Strawberry Cake

Sep 10

The Recipe

Strawberry Cake – Tender strawberry cake layers with fresh strawberries and cream cheese frosting.

Inspiration

A couple years ago, I was in Dallas for my consulting job and had some time to grab lunch with my older brother. I travel to Dallas quite a bit for work and Chris always takes me to the yummiest restaurants (Porch, Smoke, Savor… to name a few). We usually don’t get a lot of time together, so we often skip dessert (insert sad face emoji here). This time around, however, we had just enough time to make a stop at the Cake Bar.

Of course, I wanted to order a slice of everything, but narrowed it down to two flavors: chocolate and strawberry (a customer favorite, I was told). I’m typically a chocolate lover, but this time (to my surprise) I was blown away by the strawberry cake. It was perfection; so flavorful and moist. I just couldn’t stop shoveling it into my mouth. I knew immediately that I had to recreate this cake when I got home.

Strawberry Cake

As soon as I got returned from my trip, I started looking at strawberry cake recipes. Based on my research, I knew I wanted to use flavored gelatin because it would give the cake an added punch of strawberry flavor that strawberry puree on its own didn’t seem to achieve in most recipes. The Cake Bar cake had such a great strawberry flavor. I’m convinced they used the flavored gelatin too. I’d love to find out someday!

The cake turned out super moist and fluffy, not dense like so many other strawberry cakes do. The sifted cake flour also helps to create a light cake.

So, as far as the cake goes, I’m giving it two thumbs up. I’m super happy with how it turned out and will be putting it in my arsenal of cake recipes.

Filling

When I originally made this strawberry cake, I paired it with a strawberry puree filling. I’ve since changed the filling and now fill the cake with more cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberries. It helps to make the cake a little less sweet actually.

Frosting

I used to not love cream cheese frosting until I learned to make my own. This one is SO good! It’s my go-to cream cheese frosting. I’ve used it in so many cakes (you can see the list HERE). I use less cream cheese than most people do, I think. Just enough to give it a tart flavor, but not too much where the flavor steals the show.

I hope you love this cake as much as I do. And if you’ve ever had the Cake Bar version, I’d love to know how you think it compares!

 

Enjoy!

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Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep

Cook

Inactive

Total

Yield 1 3-layer, 8-inch cake

Strawberry cake layers with cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberries

Ingredients

For the Strawberry Cake

  • 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 (3 oz.) package of strawberry flavored Jell-O
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 5 large egg whites, room temperature
  • 3 cups plus 3 tablespoons cake flour
  • 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
  • 6 cups powdered sugar, measured and then sifted
  • 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt

Fresh strawberries

Instructions

For the Strawberry Cake

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray three 8-inch round cake pans with cooking spray, then place parchment rounds on the bottom and spray again. Set aside.
  2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar, cake flour, Jell-O, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine. 
  3. With the mixer on low speed, add the butter and buttermilk, a little at a time. Mix until incorporated.
  4. In a small bowl, combine the egg whites and vanilla extract. Stir to combine. Add the egg mixture to the batter, a little at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl along the way.
  5. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans (about 15 ounces of batter in each pan). I used three 8-inch pans and my cooking time was 22 minutes. Baking time should be between 22-25 minutes for either the 8-inch, but make sure to check on your cakes around 22 minutes, inserting a toothpick into the top of the cake (should come out with just a few crumbs) or gently tapping the top of your cake (shouldn't jiggle, but instead, bounce back up when done).
  6. Let cool in your pans for 10 minutes and then invert onto wire cooling racks until completely cooled.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

  1. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and cream cheese and beat on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.
  2. With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until incorporated. 
  3. Keeping the mixer on low, add the cream, vanilla and salt.
  4. Turn the mixer to medium and beat the frosting for 3-5 minutes, or until it is light in color (almost white) and texture.
  5. To remove air bubbles from the frosting, use a wooden spoon to stir and push out the air bubbles. 

Courses Dessert

Cuisine Cake

20 thoughts on “Strawberry Cake”

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  3. To see if they use gelatin, you could always call and say you have an allergy to gelatin and see what they say! Easy way to find out 🙂

    Reply

  4. This looks amazing! Can’t wait to make it!

    Question: why does the buttermilk have to be room temperature? Could it be cold or heated? I’m pregnant and get nervous about leaving anything out since that’s when bacteria grows. Would that destroy the cake?

    Reply

    1. Great question! Buttermilk and other “wet” ingredients better blend together and are better absorbed by the dry ingredients when they’re at room temperature – which helps the cake to rise more evenly. It wont’ ruin the cake if you use cold buttermilk.

      Reply

  5. Just made this version on Saturday. Wow. Like really… WOW. I had never baked cakes before and this is my 4th one from you. You rock. I was very surprised to like this cake so much. Plus it freezes great 😉

    Reply

    1. Hi! Thank you. Yes you can make your own cake flour – it’s an easy google search, but I prefer store bought cake flour because it has a slightly sweeter taste to it and gives the cake a light texture. I don’t think homemade cake flour gives the same result. It’s close though

      Reply

  8. Kudos with this newer version of the Strawberry cake! I thought the older recipe was great, but thanks for tweaking it cause I love it even more now! Amazing what an extra 3 tablespoons of cake flour will do! Happy dance at high altitude. : ) p.s. waiting anxiously for my cake disks!

    Reply

  9. I have been weighing my ingredients to make baking a little quicker. If I just convert all of the ingredients will the cake still come out right?

    Reply

  10. I loved the cake! It was my first try baking a cake from scratch and completely decorating it. It had such a great flavor but the cake itself was dense. Do you have any idea on what I may have done to cause it or tips to avoid it in the future? I left it in the fridge decorated overnight and cut the next day.

    Reply

  12. Do you find that the strawberries between the layers get soggy if you make this one ahead of time? Also assuming you wouldn’t freeze this one…

    Reply

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