Summer's Scratch Strawberry Cake

I wanted to bake a strawberry cake that didn’t use a box of mix or strawberry Jell-O. This is based on the scratch WASC that was recently posted here on CC. I replaced some of the liquid with strawberry puree and also replaced some of the sugar with the strawberries (to add even more strawberry flavor and because strawberries are so sweet). I like to reserve aside the juice from the defrosted strawberries to use in place of water when making my sugar syrup for Italian Meringue Buttercream to make it strawberry instead. It also makes the frosting come out a nice pink color.

This recipe makes two 10-inch cakes. You can halve it (use 3 eggs if you halve it) to get one 10-inch cake, or you can get two 8-inch cakes out of a half recipe. This recipe also makes great cupcakes.

Ingredients

  • 5 C cake flour
  • 2 Tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/3 C butter
  • 2 2/3 C sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • 8 oz sour cream
  • 2 2/3 C strawberry puree*
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla
  • 10-15 drops red food coloring (optional **)

Instructions

  1. 1. Grease and flour cake pans and preheat oven to 350.
    2. Sift flour, baking power, baking soda and salt together and set aside.
    3. Cream butter and sugar together.
    4. Beat the eggs together, then beat in slowly, scraping the bowl down halfway through.
    5. Combine sour cream, strawberry puree and vanilla (and food color if using) in a small bowl.
    6. Add flour and strawberry mixture in alternating batches beginning and ending with the flour. Pour into cake pans and bake 30-40 min (depending on size of cake pans).

* Strawberry puree – Take 32 oz of frozen strawberries and defrost. Strain out the juice (set aside the juice to use in your frosting if you desire) and puree the strawberries in a food processor until smooth. After making the cake, you will have about 3/4-1 C of strawberry puree remaining that you can use between the layers of your cake if you so desire.

** This cake has a brownish color when baked so if you’re looking for a pink cake, you’ll need to add a little color. When cooking for myself, I don’t care about the color of the cake, but for a child’s birthday cake, I add a little red food coloring to give it a slightly pink color.

Comments (79)

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I used to used the jello based recipe on here with great sucess, but since I bought a new oven I can't get it to bake properly :-(! I shall certainly try this recipe as I have customers who really like strawberry cake!

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I'll try this recipe this week for my daughter's school bday celebration! Do you sift the cake flour before or after measuring or leave it unsifted? Thanks for posting the recipe!

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I always sift after measuring. When measuring flower, I usually give it a quick twirl with a whisk to air it up a bit, then I sift the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder together after I've measured.

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i am new to this site and just loving it - can't wait to try your recipe! i do have a question tho' - what is WASC? i've seen that mentioned in several different locations - thanks

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i tried the recipe tastes wonderful, however i am going to find strawberry extract to make it more "strawberrier" i used this for a strawberry cheesecake cupcake with cream cheese frosting and homemade graham crackers sprinkled on it! It can make 48 regular cupcakes, I made 24 Jumbo cupcakes. Hope this helps for future reviews!

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I don't have any photos of the interior. Just photos of the finished/decorated cake (which wasn't for me so I didn't take a photo of it cut into). It's the fairy cake in my photos.

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the update on the number of cupcakes. That's helpful!

WASC - White Almond Sour Cream. In this case, obviously, there's no almond involved, but it was based on that recipe initially.

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Just made this cake last night. I LOVED it! I've been searching and searching for a scratch, no jello strawberry cake, because I detest artificial flavoring and mixes. This was FABULOUS! Thanks so much for posting it. :) Just FYI - it makes a BIG batch. My 4.5 kitchenaid was at maximum capacity. I made 3 9 inch rounds, one small half ball and one larger half ball out of the recipe (made a lady bug on top of the rounds). Plus I had a bit of batter left over to make two little cupcakes...which is how I know the cake tastes great, because my husband and I already enjoyed those last night! Thank you!!

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p.s. I didn't add any additional strawberry flavoring -- I just used the recipe as is, with whole, unsweetened strawberries, and it was perfect. I used the drained juice and mixed it with some of my buttercreme for the filling. Yum yum yum!

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I just made this cake and it was absolutely delish!!! I'm not sure if I did something wrong though...I made a 10x3 and 12 cupcakes...cupcakes turned out awesome, but my cake rose and rose and rose and then collapsed (about an inch all the way around) during baking. Did I do something wrong? This is one of the first scratch cakes I've made so I didn't know.

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I used this recipe for a current tasting and it was a huge success. I also wanted a recipe that didn't use gelatin. This was moist, flavorful and delicious. Thank you for sharing!

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Ok, tried another recipe that used strawberry jello and a little bit of strawberry puree and this was by far SOOOOO much better. Just had a wonderful strawberry flavor

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I made this for a baby shower and all the ladies went nuts over this one! I used the leftover juice & puree to make strawberry Italian Meringue Buttercream for the filling. It was delicious!

