Easy Strawberry Cake

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This strawberry cake recipe is moist with a perfect crumb and tons of fresh strawberry flavor. Made from scratch with real strawberries and simple ingredients, this homemade strawberry cake is topped with a delicious homemade strawberry frosting and is the perfect dessert for birthdays, spring holidays or summer parties!

Prep Time30

Cook Time40

Cooling2

Total Time3 10

Course: cake, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: Servings

Author: Laura

Cost: $10

Equipment

Ingredients

Strawberry Reduction

1 pound strawberries (1 pint, 2 cups)
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

Strawberry Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup salted butter (softened)
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
strawberry reduction (about ⅔ cup)
¼ cup sour cream (room temperature)
¼ cup whole milk (room temperature)
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Strawberry Frosting

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the Strawberry Reduction

Hull the strawberries and cut them in half.
Put the strawberries and 1 Tablespoon sugar in the container of a high-powered blender and blend on high speed until smooth (30-60 seconds).
Transfer the strawberry puree to a small saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, uncovered, for 25-45 minutes, until the strawberry puree has thickened and reduced to be about ⅔ cup, stirring constantly.
Transfer the thickened reduction to a glass jar and store it in the refrigerator until cooled to room temperature. (I suggest making the reduction a day in advance and storing in the refrigerator overnight).

Make the Strawberry Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius).
Line a 9” (23 cm) round cake pan or a 9x9” (23 x 23 cm) square baking pan with parchment paper and lightly grease.
Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt in a medium bowl, then set the dry ingredients aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat the butter and sugar for 1 minute.
Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 1 minute.
Stir in the sour cream, milk and strawberry reduction until the mixture is smooth. If you want a bright pink cake, you can add a couple drops of pink gel food coloring to the batter during this step.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just incorporated and there are no lumps.
Evenly spread the cake batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the top is set and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean or with a few crumbs. (Word of caution: do not disturb the cake until it’s done or it will sink. A good way to check before putting a cake tester in is to jiggle the pan slightly while it’s still in the oven. If it jiggles a lot, it’s not ready. If there’s little to no jiggle you can test it with a cake tester).
Put the cake in the pan on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Then, lift the cakes out of the pan with the parchment paper, transfer to a cake plate.

Make the Strawberry Frosting

Once the cake has cooled, make the strawberry buttercream frosting.

Frost and Serve

Then spread it on top of the cake and let it set at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
Slice and serve the strawberry cake at room temperature or slightly chilled

Video

Notes

Ingredient Substitution Notes

All-purpose flour. cake flour can be used in place of all-purpose flour.
Salted butter. You can use unsalted butter as well, or replace up to half of the butter with canola oil.
Granulated sugar. Use organic cane sugar or regular white sugar.
Sour cream. full-fat Greek yogurt works well in place of sour cream.
Whole milk. Heavy cream or half and half can be used in place of whole milk.
Fresh strawberries. You can use frozen strawberries just be sure to thaw them before blending. They will take longer to reduce since they have a little higher water content.

Store

Store leftover strawberry cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.

Freeze

Or, you can freeze the cake whole or in slices. Either way - flash-freeze the cake (or slices) on a baking pan until hardened. Then, wrap the slices or the whole cake in plastic wrap and put it in an airtight container or plastic bag. Freeze for up to 1 month.

To thaw, remove the plastic wrap while still frozen, then let thaw slowly at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Do not microwave.

Nutrition