This easy Strawberry Cake has a soft and moist crumb and is bursting with fresh strawberry flavor. You’ll absolutely love it with the irresistible fresh strawberry sauce drizzled over the top. Watch the video tutorial and see why this is my favorite summer strawberry recipe.
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Helpful Reader Review
“This cake is fabulous. I have made it several times and will be printing it to have in my recipe file. Only the keepers get printed. The texture is wonderful – not too light and crumbly, but not overly dense. The sweetness is just right.” – Jayel ★★★★★
Strawberry Cake Video
Easy Strawberry Cake
This strawberry cake is winning in every way: simple ingredients, easy to make, perfect for entertaining, and completely yummy. Everything about this cake is good. This is a crowd-pleasing dessert, but (so you can’t say I didn’t warn you) it disappears fast!
This recipe is based on our wildly popular Blueberry Cake, which was an instant hit. Part of what makes this such an easy cake is that there’s no frosting or layering required, but the strawberry flavor really pops, especially when you drizzle every slice with the 2-ingredient strawberry sauce.
Ingredients for Strawberry Cake
The ingredients here are pantry staples. This cake is loaded with fresh strawberries inside and out. Between the cake and sauce, you will need almost 2 pounds of strawberries.
- Eggs – at room temperature
- Sugar – you can adjust sugar to taste if you have very sweet or very tart strawberries
- Sour cream – adds flavor and richness to the cake. You can substitute plain whole-milk Greek yogurt.
- Oil – creates a soft and moist crumb. You can use either extra light olive oil or vegetable oil
- All-purpose flour – forms a soft crumb without being too dense or heavy. You can substitute 1:1 gluten-free flour (it was tested with Cup4Cup Multipurpose Flour).
- Baking powder – leavening that gives rise to the cake
- Fresh strawberries – you will need 12 oz for the cake and 16 oz for the strawberry sauce. You can use frozen strawberries for the sauce but fresh strawberries are preferred for the cake. My best tip for buying strawberries is to smell them – they should have a sweet strawberry aroma.
Natasha’s Tip for Rinsing Strawberies
Rinse strawberries under cool running water just before using them, then pat them dry with a clean towel. Do not wash produce with soap, detergent, or commercial produce wash since it can be absorbed by strawberries.
How to Make Strawberry Cake
- Prep – Butter a 9-inch springform pan (a springform helps with easier release for serving) and line the bottom with parchment paper. Dice half of the strawberries and cut the rest in half.
- Mix Wet Ingredients – Beat the eggs and sugar on high speed for 5 minutes, or until the mixture looks thick, pale, and fluffy. Mix in the sour cream, oil, and vanilla.
- Mix Dry Ingredients and Combine– Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, then add them to the batter in three additions, mixing just until combined. Don’t overmix.
- Add batter to the pan – Pour half of the batter into the pan and sprinkle the diced strawberries over the top. Add the remaining batter, then place the strawberry halves over the surface, cut-side down, pressing them in slightly.
- Bake – Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes before removing the ring.
Tips for the Best Strawberry Cake
- To quickly bring eggs to room temperature – place cold eggs into a bowl of warm water (not hot) for 5-7 minutes, then dry them with paper towels and use them in the recipe.
- Do not overmix – Once the flour is incorporated, stop mixing so the cake stays soft and tender.
- Measure flour correctly – Spoon the flour into a dry measuring cup and level the top with a straight edge. Watch my easy video tutorial on how to measure ingredients correctly.
To Serve the Cake
Once the cake has cooled to room temperature, dust the top with powdered sugar and serve individual slices drizzled with the strawberry sauce – it’s so good it will make you want to lick your plate! It’s also really good over Dutch Baby Pancakes, Waffles, Crepes or French Toast.
Can I turn this into a 2-layer cake?
This works best as a single layer because it is a heavier cake. For a layered cake, we recommend our Strawberry Sponge Cake.
