This is the easiest Strawberry Cake with a soft and moist crumb, bursting with fresh strawberry flavor and you will love the strawberry sauce. Watch the video tutorial and see why this is one of our all-time favorite strawberry recipes.
Fresh strawberries add incredible flavor to desserts like our popular No-Bake Cheesecake, Strawberry Pretzel Salad, or Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes. I hope this Easy Strawberry Cake becomes a new favorite for you.
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Strawberry Cake Recipe
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 and continues to be one of the top cakes on our site. Just like with blueberries, fresh strawberries are wonderful on their own but when you bake them into a cake, their flavor is amplified and every bite is loaded with satisfying strawberry flavor.
Fresh Strawberry Cake Video
Part of what makes this such an easy cake is that there’s no frosting or layering required, but the flavor is definitely there, especially when you drizzle every slice with the super simple 2-ingredient strawberry sauce. It will make you want to lick your plate – it’s just THAT good and super versatile. Try it over Dutch Baby Pancakes, Waffles, and Crepes. It’s also delicious over French Toast.
Ingredients
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.
The easy strawberry sauce has only 2 ingredients (strawberries and sugar) and comes together quickly in a food processor or blender. Here’s what you will need to make this simple strawberry cake:
- Eggs – make sure they are at room temperature
- Granulated sugar – sugar is used for both the cake and the strawberry sauce and you can add sugar to taste if you have very sweet or very tart strawberries
- Sour cream – adds flavor and richness to the cake
- Oil – creates a soft and moist crumb. You can use either extra light olive oil or vegetable oil
- Vanilla extract – we love using Homemade Vanilla Extract for the best quality and flavor
- All-purpose flour – forms a soft crumb without being too dense or heavy
- Baking powder – leavening that gives rise to the cake
- Salt – balances the flavor. We almost always use fine sea salt in our cooking
- 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.
How to Buy Strawberries
Here are some tips when shopping for strawberries. The last one is my favorite. I always smell the strawberries!
- Color – look for strawberries that are a bright and vibrant red. If they are dull or have a lot of white or green patches, they are either underripe or no longer fresh.
- Stems – check the stems which should look fresh and green (not brown or dry)
- Firmness – fresh strawberries should be firm to the touch. If the package is clear, inspect the bottom of the container. Strawberries should not look soft, mushy, or squished/ leaking.
- Aroma – I always sniff the package of strawberries – it’s the best way to tell if the strawberries will actually be tasty. Good strawberries will smell sweet and fragrant.
Tools for Baking
This recipe comes together fast with simple ingredients and basic cooking tools. For best results, be sure to use an electric mixer to whip the eggs and sugar.
Pro Tip: Rinse your strawberries just before using them. Wash under running water and avoid soap or commercial produce wash (these can be absorbed by strawberries and are not recommended according to the FDA). Once rinsed, set on cloth or paper towels and pat dry.
Tips for the Best Strawberry Cake
- To 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 over-mix – This is KEY! Once the flour is incorporated, stop mixing or the cake can become dense.
- Measure flour correctly – spoon flour into a dry ingredient measuring cup and scrape off the top with a straight edge. Why? Pushing your measuring cup into the flour bin can result in up to 25% more compacted flour. Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure ingredients correctly.
Common Questions
Yes! You can substitute sour cream with plain Greek yogurt. Whole milk Greek yogurt will yield the best results.
This works best as a single layer because it is a heavier cake. For a layered cake, we recommend our Strawberry Sponge Cake.
A reader shared this: “I used Cup4Cup Gluten-Free Multipurpose Flour. It is expensive but the best I’ve tried so far. Anyway, the cake came out great. We loved it and I’m planning to make it again for Easter. Just wanted to let any possible gluten-intolerant folks know.”
A reader shared the following: “I completely replaced the sour cream, with whole-fat coconut milk from a can. I mixed it completely before measuring, and to compensate for the added wetness I reduced the oil to about 1/3 cup. It was still a little runny, but the bake was perfect.”
We have only tested this in a 9″ springform pan. If baking in a smaller pan, bake a little longer or until a toothpick comes out clean. If you experiment with various sizes, please let me know in the comments.
Love Strawberry Recipes?
