones.
- Under-reducing the strawberries. Strawberries are 90% water, and the reduction needs to simmer slowly until it's thick like tomato sauce (40 to 60 minutes). If you stop early, too much water will go into the batter and the cake will be dense and wet.
- Substituting jam, Jell-O, or extract for the reduction. Jam has pectin and too much sugar, Jell-O is artificial flavor, and extract alone isn't concentrated enough. Real strawberry reduction is what makes this cake taste like strawberries.
- Using whole eggs. The yolks tint the cake peach-orange and fight against the strawberry pink. Use only egg whites, either separated yourself or from a pasteurized boxed carton.
- Using cake flour instead of all-purpose. This cake is too moist for cake flour to support, so it will sink in the middle. Stick with AP flour even if your other cake recipes use cake flour.
- Skipping the pink food coloring. Strawberries' natural color (anthocyanin) softens during baking, even with the lemon juice protecting it. A few drops of Americolor electric pink keeps the cake vivid instead of muted gray.
- Measuring by cups instead of weight. A cup of flour can vary by up to 50% depending on how you scoop, which is enough to ruin the recipe. Use a kitchen scale for this and every other recipe on the site.
Final Thoughts
I worked harder on this recipe than almost anything else on Sugar Geek Show, and the failures along the way were genuinely demoralizing. Watching cake after cake come out gray, dense, weirdly artificial, or bland nearly made me give up. The breakthrough was understanding that strawberries had to be concentrated before they went into the cake, not added fresh, and that the color needed protection (the lemon and pink food coloring) to survive the oven.
Once it clicked, this became one of the most-requested cakes I bake. The flavor is what fresh strawberry cake is supposed to taste like, and the color makes it feel like a celebration on the plate. It's perfect for Mother's Day, birthdays, baby showers, gender reveals, or just any time strawberries are in season and you want to do them justice.
If it's your first time, give yourself two days. Make the reduction the day before. The whole thing comes together more easily when nothing is rushed.
More Strawberry Recipes To Try
Strawberry Cake FAQs
I use LorAnn's strawberry bakery emulsion. It's much more concentrated than regular strawberry extract and doesn't have an alcohol burn. You can find it at Michaels in the cake decorating aisle, online at LorAnn directly, or on Amazon. If you can't find emulsion, regular strawberry extract works in a pinch but use a little more.
Yes, with one note. The buttercream is on the soft side, so chill the assembled cake well before applying fondant so the fondant doesn't slip. The cake itself holds up beautifully under fondant.
Yes, and frozen is often better. Frozen strawberries are usually picked at peak ripeness, so the flavor is more concentrated. Just thaw them before blending.
Yes. Divide the batter into a lined cupcake pan and bake at 350°F for 18 to 20 minutes. The recipe yields about 24 cupcakes.
Both. The strawberry reduction keeps in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for 6 months. The baked, cooled cake layers can be wrapped tightly in plastic and frozen for up to a week before assembly. Bring the cake layers to fridge-cold (not frozen solid) before stacking and frosting.
Watch: How To Decorate A Cake Step-by-Step
Before you start decorating, watch the video below where I show you every step of decorating a cake from start to finish. Seeing the process in action makes it much easier to follow along
- Liz Marek.
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
- All ingredients (egg whites, milk, butter, reduction) should be at room temperature, not cold or hot.
- Use a kitchen scale for accurate weight measurements. Converting this recipe to cups can lead to failure.
- Americolor electric pink is what keeps the cake from turning gray during baking. It looks like cheating but it isn't optional if you want a vivid pink color.
- Use only egg whites. Whole eggs tint the cake peach.
- LorAnn's strawberry bakery emulsion is more concentrated than regular extract. If you can plan ahead and order it, you'll get better strawberry flavor. Regular extract works in a pinch.
- Goal: get as much liquid out as possible without burning the strawberries. The mixture should look like thick tomato sauce and have reduced by about half.
- Use some for the cake batter, some for the frosting, and the rest between the cake layers for extra flavor.
- Leftover reduction stores in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for 6 months.
- Whip the buttercream until light and very white before adding the reduction. If it still tastes like butter, keep whipping until it tastes like sweet ice cream.
- If the buttercream looks curdled after adding the reduction, it's too cold. Microwave ½ cup of buttercream for 10 to 15 seconds until just barely melted, then pour it back into the mixer while it's running. It will come together creamy.
- Two 8-inch cake pans is the recommended size.
- Two 9-inch pans work but you'll have leftover batter; bake the extra as cupcakes.
- Three 8-inch pans for a taller cake; reduce baking time to 25 to 28 minutes per pan.
- Cupcakes: line a cupcake pan, fill liners ⅔ full, bake at 350°F for 18 to 20 minutes. Yields about 24.
- Strawberry reduction: fridge up to a week, freezer up to 6 months.
- Baked cake layers: wrap tightly in plastic, refrigerate up to 5 days or freeze up to a week before assembling.
- Frosted, assembled cake: refrigerate covered up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
- Don't substitute cake flour for all-purpose. The cake will be too soft and may sink.
- Don't use whole eggs. The yolks tint the cake peach instead of pink.
- Don't skip the pink food coloring. The cake will bake out gray.
- Don't substitute jam, preserves, or strawberry Jell-O for the reduction.
- Don't add fresh chopped strawberries to the batter. The water content ruins the cake's structure.
- Don't use cold ingredients. Everything must be room temperature.
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