If you love strawberries, this strawberry cake is a must-try. I’d pass you a generous slice if I could, covered with plenty of strawberry sauce, of course.
Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
Strawberry Cake Ingredients:
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup extra light olive oil, or vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour , or 1:1 Gluten Free flour*
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 12 oz strawberries, hulled and divided (6 oz diced and 6 oz halved)
- 1 tsp powdered sugar , for dusting, optional
Strawberry Sauce Ingredients:
- 16 oz strawberries, hulled and halved
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar, or to taste
Instructions
Cake Prep:
- Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 375˚F. Prepare the strawberries for the cake: dice 6 oz and cut the remaining 6 oz in half.
How to Make Strawberry Cake:
- Mix Wet Ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer to beat the eggs and sugar on high speed for 5 minutes, until thick and pale. Add the sour cream, oil, and vanilla, then mix on low speed just until combined.
- Mix Dry Ingredients and Combine: In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing just until no dry streaks remain. Do not overmix.
- Add Batter to the Pan: Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the diced strawberries over the batter, then spread the remaining batter on top. Arrange the halved strawberries over the surface, cut-side down, pressing them lightly into the batter.
- Bake at 375°F for 45 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center, avoiding a strawberry, comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Mine was done at 50 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes before removing the ring.
- To Serve: Run a thin spatula around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan, then transfer it to a cake plate. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired, and spoon the strawberry sauce over individual slices.
How to Make Strawberry Sauce:
- While the cake bakes, add the strawberries and sugar to a blender or food processor and purée until smooth. Taste and add more sugar, if needed.
Notes
Oil: Extra-light olive oil or neutral vegetable oil will give the cake the mildest flavor.
Gluten-Free Substitution: You can substitute all-purpose flour with 1:1 gluten-free flour (it was tested with Cup4Cup Multipurpose Flour).
Measuring flour: Spoon flour into the measuring cup and level the top instead of scooping directly from the container.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Try My Best Strawberry Recipes
If you enjoy sweet summer strawberries as much as we do, then you will love these top-rated strawberry recipes:
- Strawberries Romanoff
- Strawberry Sauce
- Chocolate Covered Strawberries
- Strawberry Lemonade
- Panna Cotta
- Strawberry Scones
- Eton Mess
- Strawberry Pretzel Salad
- Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes
Hi Natasha. I’m from Portugal. You inspire me. I love your videos and ideas. Today i made the straeberryes cake 😁😊. We will see…… 😉 congratulation.
Thanks for sharing! I hope it turns out great.
I made this recipe as soon as I saw it today. I just happened to have local strawberries (Florida) and it turned out just as lovely and delicious as yours did. Thanks for the fun videos and recipes
Yum! I bet it is so good with fresh local strawberries. Thank you for sharing that wonderful review.
Excellent recipe. I made mine egg-free due to my allergy. It came out so good! It is not too sweet and has a very delicate flavor. The smell is amazing. It is moist inside with a slightly firm crust that you can easily cut through. Thank you for sharing this recipe with the rest of us.
So great to hear that it worked. Thanks for sharing and the tip too!
Did you add any replacement For the eggs?
I would love to make this cake but in my cocottes so that each guest can get their own. Any idea how I should update the cooking time?
Hi Rachelle! That sounds like a wonderful idea. I have not tested this in cocottes myself to advise on time. It would depend on the size of each. I do recommend doing a test run with one to see how much time you need or watch it closely.
Love this cake, Videos and recipes thanks so much
I’m glad you loved this recipe, Lee. Thanks for your comments!
Hi! This looks amazing!!! My 3 year old is strawberry mad and I would like to make this as part of a layer cake for her birthday. So I would need 2 x 9 inch layers. Would I need to scale this up? If so, can you suggest how?
Hi Karen, I haven’t tested it that way so I can’t say for sure how it would affect baking time (if you divide it up, it would take less time to bake). If you want a taller cake, I would probably do 1 1/2 times the recipe.