Strawberries always taste best in summer when they are in season so we like to take full advantage of their flavor and abundance. I also love that they go on sale often in the summer so we can use them for everything from Strawberry Lemonade to Chocolate Covered Strawberries. If you enjoy sweet fresh strawberries as much as we do then you will love these top-rated strawberry recipes:
- Strawberries Romanoff
- Strawberry Sauce
- Panna Cotta
- Strawberry Shortcake
- Strawberry Scones
- Eaton Mess
If you love strawberries, this strawberry cake is a must-try. I’d pass you a generous slice if I could, pummeled with the strawberry sauce of course.
More Easy Cake Recipes
If you love easy cakes like this strawberry cake don’t miss these easy, one-pan cakes that are always crowd-pleasers:
Easy Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Sauce
Ingredients
Strawberry Cake Ingredients:
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup light olive oil, or vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour , (*measured correctly)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 12 oz strawberries, hulled
- 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" springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 375˚F. Prepare 12 oz of strawberries for the cake: dice 6 oz of strawberries and slice the second 6 oz into halves.
How to Make Strawberry Cake:
- In a large mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer (or stand mixer), beat together 2 eggs with 1 cup sugar on high speed for 5 minutes or until light in color and thick.
- Add 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup oil, 1 tsp vanilla and beat on low speed until well combined.
- In a small bowl, whisk together: 2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt until well incorporated. With the mixer on med/low speed, add flour mixture to the batter 1/3 at a time, letting the flour incorporate with each addition and continue mixing just until well combined. Do not over-mix.
- Pour half of the batter into prepared pan. Top with 6 oz of diced strawberries then spread remaining batter over the top. Cover the surface with 6 oz of halved strawberries (cut-side-down), pressing them down just slightly into the batter. Bake at 375˚F for 45-55 minutes (mine was perfect at 50 min), or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cake rest in pan 15-20 min before removing the ring.
- Run a thin spatula around cake edges to loosen from pan. then transfer to a cake platter. Cool until just warm or at room temperature. To serve, dust with powdered sugar if desired. Drizzle individual slices generously with strawberry syrup.
How to Make Strawberry Sauce:
- While the cake is baking, make the strawberry sauce: In a blender or food processor, combine 16 oz strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar (or add sugar to taste) and blend until pureed.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
I made this for the first time and I nailed it. My family loved the strawberry cake and 1 member don’t really like strawberries. Thank you so much. I love your videos. They help a lot.
I’m so glad they loved it!
Hey again! Thx for sharing this amazing recipe. Although I do have doubt tho. Can we use
Strawberry jam for the cake instead of fresh strawberries? Would be great if you cleared this doubt. Thx
I haven’t tried using jam in this recipe to advise.
Hi Natasha, thank you for this amazing recipe. Everyone loves this… I have made this so many times.
Do you think I can bake this recipe by replacing the strawberries with small seedless grapes?
Thank you!
Hi Brenda! I haven’t tested that so advise but some of my readers have reported using other fruits in this so I assume it would work. Let us know how it turns out if you experiment with it.
So excited to make this! I’m making it ahead for mother’s day, does it need to be refrigerated?
Thanks Natasha! You make delicious recipes, funny videos, and give great ideas!
Hi Marlee! It is best on day one and should be refrigerated if not eaten on the same day. I have enjoyed this for up to 3 days in the fridge. I would keep it in an air-tight container.
I’ve made this many times, it tastes great and it’s always a hit. I have also made the lemon blueberry cake and it’s amazing too. I was wondering-can this be made with strawberries and blueberries?
Hi Anna! That should be fine. Many of my readers have made this with other fruit.
Hey again. I have a doubt. Instead of granulated sugar, can we use caster sugar???
I haven’t tried that yet to advise. If you do an experiment, we’d love to know how it goes.
Hey again. Instead of fresh strawberries, I used strawberry jam. Also, I have a doubt. Instead of granulated sugar, can we use caster sugar???
I haven’t tried those substitutions to advise.
Wow! This cake is the best! I couldn’t get enough of it — especially the sauce, thanks for the recipe.
Glad to hear that you enjoyed our recipe!
What a beautiful cake!! And, of course, it tastes amazing!! Love the chunks of strawberries!!
So glad you love it! Thank you.
I love the fresh strawberries paired with this cake! The strawberry sauce really makes it.
So glad you love this recipe, Katie!
Just planted my strawberry plants. Will make this for sure looks wonderful.
Hi Miriam! They will be perfect for this recipe. I hope you love it.
