A delicious, made-from-scratch, best-ever Strawberries and Cream Cake with a thick cream cheese frosting and garnished with sugared strawberries. The perfect cake for Mother’s Day!
Strawberries and Cream Cake
Right in time for Mother’s Day, I’ve got you covered for dessert! 🙂 This Strawberries and Cream Cake is relatively simple to make (no worrying about different pans and layering cakes with frosting in between), moist and flavorful, packed with strawberries, and it’s beautiful! I mean, who could ask for more?! And after your mom absolutely flips over this cake, then you’ll want to use this recipe for all kinds of occasions – a baby girl shower, a pink-themed party, Easter Sunday, a gorgeous spring/summer cake…there are so many times when you’ll need a delicious-from-scratch pink strawberry cake!
How Do You Make a Strawberries and Cream Cake with Real Strawberries?
The base of this cake has real strawberries in it! It also has an amazing topping of sugared strawberries–making this cake quite the delicious strawberry treat!
- Special ingredients: To make this cake, you’ll start by beating the butter until smooth and then adding in the sugar. You’ll add some lightly beaten eggs to this mixture and then some lemon juice. Why add lemon juice to this cake? A bit of lemon is as good as a dash of salt in bringing out the flavors. It really intensifies the delicious strawberry flavor, all while keeping things tasting fresh and light. The acidity of the lemon is also important for the final texture of the cake. And then you’ll add in the buttermilk. You can definitely make your own buttermilk (Remove one tablespoon from one cup of milk and replace that tablespoon with vinegar or lemon juice), but I do think this cake is best with a good store-bought buttermilk.
- Keep it light: To keep this cake from being over-mixed (and thus resulting in a denser cake) you’ll combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. You’ll sift together the flour and cornstarch a few times which is going to give you a bit of a “DIY cake flour.” You’ll get a finer crumb and a moister cake without it being too dense. Then you’ll mix in the dry Jell-O®, baking soda, and salt. Once this mixture is combined, you’ll add it to the wet ingredients and beat the two until JUST combined. Again, you don’t want to over-mix the cake batter here.
- Strawberries: Finally, you’ll fold in those *real* finely chopped strawberries!
- Frosting: While the cake bakes, you can make the delicious cream cheese frosting and sugared strawberries that will finish off this cake beautifully.
Quick Tip
MEASURING FLOUR: The most important measurement in this recipe is the flour. If you press a measuring cup into a bag of flour, you will pack in way too much flour, which will yield cakey and less-flavorful results. Spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level the top with the back of a table knife. Scooping and packing the flour is not the way to go!
How Do You Frost a Strawberries and Cream Cake?
This scrumptious treat has a delicious strawberry cake base and then a perfect cream cheese frosting to top it all off, making it a “strawberry-and-cream” flavored dessert. I’ve talked a lot about making the cake, so let’s quickly cover that cream cheese frosting. The most important thing for the cream cheese frosting is to make sure the cream cheese and the butter are both at room temperature. This will give you the perfect smooth and creamy base for the frosting. You don’t want the cream cheese or butter melted, microwaved, or softened, which makes the frosting greasy; yet you don’t want it chilled, which is hard to mix smoothly. They should both be at the same room temperature for best results.
The one “secret” ingredient to my cream cheese frosting that I think makes it the best is vanilla bean paste
. The paste has a more intense vanilla flavor and adds gorgeous flecks of beans to the frosting. I love what the paste does for this frosting, but pure vanilla extract also is delicious in its place.
More Strawberry Desserts:
- Mini Vanilla Cheesecakes with Strawberry Sauce
- Frozen Strawberry Ice Cream Pie
- Strawberry Pretzel Salad
- Strawberry Scones
- Strawberry Milkshake
Strawberries and Cream Cake
Equipment
- Baking dish 9 x 13-inch
- Hand mixer
Ingredients
Strawberry Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 lemon
- 2 cups + 3 tablespoons flour
- 5 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons strawberry Jell-O mix dry, not prepared
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk or milk mixed with lemon juice, see note 1
- 3 to 4 drops red food coloring optional
- 2/3 cup finely diced fresh strawberries
Frosting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese at room temperature; not low fat
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 3 to 4 cups powdered sugar depending on desired consistency; I usually use 3 cups
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Sugared Strawberry Topping (optional)
- 1-/12 cups sliced strawberries
- 1-1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9x13-inch pan and set aside.
- Beat room-temperature butter with a hand mixer until light and creamy. Slowly add the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs; add to butter mixture and mix. Add 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice. Beat in the buttermilk (see note 1). If desired, add the red food coloring and mix it in.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and cornstarch, then add the Jell-O mix, baking soda, and salt. It is important to use separate bowls so the cake isn’t over-beaten, which will result in a dense cake.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat at low speed until just combined.
