Strawberry Layer Cake
This pretty-in-pink strawberry layer cake is made entirely from-scratch with fresh strawberries and frosted with a cream cheese buttercream.
There’s no box mixes in this special cake! It’s pure strawberry, through and through. And such a beautiful and special dessert.
With fluffy pink layers, a luscious strawberry-cream cheese filling, fresh sliced strawberries nestled between each tier, and cream cheese frosting this cake is a true show-stopper! It’s perfect for birthdays and other special occasions. Of course, you can dress this cake up or down however you like depending on the decor. It’s a simple, yet elegant cake all on its own.
What’s in this strawberry cake
This cake isn’t just a pretty dessert, but a love letter to fresh strawberries and cake fans everywhere. Here’s what makes up this strawberry cake recipe:
- Fresh strawberry puree: It’s blended from juicy real strawberries berries to infuse natural flavor into the cake and the filling.
- Light and fluffy strawberry cake layers: Made with cake flour for a light and tender crumb, and flavored with butter, vanilla and almond extract. Use pink gel food coloring if you want a brighter pink color.
- Cream cheese buttercream frosting: A perfect sweet and tangy accompaniment to the cake layers.
- Strawberry-infused cream cheese filling: Made by combining the cream cheese frosting with a little extra strawberry puree.
- Fresh strawberries: They’re nestled in between each cake layer for more freshness and flavor, and you can use them for decoration on top too.
Recipe notes
- This cake uses quite a bit of strawberry purée to get a clear strawberry flavor in the finished cake. You’ll need a food processor or a high-powered blender to purée the strawberries. Lots of other recipes also have chopped strawberries in the batter, but I opted for thinly sliced fresh strawberries in between the cake layers for even more bright strawberry flavor.
- Use food coloring if you want. You don’t need to use any food coloring, but I found that using just a bit of pink gel food coloring helps bring out the color.
- This cake can be baked in either 8 or 9-inch round pans. 8-inch will be taller, 9-inch will be wider and shorter. Use 2 pans for a double layer, 3 for triple, or 2 pans sliced in half for a quadruple layer. Baking times may vary slightly; the cake is done when the edges pull away, the top is lightly browned, and the center springs back when pressed. Here are the pans I use.These are the pans I use.
- I recommend cake flour for this recipe for the best texture. However, I have tested it with all-purpose and it was still a good cake, just more dense. You can also make your own cake flour— measure 1 cup all-purpose flour and remove 2 tablespoons. Add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and sift together. Use 1:1 for cake flour.
- For extra help with your layer cake, see my tutorial how to build a layer cake. It includes tips on how to prep cake pans and how to bake flat even cake layers.
Get the recipe
Strawberry Layer Cake
This pretty-in-pink cake is made 100% from-scratch with fresh strawberries and frosted with a cream cheese buttercream.
Ingredients
Strawberry Cake:
- 1 cup (226 grams) butter , softened to room temperature
- 2 cups (400 grams) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon pink gel food coloring , optional
- 3 cups (360 grams) cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cup (310 ml) strawberry purée , see Notes
Cream Cheese Buttercream:
- 8 ounces (226 grams) full-fat cream cheese , softened to room temperature
- ½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter , softened to room temperature
- 4 cups (455 grams) powdered sugar , sifted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
Strawberry Filling:
- 1 cup cream cheese buttercream , above
- 1 tablespoon strawberry purée
- 1-2 cups thinly sliced fresh strawberries , depending on how many cake layers you have
Equipment
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 8 or 9-inch round cake pans (see Notes) and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and creamy, about 3-4 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl down at least once.
- Add eggs once at a time, mixing and scraping after each. Then add vanilla, almond extract, and food coloring (if using). Mixture will look curdled.
- In a separate bowl sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Add it to the mixer bowl in 3 additions, alternating with the strawberry purée, and ending with the flour mixture. Batter will be thick.
- Divide batter among prepared cake pans and bake until the edges pull away from the pan and the tops spring back when lightly touched, 30-35 minutes.
- Let cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then remove carefully and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. You can use the cake layers at room temperature, or chill them in the fridge for easier assembly.
- Make ahead: Cake layers can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the fridge for up to 5 days, or double-wrapped in the freezer for up to several months. If frozen, let thaw in their wrappings in the fridge overnight.
To make the buttercream and filling:
- Beat the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt with an electric mixer on low until combined. Turn speed up to high and beat for 4-5 minutes until smooth, light, and creamy.
- To make the filling, remove all but 1 cup of the buttercream from the mixer bowl and set aside in another bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of strawberry purée and beat on low speed until smooth.
- Make ahead: Buttercream can be stored in the fridge for 1 week and in the freezer for at least a month. Let come to room temperature and beat until smooth before using.
To assemble the cake:
- Place 1 cake layer on a cake stand or plate. Top with strawberry filling. How much you use will depend on how many cake layers you have— use all, or divide in half or thirds.
