Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Nothing to me says spring or summer like fresh strawberries! This strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting is made with fresh strawberries and freeze-dried strawberries, giving you a super strawberry cake!

I wanted this cake to taste like an actual strawberry, and not use strawberry extract. All of the strawberry flavor you're getting is from reduced strawberries and freeze-dried strawberries. If you want the cake to be more pink though you could add a little bit of food gel dye to the cake batter!

If you want a vanilla version of this cake, try my vanilla cake with strawberry filling or for a cupcake version try my strawberry-filled cupcakes.

Recipe Testing

I wanted this cake to taste like strawberries, from the cake layers to the frosting. I did this by blending strawberries into a puree, and then simmering it until the blended strawberries were thick. I also added some freeze-dried strawberries for an extra oomph of strawberry flavor. This is a similar technique that I used in my strawberry crunch cheesecake recipe.

The cake also uses the reverse creaming method (also used in my lemon curd cake!). What that means is instead of mixing the butter and sugar, you add the butter to all of the dry ingredients until it looks like damp sand. By coating the butter in flour, you're stopping gluten development. What does that mean? It means you have a soft, velvety and tender cake!

Ingredients Needed

• Freeze-Dried Strawberries: I've found these at Trader Joe's but also at the grocery store or on Amazon. Note, you can't swap these out for regular strawberries or frozen strawberries because those have too much moisture!
• Yogurt: I used strawberry yogurt for extra strawberry flavor, but you could use regular yogurt if that's what you have on hand.
• Strawberries: because this cake recipe uses fresh strawberries, I recommend making this during strawberry season when the strawberries taste the best!
• Cream Cheese: if you live in Europe where the cream cheese comes in tubs, it's going to have more moisture than American cream cheese. I recommend just patting it down with a paper towel to get rid of the extra moisture. I also use cold cream cheese so the icing stays thick.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How to make a strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting

Step 1: Blend the strawberries for the cake in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Step 2: Pour into a small saucepan and heat over low-heat until you have ½ cup of strawberry puree left, this takes around 30 minutes. Pour into a bowl and let cool to room temperature. Note, you can make this the night before!

Step 3: In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix all of the dry ingredients with the paddle attachment.

Step 4: Add in the room temperature butter and mix on low speed until it begins to look like damp sand.

Step 5: Add the egg whites one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. Then add the whole egg and mix once more.

Step 6: In a jug, whisk together the vanilla extracted, reduced strawberry puree, almond extract, strawberry yogurt and milk.

Step 7: Add the wet ingredients to the cake batter and mix until combined. I prefer to do this slowly in three additions.

Step 8: Pour the cake batter into two 8-inch greased and lined baking pans. Bake in an oven preheated to 350ºFahrenheit for 25-30 minutes. A toothpick inserted should come out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing

Step 9: While the cake cools you can make the frosting. In a large bowl with a handheld mixer or in a stand mixer, beat the butter and cold cream cheese together.

Step 10: Add the sifted powdered sugar a cup at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition.

Step 11: Add in the freeze-dried strawberry powder, vanilla extract and salt.

Step 12: Frost your cake with the cream cheese frosting and enjoy!

Expert Baking Tips & Tricks

• Strawberry Filling: If you want a separate strawberry filling for this cake, you can make my easy strawberry filling for cakes.
• Cold Cream Cheese: usually for frostings I recommend having all the ingredients at room temperature, but because cream cheese frosting is usually not super thick I recommend using cold cream cheese.
• Pink Cake: if you want the cake layers to be more pink you can add a few drops of pink food gel. My favorite brand for this is Americolor!
• Freeze-Dried Strawberry Powder: I recommend not blending the freeze-dried strawberries until you're about to use it. I've found it turns a bit damp if it sits out for a while.

Frequently Asked Questions