Fresh Strawberry Cake l Life, Love and Sugar

I have lots of great strawberry cakes on my site, including my homemade strawberry cake, strawberry shortcake cake and my strawberry crunchy layer cake. But I’m often asked in the comments of my fresh strawberry cupcakes recipe if those cupcakes can be turned into a cake. That recipe is a little different than my others because strawberries aren’t pureed and added to the cake batter, or just layered between cake layers, they are chopped and baked into the cupcakes.

Since I’ve gotten that question quite a bit, and simply increasing that cupcake recipe and baking a cake turns out quite dense, I decided to work on a cake version. It took a little bit of time and I came back to it a few different times, making it better and better each time. So much so that the hubs declared it the best cake I’ve ever made. Quite a thing to say after all these years of making cake!

So, this recipe is derived from the cupcakes, but has been adjusted for the ideal cake texture. It still has fresh berries baked right into it. No need to bother with purees or making a reduction – just pure strawberry flavor with a little less fuss.

That said, I did do the puree and reduction for the buttercream. This is meant to be a FRESH strawberry cake, after all, and that’s how the frosting is for the original cupcakes. But if you really want to avoid that, you can replace the strawberry puree with ground up freeze-dried strawberries. Check out my strawberry frosting recipe to see how to go about that.

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions

Let’s take a look at some key ingredients in this cake and the frosting. The exact measurements for the ingredients can be found in the recipe card below.

• All-purpose flour – I may sound like a broken record repeating this on every cake recipe but it’s very important to properly measure the flour. A food scale is the best option, but the spoon and level technique works too. For tips, see my How To Accurately Measure Flour post.
• Salt – Without it, your cake will be bland. Don’t leave it out!
• Butter – The cupcake version has quite a bit of moisture/fat, which contributes to the dense cake texture when you adjust it. I’ve used less butter in this new cake recipe (it looks the same, but it’s more batter for a cake, so less, if that makes sense).
• Sour cream – Adds moisture to the cake without thinning the batter too much, which helps prevent the strawberries from sinking. If you can’t use sour cream, I’d recommend plain Greek yogurt, not something thinner, like more milk.
• Milk – As mentioned above, I added less liquid/fat overall to this recipe, so there’s less milk too. I used whole milk, but 2% would also work.
• Strawberries – I like to use fresh, ripe strawberries. I’m often asked about frozen strawberries and I typically avoid those for something like chopping them in a cake. I find that thawed strawberries are a bit soft and mushy, which would make them hard to chop. But they’d be fine for the buttercream, where chopping isn’t an issue.
• Powdered sugar – I’m often asked about the amount of powdered sugar. There’s a good bit, because I use a good bit of frosting. That said, you can reduce it, but then I’d reduce all the frosting ingredients by the same ratio and just make less frosting. In order to add plenty of strawberry reduction and flavor, you need a thick enough buttercream to hold it. Powdered sugar is what thickens the buttercream (and adds volume). So adjust everything equally, and you’ll have the consistency you need to be able to add the strawberry reduction without thinning out the frosting too much.

Proper Storage

Once assembled, this fresh strawberry cake should be stored in the fridge. Store in an airtight container, like a cake carrier, or well-covered with plastic wrap. It’s best enjoyed within 3-4 days.

It’s best served at room temperature, so I like to let it sit on the counter for a bit before serving.