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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Jenn, all I have is a 10 inch quiche pan, would I need to change any of the measurements?
Hi Phyllis, I’d recommend making 1.25 times the recipe. The bake time may be slightly different so keep a close eye on it. Hope you enjoy!
Hello, recipe looks delicious and I’m planning on making it but could I check a point please.
About 340 grams strawberries, hulled and halved. is the 340grams the weight before or after hulling?
Thanks
Hi Fran, the 340 grams is what you should purchase, so once you’ve hulled them, they will weigh a little less. Hope you enjoy the cake!
Other than a decrease in strawberries, your recipe is verbatim.
https://smittenkitchen.com/2011/05/strawberry-summer-cake/
Hi Patricia, I appreciate you pointing out how similar the cake is to Smitten Kitchen’s recipe. Whenever I adapt or feature a recipe from another chef/cookbook, I am very careful to indicate that/give credit to the original source. I mention in the recipe intro that I adapted the cake recipe from a 2005 Martha Stewart version, so I’m assuming that Smitten Kitchen must’ve done the same.
I am wondering if the 2 T of sugar on top of the berries is organic white sugar? turbinado sugar? powdered sugar ?
Hi Jan, it’s granulated sugar (it’s the 2 additional tablespoons of sugar listed in the ingredients along with the 1 cup).
I plan to make this and am wondering if this can be made with frozen and defrosted sliced strawberries?
Hi Jane, you can use frozen berries (no need to thaw them). The bake time may be a few minutes longer as the frozen berries will make the batter a little cold. Enjoy!
Loved it
Delicious Strawberry Cake! 😋
I’ve made this cake recipe several times for our family and it’s gone in 2 days!
Thank you, it’s wonderful to find recipes made from scratch again. 😁♥️
Hi Jenn! As always, your recipes are amazing. I made your strawberry cupcakes last week and they were perfect. I want to make this cake non-dairy but I’m out of milk substitutes. Any chance I could use water? I’m guessing this will be a hard “no”, but I thought I would ask!
Thanks,
Hannah
Thanks for your nice words about the recipes – so glad you like them! I think you can technically get away with using water, but it may have an impact on the texture and flavor of the cake. Please LMK how it turns out if you try it!
I made it and it was delicious! I added 10 extra grams of margarine. I’m sure the original recipe is better, but it wasn’t around to compare!
So glad it came out well- thanks for taking the time to report back! 😊
An easy delish pie/cake, first I added about 1/.3 cup of diced rhubarb and then topped it with strawberries. It was a hit! Thank you for this recipe.
I’ve really enjoyed making this cake the last couple years during strawberry season. I like putting a ring or two of thin (1/4-1/2″?) rhubarb slices too. This year I made sauce out of the extra rhubarb I had cut and we ended up dolloping it on the cake and ice cream when serving. So yummy I thought I’d throw the idea out there for others. Thanks again for easy, delicious cake to use some berries up.