Fresh Strawberry Cake

Published November 24, 2018. Updated March 6, 2019

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The only Strawberry Cake recipe you’ll ever need! A fluffy vanilla cake is loaded with fresh sweet strawberries and a rich cream cheese whipped cream. The perfect summer recipe for any celebration or get together.

Slice of strawberry cake on a plate

Homemade Strawberry Cake

This was the cake I wanted for Mother’s Day…so I made it for myself 5 days early. I’m always looking for a reason to make cake, can you tell? This fresh strawberry cake is perfect for any holiday, but it’s also perfect just to celebrate any summer day.

Do you know anyone who doesn’t love the fresh strawberries and cream combination? So when you combine them together along with some tangy cream cheese and add it to the top of a sweet vanilla cake, you know it’s got to be good, and oh how it is!

I had to hurry and take giant slices to my neighbors or I would have just dove into the whole cake and never known when to stop. It is creamy, dreamy, fluffy heavenly cake and I most definitely loved it! Happy Mothers day to me!

But really, Happy Mothers Day to all you Moms out there!

Fresh Strawberry Cake slice on a plate with cut up strawberries

Fresh Strawberry Cake Ingredients

  • Cake flour
  • Baking powder
  • Salt
  • Unsalted butter
  • Granulated sugar
  • Whole eggs and egg yolks
  • Milk
  • Vanilla

Whipped Strawberry Frosting Ingredients

  • Heavy cream
  • Powdered sugar
  • Cream cheese
  • Vanilla
  • Fresh strawberries

slice of Fresh Strawberry Cake on a plate with a fork and glass

How to Make Strawberry Cake

  • Preheat oven and prepare cake pans.
  • Sift cake flour and whisk dry ingredients.
  • In an electric mixer cream butter and sugar
  • Mix in eggs and yolks separately then blend in vanilla.
  • Blend in flour mixture alternating with additions of milk.
  • Divide among cake pans and bake until set.
  • Let cool then fresh with strawberry cream cheese whipped cream.

Image of a whole strawberry cake.

Can I Use All-Purpose Flour Instead of Cake Flour?

Cake flour really is best for this strawberry cake recipe with fresh strawberries. It makes the vanilla cake lighter and creates the best texture.

Can I Use Frozen Strawberries Instead of Fresh?

For the best flavor, fresh strawberries are best. I don’t think defrosted frozen strawberries would work here.

Tips for the Best Strawberry Cake

  • Wait until the vanilla cake layers have cooled completely before adding the frosting.
  • Feel free to add a few drops of red food coloring to the frosting to make it a lovely pink color.
  • If you only have salted butter on hand, scale back on the amount of salt you add into the cake batter.

Fresh Strawberry Cake on a white plate

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4.81 from 68 votes

Fresh Strawberry Cake

The only Fresh Strawberry Cake recipe you'll ever need! A fluffy vanilla cake is loaded with fresh sweet strawberries and a rich cream cheese whipped cream.
Servings: 12 Servings
Prep45 minutes
Cook25 minutes
Cooling3 hours
Ready in: 4 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients

Cake

Strawberry Cream Cheese Whipped Cream

  • 3 cups heavy cream
  • 1 cup (125g) powdered sugar, divided
  • 8 oz cream cheese , left at room temperature until partially softened (about 20 - 30 minutes)
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 lbs strawberries , hulled and sliced into pieces slightly under 1/2-inch
  • Sliced strawberries for decorating (optional)

