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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Made this for lunch today (had last-minute guests coming). Because of Jenn’s trusted recipes, I felt so confident that it would turn out exactly like the picture and taste amazing….even though I had never made it before. I started the cake at 10 am, and it was cool enough to eat by lunchtime. The house smelled heavenly when the guests came, and they raved about the cake! I was left with an empty dish!
Could you do this with a yellow cake mix in 2 pans?
Hi Lisa, I wouldn’t recommend it – sorry!
Made the cake for a birthday, everyone loved it! Including me, the soft cake with the sweetness of the sugared strawberries and the crunch on top: Deliciousness! 👌🤤
Yummmm. This is wonderful. Next time I will try raspberries. Thanks!
Our neighbors do not like anything cakey, and when they tried this they hinted so hard that they wanted more. The hinting lasted for days, so I finally gave them the recipe.
LOL — glad to hear you made converts of them! 🙂
If I was to make this in muffin tins how long would they take to bake roughly?
Hi Mary, If you want to make muffins, I’d actually recommend my strawberry muffin recipe. You can find it here. Hope you enjoy if you make them!
This is the second recipe of yours that I’ve tried and I love it as much as the first one (the late summer plum cake). Thank you Jenn!
Hi Jenn,
This recipe looks absolutely delicious. I am already imagining eating it with whipped cream!
Would this recipe work just as well in a springform tin?
Thanks, Sara
Sure — hope you enjoy!
I have made this cake a few times now and it’s the only recipe I haven’t tweaked in some way. It’s perfect the way it is. The way the sugar crusts on top and the sweet buttery taste of the cake all combined together to form the most moist and delicious desert. I love it with or without some whipped cream on top. It’s my favorite cake. Side note, I picked this recipe because I have the exact pie pan. It was meant to be though. Thank you so much for sharing.
I made this today and it was great but it ended up having a bitter taste towards the end. Too much baking powder? I used double acting. What should I do next time?
Hi Dawn, when you said it had a bitter taste “toward the end” do you mean it left a bitter aftertaste or that it was one of the last pieces that tasted that way?
I had this problem with other baked goods, did a little online research, and switched to aluminum free baking powder. I haven’t noticed it since.
It was neat to see how quickly and easily this pretty cake came together, but I definitely agree with other reviewers that you could go half the amount on all the sugar in the entire recipe. It’s a nice item for brunch or afternoon tea, but not really dessert alone.
Delicious thank you. A very pretty cake or dessert which froze really well. H.