This cake looks awesomely delicious!! Nice& moist! I shall make it next wknd for our company at the cottage! I’m sure it’ll be a hit!
My mouth is watering!
I hope you love the recipe!
Can the flour in this recipe be changed with almond flour or will it change the consistency of the cake batter
Hi Malissa, I haven’t tested that substitution to know if it would work well. If you do an experiment, please share with us how it goes.
Dear Natasha, first of all – THANK YOU, the cake tastes amazing! I followed the recipe to the letter, but there was a small hiccup – some strawberry juice ran out of the cake and got burnt where it leaked. The strawberries were not overly ripe, and I dried them a paper towel after washing. I cut the cake sides off and it’s still delicious – just not as pretty as yours. I’m wondering what I could do differently next time. Sprinkle some starch on the strawberries? Any other ideas? Many thanks!
Hi Elena, I haven’t had that happen, but I’m so glad the cake still tasted amazing! I wonder if some of the berries were just too close to the edges.
Hi Natasha,
My batter was runny and the strawberries on top of the cake sunk into the cake. Any idea why this happened?
Love your recipes
Valerie
Hi Valerie, the batter should be somewhat thick, I hope the video can help visually see the consistency. Was anything possibly substituting, causing it to be more runny? I wish I could be more helpful, without being there it tough to say what went wrong.
Hi can I use frozen strawberries instead and if so how would I substitute… thank you so much 🙂
Hi Isabelle, I haven’t tested the cake with frozen strawberries, so I’m not sure how it would bake up, but it would be easy to substitute them in the strawberry sauce topping.
Natasha many thanks and I waited to get some fresh strawberries …used frozen for sauce, yummy
You’re welcome, Isabelle!
My batter was a bit too thick for some reason…. I used a scale for the flour so that shouldn’t be the issue. I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, maybe I needed to add more? Also used a 8″ cake pan and it took 10-15 min longer to bake. Cake turned out a bit gummy but still pretty good. I find that if I mix in the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time I always end up over mixing…..So I prefer to just dump it all in. The sauce is amazing, definitely elevated the cake. Thanks for this recipe Natasha!
Hi Elaine! I baked this in a 9″ springform pan. If you are baking in a smaller pan, you will need to bake a little longer or until a toothpick comes out clean. Did you use 250g of flour? That would be the measurement. Using too much flour could cause the batter to be too thick however, you’ll see from my video that the batter has a thicker consistency, it’s not thin. Over-mixing the batter will cause the cake to be gummy but adding the flour in 3 steps helps to not overwhelm the batter and also helps the flour incorporate well. Something that could help with this- after each addition of the flour, mix only until most of it is incorporated. Some streaks of dry are fine until the last part of the flour is added. If you mix too much you’ll begin activation of the gluten in the flour and it will cause your cake to be tough/gummy, and not light. I think that substituting sour cream with greek yogurt is fine as long as you use the same measurements. You may also want to use full-fat greek yogurt for extra moisture. I hope that helps.
Thank you for taking the time to troubleshoot for everyone Natasha, it’s a huge commitment! I’m having so much fun trying out your different recipes, thanks for sharing them with the world ❤️
I was wondering if you could include storage info for your recipes, I’ve noticed several people asking. Meal prep is a necessity for families with kids so it’d be helpful to know!
I’m so glad it’s been helpful, Eline! Thank you for that suggestion! We try to include a make-ahead section in most of our recipes on the recipe post.
I made this cake today and it was delicious! But I do have a question: how do you store the cake?
Hi Jazmen! It is best on day one and should be refrigerated if not eaten on the same day. I have enjoyed this for up to 3 days in the fridge. I would keep it in an air tight container
Your recipes are fantastic. Your husband is a very good photographer/videographer and makes everything look so good. Glad I found you on YouTube
Ah, thank you, William. That is very kind. We really do put a lot of effort into our work so I appreciate the feedback.
Hi Natasha!! I’ve made this recipe before (and it’s delicious 😋,) I was wondering if I were to make the batter but just put them in cupcake liners would it work as cupcakes? (Im guessing they would but I was just wondering)
Hi Bernice! I’m glad you love it! I haven’t tested this recipe in cupcake size but you can experiment with it. You may try looking for parchment cupcake liners so they don’t stick. They will also bake faster so you’ll have to keep an eye on them in the oven.