Thank you for the incredibly simple yet gorgeous looking cake ! Used thick curd instead of sour cream coz it’s just not easily available here. Came out perfect. Can’t wait to try it with mangoes in summer!
That sounds delicious! Thank you so much for sharing that with us Natasha.
where can i get the dispenser you have for the strawberry glaze? also can’t find linked items you use in your videos..? where do i find them please
Hi Alex, have you checked out our shop?
How to replace eggs in the recipe Natasha
I haven’t really tried substituting the eggs but others use unsweetened apple sauce but I haven’t personally tried this so I can’t give more feedback. Let me know how it goes if you experiment.
Hello Natasha! I’ve made this cake many times it’s amazing. I’m wondering if it’s possible to make it with fresh cranberries in lieu of strawberries for Thanksgiving? Your thoughts are much appreciated.
Hi Katrina, I haven’t tried that but I think it could work well to use cranberries, but I would probably make a simple cranberry sauce out of them first or they would be quite tart.
Hi Natasha…can you make this cake using a regular cake pan instead of a springform?
Hi, I recommend a springform because it’s a little taller than most regular cake pans and it’s fairly heavy so it’s a little tougher to remove from a regular pan.
I loved it but added strawberry compote instead of sauce and poured it over the cake .
Amman – Jordan
That sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing that with us, Rima!
I made this cake for my family, and we all LOVED it!! It is so good, and the strawberry sauce makes it so much better! Don’t think that I’ve tried a better strawberry cake than this one!! This recipe is definitely a keeper, and will definitely make it again!! Thank you so much!
By the way, I definitely give this recipe a 5/5!!!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that, thank you for the great review!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for that great feedback.
This cake is PHENOMENAL!! So delicious and amazing! I used 16 oz of strawberries in the cake instead of 12 and it came out great. The strawberry syrup is not too sweet either. This is my fav cake that I’ve made.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
I just love this recipe! Thank you so much! I’ve made it for at least 10 times now, and every time it’s a hit anywhere I take it. I often mix different berries, or use fruits like appricots and jam. Works well with anything.
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe for us,.I tried some of your recipe and its so deliciously yummy.
Hi Glenda, Thank you for sharing your wonderful feedback with me! I’m so happy you’re enjoying our recipes.
I made your cake the other night for a family gathering. They loved it! And they said to me…This one I have to make again.
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Hi Natasha, I do not have a springform pan, can I use a 9 x 9 brownie pan? Would the baking time differ?
Thank you
Hi Fazia, if you have a 9″ cake pan with tall walls, that should work. I’ve also had readers report good results using a bundt pan or even a loaf pan. I find it is easiest to remove it from the springform pan. You may need to alter bake times for different sized baking pans.
Would the bake time be the same if using a bundt pan? Thank you
Hi Cindy, I haven’t tried it in a bundt pan, but readers reported great results in a bundt, recommending baking 45-47 minutes.
Wonderful cake and loved the sauce!! I substituted the sugar with monk sugar and Greek yougurt instead of sour cream and it was absolutely wonderful. I’ll have to try with almond flour next time. My family loved this version. Delicious.
That’s so great!
I’ve just eaten a wonderful slice of this after searching for strawberry recipes upon finding a bumper pack of reduced strawberries. It’s turned out perfectly. Lovely light texture and the strawberry flavour infused through the cake. Had it with cream and the sauce.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review, Bridget!
Can you make a larger cake by doubling the recipe? Like a 9×13? I need to make for 16 large fire fighters that I know would love this.
Hi Sandra, I haven’t tried doubling it that way but I think it would work fine. Without testing it though, I wouldn’t be able to give you exact bake times. It would require a longer bake time though.
Hello Natasha, I have quick question for you. I am a vegetarian so what can I substitute for 3 eggs?
Hi Jayshree, I honestly haven’t tested this with anything else to make it an egg free cake so I can’t make any suggestions without trying it first.
If anyone else has tried to make this egg-free, please share your results and thanks in advance!