- Remove stems from the strawberries and chop finely. Add finely chopped strawberries to the cake batter.
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake 30–40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center.
- Cool the cake for at least 1 hour, then refrigerate for another hour.
Frosting
- Beat the softened butter and room temperature cream cheese until completely creamy. Beat in vanilla and salt. Slowly beat in powdered sugar until smooth and your desired consistency.
- Spread the frosting evenly over the cake.
Sugared Strawberry Topping (optional)
- Stir together the sliced strawberries and sugar in a medium bowl. Let them stand at room temperature about 20–30 minutes to develop the syrup. Add them to the cake only when serving and not beforehand.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can’t wait to try this my hubbys birthday Feb 17, we are both big strawberry cake fans, I googled recipies for homemade strawberry cake recipies and I keep coming back to this one, cannot wait to surprise my husband Wed when he gets home from work, thank you sooo much!
You are so welcome! 🙂 I hope you and your hubby LOVE it! Happy Birthday to him!
The cake was absolutely wonderful! My hubby and I loved it, made a wonderful birthday cake! I will make it again!?❤️
Oh awesome! 🙂 I am so happy to hear that!! Thanks so much Beth 🙂 <3
Hi Chelsea, I have just did your strawberries and cream cake this morning for the Valentine’s Day and my boyfriend loved it! I did not have the strawberry jell-o mix (no idea what it is here in Belgium :), so I used a red colorant instead… very good cake!! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
So happy to hear that!! 🙂 Thank you so much for trying the cake and leaving a comment, I’m so glad it was enjoyed 🙂
I loveee cakes with fresh strawberries. This looks delicious!!
Thanks!
Erica @ thebigredpatchhouse.com
Thank you Erica! 🙂
Do you think this could be made into a round layer cake? It looks luscious!
I haven’t personally tried it, but I’m not sure why not! I just couldn’t tell you if it will make 2 or 3 round cakes.. I’m leaning towards 3 🙂
It makes only two.
Thanks so much for your help Sara! 🙂
in the frosting ingred. you have 4- 4 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar. What does the 4-4 mean?
It means either 4 cups or 4 and 1/2 cups — just based off of how thick or thin you like your frosting..sometimes I’ll add an extra 1/2 cup to make it a bit thicker 🙂
This cake looks very moist and delicious I’m going to try this recipe thanks.
Thanks Merle! I hope you love it 🙂
I love strawberries. Nothing tastes like freshly picked strawberries. Their fruity kick and sweetness add a lovely touch to bakes, drinks, salads and more. This is a lovely cake- sharp, creamy and sweet. This is as pretty as it is delicious.
Thanks for sharing, Chelsea. Do you have more strawberry recipes?
I couldn’t agree with you more! I LOVE freshly picked strawberries 🙂 Thanks so much for your sweet compliment and for trying out the cake! 🙂 I do have a few more! Here are some to try out next:
https://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/homemade-strawberry-cream-cheese-toaster-strudels/
https://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/strawberry-orange-sweet-bread-with-a-strawberry-glaze/
https://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/strawberry-and-avocado-spinach-salad-with-candied-pecans/
I refuse to cave to the pumpkin mafia just cuz it’s October. I’d like to make strawberry cupcakes for work. Do you think this recipe would work for cupcakes?
Hahahaha!!! You know, I’m not sure since I haven’t ever tried converting this recipe to cupcakes. If you do try it, I would just make sure to bake them for 15-20 minutes at the same temperature. Sorry to not be of more help 🙁
I know you posted this a long time ago and have probably since tried it but for anyone else seeing this recipe and wondering the same thing – I have only made this recipe in cupcake form and they are a MASSIVE hit, absolutely delicious. I get requests to make them all the time. 15-20 mins bake time is accurate. 🙂
Thanks for sharing Toni!! 🙂
This looks incredible. Forgive me but do I have to use the dry jelly powder? I never buy it – is it the color or the taste that we are looking for here? Or both? Thank you.
this cake is really tasty and the combination of the cream and strawberries is good but my big complain is the color. It just doesn’t get pink only with the jello mix and some strawberries. How did you do it?
Yep – the strawberries and jello mix is all I added for this recipe! When I edit my photos I do increase saturation of the colors, so perhaps that is the difference in color you are seeing. If you are hoping to get a brighter color perhaps a food coloring or dye could help?
Have you made this cake without the jello? I am looking for a recipe without any artificial color or sweetener. Just wondering how it would turn out and if you had experimented with it?
I haven’t unfortunately. Sorry! Wish I could be of more help!
I agree! I just baked this and it just isn’t that pink.