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 3 9-inch round cake pans then line bottom with a round of parchment, butter parchment and lightly dust pan with flour, shake out excess. Set pans aside.
  • Make the cake: Sift cake flour into a medium mixing bowl. Add baking powder and salt and whisk 20 seconds, set aside.
  • In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (if you don't have a paddle that constantly scrapes bowl while mixing then stop mixer occasionally throughout entire mixing process and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl to ensure even mixing), whip together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
  • Mix in eggs and egg yolks one a time adding in vanilla with last egg yolk. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture at a time (to the butter/egg mixture) alternating with 1/2 of the milk and mixing on low speed just until combined after each addition. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl and gently fold batter several times.
  • Divide batter among prepared baking pans. Bake in preheated oven 25 - 30 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
  • Cool in pan about 5 minutes, run knife around edges of cake to ensure they are loosened then invert onto wire racks to cool completely (I recommend transferring them to gallon size resealable bags after about 25 minutes of cooling so they don't dry and let them finish cooling in the bag).
  • Once cool frost with Strawberry Cream Cheese Whipped Cream. Store cake in an airtight container in refrigerator.
  • For the topping: In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip heavy cream until soft peaks form (occasionally scrape down sides and bottom of bowl to ensure even mixing).
  • Add 1/3 cup powdered sugar and whip until stiff peaks form (make sure they are stiff or your topping will be runny, it should get to the point where it doesn't have a wet sheen). Scrape cream out into a separate bowl.
  • Add cream cheese to bowl of stand mixer, fit with paddle attachment and whip cream cheese until smooth and fluffy.
  • Mix in remaining 2/3 cup powdered sugar and vanilla (I've made this cake twice and the second time I added a few drops of liquid red food coloring at this point for a better pink, that pictured was without).
  • Add strawberries and mix until uniform in color. Remove bowl from stand mixer, add whipped cream and fold into mixture. Frost over cooled cake.

Notes

Recipe source: inspired by Spiced Blog
  • Feel free to add a few drops of red food coloring to the frosting to make it a lovely pink color. 
  • If you only have salted butter on hand, scale back on the amount of salt you add into the cake batter.
Nutrition Facts
Fresh Strawberry Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 729 Calories from Fat 414
% Daily Value*
Fat 46g71%
Saturated Fat 28g175%
Cholesterol 218mg73%
Sodium 213mg9%
Potassium 347mg10%
Carbohydrates 70g23%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 43g48%
Protein 9g18%
Vitamin A 1735IU35%
Vitamin C 33.7mg41%
Calcium 158mg16%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition values are estimates only. See full disclaimer here.

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437 Comments

  • Siobhan Gagliardo

    Okay this cake turned out great, but my only regret is that the recipe had way way way tooo much icing. thankfully we could just eat it though. THANKS ANY SUGGESTIONS?

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      With extra icing you could add it to pancakes, waffles or crepes. Or use as a fruit dip.

  • Diana

    Do you think this recipe would work well if baked in two 10″ round cake pans instead of three 9″?

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      That should be fine as long as you don’t fill pans more than 2/3 full. You could use extra batter for cupcakes.

  • ashley

    Could you make this into cupcakes too? I was planning to make a cake for my son’s birthday, but also wanted coordinated cupcakes to compliment it.

  • Maya

    I’ve made this cake twice and each time, it’s turned out perfect. It’s the best combination between sweet and fruity and the whipped cream cheese frosting is so much tastier than buttercream.
    I would 100% recommend this as my whole family always beg me to make it for upcoming events!

  • Sally

    Not sure what happened but as soon as I add the sugar to the cream it turns into a runny, lumpy mess. Maybe it needs whipping cream rather than heavy? No idea.

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      I’m sorry to hear this Sally! Was it beyond its expiry date by chance?

  • Dimitri

    I have made this cake several times. My kids love it.
    Used 25% less sugar.

  • Teresa

    I used to be a pastry chef and I’m in love with this cake!! My family LOVED it enough to fight over the last piece. My adaptations/tips for others include sugaring and weeping fresh sliced berries the day before. Strawberries always weep when sugar ruptures the cells of the berry so weep them in advance, and keep the juice after you strain the sugared berries and soak juice into the sponge of individual slices, pushes the yum factor and strawberry goodness to 11 out of 10. I also sponged the cake with a simple syrup of 300g water+200g sugar, cause I do that with every cake, but used the reserved strawberry juice on the side. Second I did a small spread of Bon Mamán strawberry preserves in between the layers, it complimented eveything beautifully, and third, the whipped cream has to stay super cold to maintain its form, if possible I’d recommend semi freezing the filled cake before frosting the outside, or attempting a stabilized whipped cream, since the folding process can decrease some of the stability no matter how stiff those peaks are, they’ll soften and you just gotta embrace that. The filling also makes the best icecream ever if you freeze any of the leftover mixture. We will make this again and again as one of our favorite go to cakes. ♡