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Has anyone halfed the recipe? I'm wondering if you have had success with 1/2ing it? Thanks for letting me know and I can't wait to try this recipe soon!

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I had a strawberry craving this week and this cake hit the spot! It baked so well too. I will definitely be making this again and again. Thanks!

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My cake turned out very crumbly, I was so disappointed. I'm not sure if I baked my 8in pans too long? The flavor was good though. I wanted to eat the batter and not bake the cake. If anyone has had crumbling issues, please let me know if you were able to resolve. ~Thanks~

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I tried this cake and it baked up great but tasted like baking powder. My husband who will eat anything even asked that we throw it away. I am not sure what we did wrong as he was the one who mixed up everything. He swears he did it all just as the recipe said. Maybe we will try it again.

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This cake is fantastic. I am going to make cake bites out of it. Just now deciding on what to use as a binder....thinking some cream cheese, dried strawberries, and some strawberry preserves. Then dip em in chocolate. Yum.

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I will love to try this cake for my daughter's b-day. Do you think that this cake will be good for some carving? I am making Lindy Smith Cat.

Thank you for your help

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I am so excited to try this! I am a "scratch" baker and it irks me to use the recipe with the cake mix and jello. Not that it doesn't taste great, but it's must a personal preference to make it all from scratch, you know? Thanks for sharing!

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This recipe is awesome! It got rave reviews when I made it. One person said it tasted even better after sitting a day. I made it with cream cheese frosting. I also love the fact that it is made with real strawberries instead of jello. Thank you for posting!

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I made a half batch last night and it made 24 cupcakes plus 12 minis and a ramekin mini cake. It's a lot of batter. It is a good cake though, thanks for sharing. I think I will try to fid another way to add more strawberry flavor but I think that the extra puree is a good idea to do that on the cake (or fill cupcakes) with.

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Just made this cake today for a client who requested a Strawberry cake. I am not a fan of mixes and surely didn't want the jello mix either. This cake is 100% homemade and I love that!! All I have to say is WOW!! First of all the taste is AMAZING & second it's super moist. This is now apart of my flavor list for sure. Also adding the juice to the frosting is absolutley heavenly!! I can't wait to hear the reviews of the people who attend the baby shower where this cake will be. Thanks soooo much for posting this!!

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Just made these as cupcakes. It didn't rise as much as I hoped, they ended up being very flat, no dome which would be fine for a cake. Great flavor though. I'm filling with cream cheese and the strawberry puree and then topping with cream cheese frosting.

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Can't wait to try! There are no Strawberry cake mixes to be found in my area (near Toronto, Canada), so this eliminates the need to continue searching and sounds a lot better anyways!!!

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Has anyone tried to use this recipe for a carved cake? Does it pair well with fondant? I'm trying to figure out what flavour buttercream to use, should I do a vanilla or cream cheese?

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I am so dissapointed how this cake turned out. It didn't rise at all. I followed the directions to a "T". Anyone else have this problem?

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m_tierney02 - This is not the best cake for carving. It's very spongy and moist. I generally use it for rounds or cupcakes. It does work well with fondant. I generally like to use a strawberry or vanilla IMBC with it.

charleezgal - I've made this cake many times and I've had quite a few friends make it and I've never heard of it not rising. That's very odd. I wish I had a suggestion for you, but I can't think of a reason you would have an issue if you followed the recipe. Your baking powder isn't expired or anything?

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I made this recipe the other day and it was very good. I will definitely use this one from now on for strawberry cake. I halved the recipe and made cupcakes. I paired them with strawberry buttercream and everyone was gushing over them.

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This cake was awesome!!! My teenage daughter who doesn't care for cake in general said that this was the best cake she had ever tasted. Thanks so much!!!!!

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Not sure if I am liking this cake, I might have to try it again! I made this recipe for my brothers birthday cake for something different, and I hardly tasted any strawberry! I had a glimpse within the first few chews, but it quickly faded and the cake fell completely flat flavor wise. Followed the recipe to a T, so I don't know where I could have gone wrong. Thanks for sharing the recipe, I am always on the lookout for new things to try, but I think this one will have to be chalked up to learning and try again!

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ivabell-- Cake flour is a type of flour that has a low gluten (protein) content--lower than regular or "all purpose" flour. It makes for a more tender cake. I don't know for sure, but if you live in Europe, the French equivalent would be Type 45 (although that is defined by ash and not protein). Don't quote me on that though. --------------------------------------------------- I'm going to have to try this strawberry cake recipe. I have been looking for a recipe that doesn't use jello or mixes, so I'm glad I found it. Thanks for sharing!! :)

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Without a doubt the most strawberry flavour that I could have imagined!!! BEAUTIFUL cake; thank you so much!!! It's the new "GO TO" cake for me!!

