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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Comments
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Hi Jenn
Would homemade whipping cream go well with this cake?
Definitely!
This is such a delicious cake. My question is can almond milk be used instead of regular milk?
Glad you like it! And, almond milk is fine. 😊
Made this recipe with inexact ingredients (rough measurements). It turned out as expected. A shortbread/biscuit type cake with strawberries. I didn’t make.whipped cream but a dollop of butter on a slice is pretty tasty.
Can I substitute butter with vegetable oil?
Vegetable oil won’t work here as you need something solid to cream with the butter. The one oil that would work is (solidified) coconut oil.
Followed directions and didn’t change anything. I ended up with a dry, biscuit type cake. Thank goodness I had a backup dessert since it was Easter. No clue what went wrong but wow, mine was hard and dry. Yuck.
My husband baked it and he’s not a baker and it was absolutely delicious! I wonder if your oven was too hot?
The cake was crispy outside and gooey moist inside … It tasted really good though…I wonder if it should be moist gooey ish inside.i baked for 10 mins in 170 and then about 20 min at 165
It’s moist on the inside, but shouldn’t be gooey. It sounds like it was a touch underbaked.
Amazing!! Added the full pound of strawberries. The sugar crust on top is heaven. I think it’s best when still warm. It’s heaven. ❤️ Will make again. Thank you!
This cake was so simple and easy to make and turned out absolutely delicious! I’ve made the plain cake several times and I love the combination of sweet cake with the tartness of the fruit. With thanks all the way from Karachi!!
I had bought fresh strawberries for Christmas Day but unfortunately due to illness they were not used and then by chance I saw your recipe – fabulous – the cake was still warm when I served as dessert at lunchtime today- delicious and so easy to make!
I have a fan oven so reduced the temperature and time slightly still tested with the skewer!
Thank you
I love this dessert. I make this recipe every strawberry season. This past season I made at least 10 so I can give to neighbors and friends. I doubled the recipe in two large pans for my coworkers. The absolutely loved it! I think it tastes like poundcake with strawberries. So good and comes out of the oven perfect every time!!! Thank you 🍓 🍓 🍓
Shoot, your metrics are messed up! It has more sugar than flour, so I know there’s an issue. What are the proper metric measurements? Thanks!
Hi Adam, I just double-checked the metric conversions and they are correct. There’s more flour by volume; the sugar just weighs more. Hope that clarifies!
ok thank you! You are right! Although I did notice (at least for me) the sugar metric to cups / tablespoons was different by a few tablespoons, so I erred on less. Thank you!
Following up to my initial inquiry, I made this cake with some modifications and it was amazing. I used the metric and upped the quantity to 1.5X the ingredients, used a 9 inch springform pan, and around doubled the strawberries and replaced the flour with a cup for cup gluten free batter (I used ‘Better Batter’). Since I had 1.5X more batter, I first put a layer down consisting of half the batter, and then I assembled sliced strawberries on top of this layer (not halved, these strawberries I did in around 1/4 inch slices. I then added the remaining batter and topped the cake with the remaining strawberries that I halved as per the instructions. Right before serving, I lightly dusted the top with confectioners sugar. It came out amazing, thank you so much for this recipe, and it works great gluten free and with an extra layer of strawberries! I’d post a picture here but not sure how to do that!
Hi Adam, Glad this worked out for you – sounds like it was very pretty too!
This cake came out beautifully!! so delicious