This Easy Strawberry Cake is a delightful dessert made with fresh strawberries studded over a soft vanilla cake. Simple yet elegant, it's perfect for celebrations, pot lucks, backyard BBQs or any day you’re craving something sweet. With its bright berry flavor and beautiful presentation, this cake is sure to impress with minimal effort.
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Click HERE to read my policies.
Why We Love This Easy Strawberry Cake
- Easy to Make: Perfect for beginner bakers or anyone short on time who still wants to impress.
- Fresh Strawberry Flavor: Sweet strawberries shine in every bite, giving the cake a bright, summery taste.
- Soft Vanilla Cake: The base pairs perfectly with the fresh fruit.
- Simple Ingredients: No complicated steps or fancy ingredients, just pantry staples and fresh strawberries.
- Beautiful Presentation: With its rustic charm but appealing strawberry top, it looks great on any dessert table.
- Perfect for any Occasion: Whether it’s a weeknight treat, a family celebration, or a holiday centerpiece, it fits the moment.
Easy Strawberry Cake Recipe Ingredients
- Salted Butter
- White Sugar
- Large Eggs
- Pure Vanilla Extract
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Unbleached All Purpose Flour
- Milk
- Fresh Strawberries
Substitution Suggestions
- Salted Butter: Feel free to use unsalted butter, but I suggest adding an additional ¼ teaspoon of salt to the cake batter.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Pure extracts are more flavorful than imitation and they provide a more natural flavor. You could also use vanilla bean paste.
- All Purpose Flour: While white whole wheat flour or whole wheat flour will work in this recipe, I like using all purpose flour best. The wheat flours make the cake a bit too heavy and dense for my liking.
- Milk: Use whatever milk you drink. I use 2% cows milk, but any type of milk will work. Buttermilk is also a great substitute in this cake!
- Strawberries: Fresh strawberries work best for the pretty presentation. If you want to use frozen berries, you will need to thaw them and drain any excess liquid. Then instead of placing them on top of the cake batter I would fold them into the cake. You could also use blueberries, raspberries or blackberries.
How to Make Fresh Strawberry Cake
- First, preheat oven to 350°F and line the bottom of a 10 inch cake pan or springform pan with parchment paper, and lightly grease the sides of the pan.
- Wash the strawberries and pat them dry. Hull them and slice in half. If you have some very large berries you can cut them into thirds or quarters.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with hand mixer, cream together the softened butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. This takes about 2-3 minutes.
- Next add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg and scraping the sides and bottom of bowl as needed.
- Now mix in the vanilla extract.
- Then add the dry ingredients: baking powder, salt and all purpose flour. Mix on low speed just until barely combined.
- Add the milk and mix on low just until smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and spread out into an even layer.
- Place the strawberries in a pretty pattern or scatter them around on top of the batter.
- Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar over top of the strawberries.
- Bake the cake in preheated oven on center rack for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool to just warm or room temperature.
- Run a pairing knife along the edges of the cake to help transfer it easily to a cake stand or platter.
- Serve and enjoy!
Serving Fresh Strawberry Cake
This cake is delicious all on its own but if you want to take it over the top you can serve it with a scoop of ice cream or dollop of whipped cream. You can even add a simple glaze on top if you like. Some macerated strawberries would be delicious too!
Looking for more ways to use your fresh strawberries? Don't miss my recipes for Strawberry Crumble, Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp, Strawberry Cheesecake Brownies, or Strawberry Banana Muffins. For some no bake recipes try this Strawberry Shortcake Ice Box Cake or my Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream. All these recipes us fresh strawberries and are super easy to whip up!
Storing Fresh Strawberry Cake
Storing: This cake can be left at room temperature for a day or two then store it in the fridge for up to 3 days. (I doubt you'll have any leftover to store!)
Freezing: This cake is freezer friendly too! You can store the entire cake wrapped in plastic wrap and foil, label and dated in the freezer for up to 4 months. You can also individually wrap each slice of cake in plastic wrap and place in a zip top freezer bag or container and then freeze.
Thawing: Thaw the cake in the fridge until soft enough to enjoy!
Heather's Favorite Tools for this Recipe
- My KitchenAid Stand Mixer is my favorite kitchen item. It's the best tool ever for making cakes, muffins, cookies and so many other things.
- I love these nestled mixing bowls for prepping ingredients.
- I like the Wilton cake pan or springform pan.
- An offset spatula is my favorite tool to use for evenly spreading the batter into the cake pan.
- Parchment paper is a life saver and helps the cake come out of the pan so much easier.
Tips for Easy Strawberry Cake
- Gather all the ingredients before you start preparing the recipe. It is so much easier to bake when all the ingredients are ready.
- Read the recipe from start to finish before you start. I am speaking from experience.
- Use room temperature ingredients. It helps the batter come together better, and also helps with even baking.
- Always fluff your flour and then spoon and level it to measure. Doing this will prevent too much flour being added and ultimately making the cake too dry. To fluff your flour, just scoop it and dump it a few times and then measure it out, or give it a fluff using a whisk.
- Do NOT over mix the batter, the cake will be tough instead of tender. Mix just until the flour is evenly incorporated.
- If you have very large strawberries, slice them into thirds or quarters.
More Cake Recipes:
- Glazed Lemon Pound Cake
- Easy Carrot Sheet Cake
- German Chocolate Cake
- American Flag Cake
- Chocolate Zucchini Cake
- Almond Cake with Chocolate Frosting
- Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Did you make this recipe? Rate it!
If you enjoyed this recipe give it a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the comments below. It really helps the recipe stand out and I appreciate the feedback to make recipes everyone will enjoy.
Easy Strawberry Cake
Equipment
- 10 inch cake pan or springform pan
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup milk
- 16 ounces strawberries, hulled and halved
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line the bottom of a 10 inch cake pan or springform pan with parchment paper, and lightly grease the sides of the pan.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. This takes about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg and scraping the sides and bottom of bowl as needed.
- Now mix in the vanilla extract.
- Add the baking powder, salt and all purpose flour. Mix on low speed just until barely combined.
- Add the milk and mix on low just until smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and spread out into an even layer.
- Place the strawberries in a pretty pattern or scatter them around on top of the batter.
- Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar over top of the strawberries.
- Bake the cake in preheated oven on center rack for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool to just warm or room temperature.
- Run a pairing knife along the edges of the cake to help remove transfer it easily to a cake stand or platter. Serve and enjoy!
Leave a comment