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I made this cake over the weekend for my husband's birthday. My family LOVED it. I halved the recipe and it made two 8-inch rounds. Thanks for posting, this is definitely my "go to" strawberry cake recipe! :o)

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I made this recipe twice now. The first time it had a great strawberry flavor, but it did have that aweful bitter aftertaste that I get sometimes when making a new vanilla or white cake recipe (taznjo, you didn't do anything wrong, I followed the recipe exactly as well). It is the baking powder. The second time I used the sweetened, sliced strawberries and substituted the baking powder for baking soda and cream of tartar. The formula is to substitute 1/4 tsp baking soda plus 1/2 tsp cream of tartar for each 1 tsp of baking powder. It worked like a charm! Thanks so much for the recipe!

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I love this! I stopped looking for other straw Recp. This makes a great cake for carving and will freeze very well.

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Yes, you can use fresh strawberries, but I recommend freezing them first, then re-defrosting them. (For an expanation, please see Rose Levy Beranbaum's excellent book, "The Cake Bible.")

In terms of the "not enough strawberry flavor" comments, for sure the strawberriness of this recipe is going to hinge on the quality (or lack thereof) of your strawberries. I like to use organic frozen strawberries and I always taste them to see if they have good flavor. If the strawberries don't have flavor, your strawberry cake won't have any either.

In terms of the baking powder vs. soda + cream of tartar substitution, sure, go for it. It really shouldn't be any difference because that's basically all baking powder is. Perhaps, again, it comes down to a quality/brand of your baking powder. I use a Rumford aluminum-free variety and I find that it doesn't adversely affect the flavor of my baked goods.

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I've made this cake a few times, and I loved it every time. I used fresh strawberries and frozen strawberries, both were good. Using fresh strawberries in the filling brought out the strawberry flavor even more. ItI was also good with a chocolate fudge filling. I'm eating some of this cake right now and it's amazing.

MidnightMacciato: I had the same idea. I haven't done it yet, but I so want to try this recipe with different fruits to see what happens.

Thank you so much for this from scratch recipe!

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pixiemom - Yup, I make it all the time with italian meringue buttercream and fondant. If you look at my photos, the fairy cake, one of the tiers of the superhero cake and the little present on top of my Curious George cake all use this recipe. It works great!

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What a delicious recipe. From the UK I bake from scratch and a lot of recipes on here that I look at are based from a box. This is great, though, the first time I baked it i missed out the baking powder by mistake, it was soooo tasty but rather heavy. anyway baked again today and it is light a fluffy and still sooo tasty. I cannot imangine ever putting a jelly mix into a cake to flavour it, you dont need to when you have purees x yum!

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I am trying this recipe. I have been searching for a high-end quality Strawberry cake that meets my standards of making everything from scratch here at my cake shop. My favorite famous bakers do not even share a strawberry cake recipe. I have been stumped. I tried a few testers myself, but was never happy with the results. I gave in and tried a famous baker's recipe that used a box mix and jello. I basically laughed as I threw it away in the garbage. Who would eat that? Not me nor my customers. So thanks. I am hoping this will put strawberry cake back on my menu.

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I tried this recipe as cupcakes last night and they were wonderful. They were the perfect balance of strawberry flavor and very moist. I paired it with strawberry cream cheese and brought the extras to my "Day Job". Everyone loves them! This is my new strawberry recipe. Thanks! :)

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I'm so pleased everyone is happy with this recipe. I love hearing about how this recipe turns out for everyone! :)

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I thought for sure that those having problems were doing something wrong. I am a pretty experienced baker, and gave it a shot anyway. I had the same exact problems as others--it didn't rise and it was like a brick. It tasted awful. Here's my deduction: Do not attempt this cake if you do not have top notch ingredients. I'm pretty sure it was my cheapo Wal-Mart brand baking powder. It's fairly new, but I checked, and it's not aluminum free. So make sure you have the good stuff or you will be throwing away valuable ingredients :(

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I made half batch last night and used pre sifted self rising flour instead , added six drops of food coloring , and it was a hit !!! Moist and fluffy . Holds fondant very well, not sure about carving it. Taste is great !! this one is a keeper.

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Is the amount of baking powder correct? 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon? It sounds like alot but just want to make sure it's correct before trying the recipe.

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Yes, that is the correct amount of baking powder. I use this recipe ALL THE TIME. I've never had an issue with it. Yes, it's my recipe, but I follow it to the letter every time and I've never ever had a problem with it rising. Ever.

