Fresh Strawberry Cake
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Jam-packed with fresh strawberries, this strawberry cake is one of the simplest, most delicious cakes you’ll ever make.
This strawberry cake recipe was sent to me by Karen Tannenbaum, a longtime reader, avid baker, and all-around lovely lady. In her email to me, Karen described a dinner she made that ended with this dessert as “just like a night in heaven.” I was sold. A few days later, I had the cake in the oven, and sure enough – it turned out to be one of the simplest, prettiest, and most delicious cakes I’ve ever made.The beauty of this cake is that it’s made with very few ingredients, and you can whip up the batter in under 15 minutes. What’s more, it’s a great way to use up extra strawberries or salvage berries that are less than perfect, and it keeps well for days. This recipe originally appeared in Martha Stewart Living back in June 2005, but I’ve made a few tweaks to make it even better.
If you have an abundance of strawberries on hand, or find them on sale during the season, try my strawberry shortcake and strawberry muffins as well. You’ll be glad you did.
What You’ll Need To Make Strawberry Cake
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by combining the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Whisk to combine and set aside.
Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla.
Beat to combine.
Add some of the flour.
Mix to combine, then add some of the milk.
Alternately add the remaining flour and milk, beating until smooth. The batter will be quite thick.
Transfer the batter to a buttered 9-inch deep dish pie pan (or 9-inch round cake pan) and smooth with a spatula.
Arrange the strawberry halves on top of the batter.
The sprinkle with the remaining sugar. (Don’t be tempted to omit the sugar here; it balances the tartness of the berries and forms a deliciously crisp crust on top the cake.)
Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325° and bake for about an hour more.
Cool the strawberry cake on a rack. Serve warm or room temperature, either plain or topped with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
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Fresh Strawberry Cake
Jam-packed with fresh strawberries, this strawberry cake is one of the simplest, most delicious cakes you’ll ever make.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pan
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup milk (low-fat is fine)
- About ¾ pound strawberries, hulled and halved
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and butter a 9-inch deep dish pie pan (or 9-inch round cake pan).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and 1 cup of the sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on low speed until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, and beat on low speed until smooth. (Note: the batter will be thick.)
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula. Arrange the strawberries on top, cut side down, so that they completely cover the batter (the recipe calls for approximately ¾ pound of strawberries; use more or less if necessary). Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar over the strawberries.
- Bake for ten minutes, then reduce the heat to 325°F and bake until the cake is lightly golden and a tester comes out clean, about an hour. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack. Serve with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.
- Cake can be stored at room temperature for several days, loosely covered.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The cake can be frozen for up to 3 months. After it is completely cooled, cover it tightly with aluminum foil or freezer wrap. Thaw overnight on the countertop before serving.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (10 servings)
- Calories: 241
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 40 g
- Sugar: 25 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Sodium: 185 mg
- Cholesterol: 38 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I made this cake and loved it. It came out more like a pound cake which was fine. I doubled the recipe and put it in a tube pan. It had to bake about 1-1/2 hours. In hindsight I only kept the 350 temp. for 10 mins. and probably should have gone a bit longer. I also added 1/2 almond extract and 1/2 vanilla extract. I served it with a ricotta creme on the side, flavored with lemon peel/extract. So delish. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
I made this about a month ago because we had extra strawberries. It was absolutely delicious! It was also very easy to put together, and I actually had all the ingredients on hand. Today, we have extra peaches. I’m going to make it soon with peaches instead to see how it works!
Love this recipe!! I’ve made it twice already.
Did a test run of this cake in preparation for Father’s Day for my dad, and it is amazing! I have the very same pie dish, so that is what I used. None of my strawberries sank! When placing my strawberries I made sure to put the biggest ones around the outside, and the smaller ones towards the middle. The biggest ones I cut into quarters; the rest I cut in half. The cake is so light, fluffy, and perfectly moist and the slightly crisp bottom is very yum. The strawberries become tender and taste jam-like, and a nice glaze forms around the edges. Mine was ready 5 min early in a standard oven (used toothpick to check). I paired it with homemade sweetened whipped cream. Will be serving this for Father’s Day!
didn’t work for me
I did find this easy to make but it was pretty dry. Not moist at all.
Do you have any suggestion for making this as an individual dessert? I want to make this with a group of kids and I was hoping that they could make each one themselves. Thanks!
Hi Karen, I really don’t know if that’s possible as the portions they’d be using would so small, and not sure that it would translate well. If you wanted to have them all help with the batter but give them individual baked goods to eat, you could use this muffin recipe instead. Hope that helps!
I made this for a friend last year and she liked it so much she is giving me 2 lbs of freshly picked ripe strawberries from her garden to make one for her (and one for me, yay!!!). Can I double this recipe without making any adjustments? Thank you for making me look like I know what i am doing 🙂
That’s funny — she supplies the berries and you bake the cakes! Yes, it’s fine to double this? I assume you’ll be using 2 separate baking dishes? Keep in mind that you may need to add a minute or two to the baking time because the oven will be slightly more crowded.
Fabulous, easy, beautiful, tasty! My daughters never take home dessert leftovers, but this one was the exception to the rule.
Everything was done per Jenn’s recipe. Right before putting it in the oven, I sprinkled the center with “Sparkle” sugar in white and red.
Excellent! Made this exactly as written. Did take a while to bake, but worth the wait. Going strawberry picking this week. This is on my list for company. Looks so pretty and so easy.
We had a bunch of strawberries that were rapidly going bad, and this cake was a perfect way to use them. My only mods were that I soaked the halved strawberries in a wash of apple cider vinegar (to clean and enhance flavor), used almond extract in place of vanilla (it is EXCELLENT), and added less sugar in the cake but the full amount on top. I have a similar stoneware pie pan and cooked exactly to your specifications and when the alarm went off it was perfectly baked. I ate it with whipped cream last night but then this morning I couldn’t be bothered and ate it by itself with my coffee. Really delightful!