- Arrange sliced strawberries on top of filling.
- Place another cake layer on top and repeat filling, strawberries and additional cake layers as needed.
- Cover cake with cream cheese frosting and frost as desired.
- Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving and store any leftovers in the fridge. Cake will keep for several days.
Notes
- You’ll need approximately 10-12 ounces (283-340 grams) of fresh strawberries to make the purée for the cake and filling. Add to a high-powered blender or food processor (what I used) and blend until smooth.
- You can use frozen strawberries for the purée. Thaw and drain to remove excess liquid before blending.
- This cake can be baked in either 8 or 9-inch round pans. 8-inch will be taller, 9-inch will be wider and shorter. You can use 2 or 3 pans, depending on the look you’re going for: double layer (2 pans), triple layer (3 pans), or quadruple layer (2 pans, then slice each layer in half). Baking times will vary slightly. These are the pans I use.
Calories: 522kcal, Carbohydrates: 74g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 24g, Saturated Fat: 14g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 6g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 101mg, Sodium: 299mg, Potassium: 130mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 56g, Vitamin A: 783IU, Vitamin C: 5mg, Calcium: 52mg, Iron: 1mg
Have you tried this recipe?I’d love to hear about it! Leave a rating and review below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram @completelydelicious with #completelydelicious.
I’m really excited to try this! My niece has a nut allergy. What should I substitute (if anything) for the almond extract? Would browned butter work?
You can just use vanilla extract. 🙂
Is the baking time listed for 3 8-inch pans?
Will this cake batter work without the strawberry purée in it?
This recipe has been developed with these specific ingredients and amounts. You can’t just leave out an ingredient like this and not need to make other adjustments, unfortunately. If you don’t want a strawberry cake, do a search for what you do want. Happy baking! 🙂
Hello! I wanted to make this cake in 2 layers, using 2 heart shaped pans. Will that work? Will there be too much batter you think? And would it taste okay if I used vanilla instead of almond extract? Thanks
The volume of the heart shaped pans is likely different, so you may have batter left over. Only fill cake pans halfway full, or you rise overflow. And if you have leftover batter you can always make a few cupcakes! Yes, vanilla instead of almond extract will be fine.
Can I put chopped fresh strawberries in the cake batter or will it make it to wet?
Hi Grace! It’ll change the cake texture for sure, but you can always give it a try. I haven’t had a lot of success with putting chopped strawberries in a tender cake like this without them sinking to the bottom, which is why I went with puree in the cake and fresh strawberries in the filling.
I tried this over the weekend and the cake was just very dense and lacked flavor. Not sure what I did wrong? The strawberries could have been riper that’s for sure! It also seemed like I didn’t have enough filling for the amount of cake.
Is this cake suppose to come out moist ? Because mine came out really moist and I used two cake pans two thin ones ?
Hi! Is there a substitute for cake flour by chance?
Is there a recipe for the strawberry puree? Did I overlook it or do you only just blend them in a food processor?
Instructions are in the recipe notes. And yes, it’s just strawberries blended in a food processor or blender. 🙂
This cake looks dreamy? want to try it so hard!
Sorry for saying this but, could I ever use oil instead of butter? ? Looking for less calories especially with cream cheese frosting.
Thank you for sharing
I haven’t tested this recipe with oil so I can’t give any recommendations. Sorry!
Would this refrigerate well after making the whole cake to be sued the next day? If so, do you bring it out a bit beforehand so it’s not so cold?
Yes! You can absolutely assemble and refrigerate the day before. Take it out of the fridge 20-330 minutes before serving to take away the chill. 🙂
If I wanted to make a 10 inch cake, should I double the recipe or so 1 and 1/2?
It’s always a gamble when I try to scale up recipes, there’s not a hard and fast rule. I would probably double it, and then the worst that could happen is the cake layers and resulting cake are a bit taller than they would be for an 8 or 9-inch cake. Hope this helps!
Can this be frozen successfully?
Yes, I freeze cake layers all the time! I’ve got a how-to here. As far as freezing the whole frosted cake, I know some bakers who swear by it but I’ve never tried it myself. I’d do a google search and see what instructions you can find. Hope this helps!
I’m planning to make this cake for my 5 year old daughter but she has requested a mixed berry cake (blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries.) Do you think I could substitute the strawberry puree and filling with mixed berries? Do I need to make sure it’s smooth before adding it? Thanks so much
That probably will work, though I haven’t tested it so I couldn’t say for sure or recommend any changes. I’d probably strain out the seeds because I’m not a fan of raspberry seeds, but that’s my own personal preference. If you do give it a try, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Hi Annalise,
This looks amazing! I’m going to tackle it this weekend!
Question: Do you use 2″ or 3″ cake pan heights?
Thanks,
David
I use 3″ deep pans 🙂