I use aluminum free baking powder, usually Bob's Red Mill or the brand that's in the red can (name escapes me). I find the Bob's Red Mill brand to be top notch. I've never had a cake that didn't rise when using this brand.

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I can't wait to try this recipe! I was wondering if you can freeze the batter to use at a later time? Any idea?

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I just made this tonight----very easy to make...and the cakes look and smell yummy! I wish I made a cupcake so I didn't have to wait until Sunday to taste them!! I used a mixture of whole and frozen strawberries...and added a little strawberry extract and pink food color- very pretty, the mix rose, stayed flat - and came out of the pan perfectly. They are wrapped and in the freezer now, waiting to be finished tomorrow. I would love to try this recipe with raspberries someday. I am using a swiss meringue buttercream- will add strawberry liquid to it -and I'm topping with fondant...... but I think this cake would go awesome with cream cheese frosting. - Thanks for sharing your recipe! I wish strawberry was a more requested flavor...

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Yup- just as I expected---------we cut into the cake on Sunday- and it was YUMMY!! Big hit! This is my new strawberry cake recipe- THANK YOU! I will be trying with raspberries soon to see if that comes out just as nice...maybe for valentines day!

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I love this recipe! The first time I made it, I was wanting a little more strawberry flavor, so the second time I added 2 tsp strawberry extract (imitation, but I'm going to try to find some pure for the next time around). That definitely pumped up the strawberry flavor and my cupcakes turned out great. They did kind of sink in the middle, but after they're frosted you can't tell a bit. a 1/2 batch made exactly 24 cupcakes. I filled some of them with dark chocolate fudge filling to have the chocolate dipped strawberry effect. So good! Thanks for this recipe!

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I made this as a layer of my Neopolitin cake...it was the favorite of all my guests. I made sure I uded aluminum free baking powder and unsweetened strawberries. I added a little vaniilla extract too. I'm contemplating my next cupcake flavor- graham cracker crust, w strawberry cakes and maybe vanilla cream cheese frosting... ?

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i just made this today and always like to give feed back when I love a recipe! The cake was so good. and very moist thank you so much!! people should definetely (not sure if that is how u spell it) give it a try!!

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I love the strawberry version, but I had to experiment, so I tried this with raspberries over the weekend.....also AMAZING! I used frozen raspberries and put them through my wire mesh strainer to remove all the seeds and just have raspberry pulp......turned out just as incredible!

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@Debbye27 YOU are amazing and must have read my mind!! I came on here to see if anyone had tried this recipe with rasberries and you did! Thanks for the heads up on the seeds!

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I'm so glad it works with raspberries! I can't wait to try that! Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I just made this again for a friend's birthday cake and I made an strawberry curd with some of the leftover strawberry puree and put that into the IMBC. HOLY STRAWBERRIES BATMAN. It's a great way to get even more strawberry flavor without compromising the consistency of the icing.

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This cake was AWESOME!!! works in cakepops too fyi....

definitely tastes better after letting it set overnight. works well with fondant and stacking.

I added 2 tsp of strawberry extract and in a 1/2 batch i added an additional 1/3 c strawberry puree. I used unsweetened strawberries, but it just seemed to taste better to me with a little extra sugar.

For the frosting i've used the updated French Vanilla BC frosting by luvbuttercream from this site, and i've also used the Blackberry Buttercream Icing/Filling recipe by lutie substituting seedless strawberry preserves for the blackberry preserves (adding more for my own taste) and the last time i added a little of the strawberry puree from this recipe to kick up the strawberry flavor in teh frosting.

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I was sadly disappointed, I gathered all the freshest ingredients, and made sure i measured exactly, but the cake didn't rise but 1/4 of an inch and a little crumbly. I made cupcakes as well and the same thing happened to them, but they held together. My hubby said he tasted the flour, I used Swans Cake Flour. I truly do not know why this happened. The recipe sounds perfect. I made this for my son's Birthday cake. He loved the Strawberry Mousse I made and the fresh sliced strawberries. The cake has like a brick and we eat around it.

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my cakes are in the oven now, but I'm worried. the batter seemed very thick and didn't yield as much batter as everyone said it would. I know it's got to be something I did though.  I have an 8 x 3 and a 6 x 2 in the oven, and just enough batter for another 6 x 2(can't find my second 6 x 2 to save my life).  How full did you all fill your pans?  I put mine at half way. The batter tastes AMAZE BALLS though. lol.

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I made this for my daughter's birthday. It was delicious. Will definitely be making this again. Thank you for sharing your recipe.

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I just made this cake...I had my doubts with the quantities!  It seems to be moist and delicious!  Word of warning, though, it makes a ton of batter!  I got a full, Wilton's guitar cake and about 20 cupcakes out if it.  I could easily have done two of the guitar cakes.  The flavor is amazing, though!