The Recipe Critic

Homemade Strawberry Cake

May 22, 2019

Strawberry Cake. This made from scratch strawberry cake recipe has big natural strawberry flavor, and a natural color. All topped with a smooth strawberries and cream frosting. 

This strawberry cake is tender, full of flavor and the prettiest natural pink color. All topped with more swirls of pink, creamy strawberries and cream frosting. This cake is a perfect way to enjoy all of the fresh summer berries available, just like this Strawberry Spinach Salad, Honey Lime Poppyseed Salad, and this Strawberry Cobbler. 

Strawberry Cake

Hey everyone! It’s Serene from House of Yumm. Today I have this beautiful, delicious strawberry cake. Strawberry cake is one of those recipes that can be slightly tricky. Recipes that use only real ingredients and no gelatin mixes are difficult to find. But my youngest daughter is turning 6 this month and her one request has been to have a strawberry cake. So I figured it was time to take on the challenge of a strawberry cake recipe. A few tricks help to deliver a pretty pink, strawberry flavored cake, using only real strawberries. 

How to make a Homemade Strawberry Cake from Scratch:

  • Process the freeze dried strawberries. Add this to a large size mixing bowl. Add in the other dry ingredients and stir together. This will be a pale pink color thanks to using the freeze dried strawberries. This is one of the main reasons this cake is a gorgeous color and full of strawberry flavor! TIP: process these before the strawberries, that way your processor is nice and dry when you use it, any water that is left in the processor will make this powder stick and you end up with a mess! 
  • Prepare the strawberry puree by hulling the strawberries, cutting off the leaves. About one pound of strawberries will give 3/4 cup of puree needed for the cake. Go ahead and do about 1 and 1/4 of a pound because we will need some puree for the frosting also.
  • Add the strawberries to a food processor or blender. Pulse until smooth and no large chunks remain.
  • In a medium size mixing bowl combine the strawberry puree with the other wet ingredents. 
  • Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together. It will be a gorgeous pink color! You can always add a little extra red food coloring if you would prefer, but the natural color on its own is still very pretty. 
  • Pour into a cake pan and bake! 

 

How to make the Strawberry and Cream Frosting:

This frosting is made with a combination of strawberry puree that has been reduced, butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. Make sure that the cream cheese and butter are both room temperature. This helps them to mix up smooth and creamy. 

  • To make the strawberry puree reduction, we will take our leftover strawberry puree it should be about 1/4 of a cup, pour it into a small saucepan, heat over medium heat until it starts to boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and let this cook until the amount of the puree has reduced down to about 2 tablespoons in amount. This gives us a punch of strawberry flavor with the least amount of liquid possible. Perfect for making frosting! 
  • To put the frosting together, mix the cream cheese and butter until smooth. 
  • Add in the vanilla extract and the reduced strawberry puree. Mix to combine. 
  • Add in the powdered sugar. Mix to combine. IF the frosting is a little too runny, add more powdered sugar to get the right consistency. 

This recipe uses Cake Flour. What if I don’t have that in my pantry? 

I love the use of cake flour, it has a lower protein content, which means less gluten production, which means we get a soft, tender crumb to our cake. 

If you don’t have cake flour on hand you can use all purpose flour. Just keep in mind there will be a slight difference in the crumb of the cake baked versus the image of this particular cake. 

You can also make a homemade version of cake flour by taking out 2 tablespoons of every cup of all purpose flour used and replacing it with cornstarch. Sift that together and you will have a similar result to using cake flour. 

More recipes you may enjoy:

Homemade Strawberry Cake

Strawberry Cake. This made from scratch strawberry cake recipe has big natural strawberry flavor, and a natural color. All topped with a smooth strawberries and cream frosting. 

  • 2 ounces freeze dried strawberries (pureed)
  • 1.75 cups strawberry puree (divided) (Approx. 1.25 pounds fresh berries. )
  • 2 and 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 2 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 and 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 4 Large eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil

Strawberries and Cream Frosting

  • 8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)
  • 1/4 cup strawberry puree
  • 4 cups powdered sugar

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×13 cake pan with parchment paper, or spray with a non stick baking spray. Set aside.

  2. Add the freeze dried strawberries to the food processor and pulse until it is a fine powder.

  3. Spoon the freeze dried strawberry powder to a large mixing bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine.

  4. In a medium size bowl add the 1 and 1/2 cup of the strawberry puree (keep the remaining 1/4 cup for the frosting), sugar, eggs, vanilla and oil. Stir to combine.

  5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and gently stir the batter together until just mixed.

  6. Pour into the cake pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool while you prepare the frosting.

Strawberries and Cream Frosting

  1. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of strawberry puree to a small saucepan. Heat this over medium heat until the sauce begins to bubble, reduce the heat to low and let simmer while stirring until the amount has reduced down to about 2 tablespoons. This can take about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow this to cool to room temperature. Can place in a bowl and store in the refrigerator if needed to help cool down.

  2. In a medium size bowl add the cream cheese and butter. Mix until combined and smooth.

  3. Add in the vanilla extract and the cooled down reduced strawberry puree (don't add more than 2 tablespoons, this will make the frosting runny). Mix to combine.

  4. Add in the powdered sugar. Mix to combine. If frosting is too soft, add more powdered sugar. If it seems too stiff you can add a small amount of milk if needed.

  5. Spread onto the top of the cake. Store the cake at room temperature in a sealed container.

If you don’t have cake flour you can substitute with all purpose flour. You can also make your own homemade cake flour by removing 5 tablespoons of flour from the 2 and 1/2 cups and replacing that with cornstarch. Sift this mixture together. 

 

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