Celebrate strawberry season with this simple strawberry snack cake! This mini strawberry cake is made in one bowl, and you don't even need a mixer, just a whisk and a rubber spatula. The cake is topped with sliced fresh strawberries and a sprinkle of sugar, giving you a jammy strawberry layer. The cake batter is made with yogurt, making it extra soft and fluffy. I love serving this simple snack cake with fresh vanilla bean whipped cream, but it's also perfect with a sprinkle of confectioners' sugar.
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I love me a lil snack cake! This strawberry snacking cake is based on my simple yogurt plum snack cake. I used the same base recipe, which I know works well, but swapped out plums for sliced strawberries.
I love adding some fresh lemon zest or lemon juice to my strawberry frosting, as I did in my strawberry funfetti layer cake recipe, so I stirred fresh lemon zest into the cake batter to brighten the strawberry flavor.
It's perfect as is with your morning coffee or tea, but you can make it a lil bit fancy by serving it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, homemade vanilla bean whipped cream, or a sprinkle of powdered sugar! I mean, how pretty would this be for Mother's Day or a lil summer picnic?
If you want even more simple snacking cakes, you need to try my cardamom almond cake with brown butter or marble loaf cake with chocolate ganache.
Baking with Fresh Strawberries 🍓
There's a reason you don't see a ton of baking recipes with fresh strawberries - they contain so much moisture! That's why I tend to use freeze-dried strawberries in my frosting recipes, otherwise, the frosting would get too runny.
When it comes to baking fresh strawberries into a cake or cupcake, the same thing can happen - there's just too much liquid. Now, we can do what I did with my strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting, and puree strawberries and reduce them down. But, I wanted this to be a simple cake that you can easily whip up in no time!
Instead, I very thinly sliced up some strawberries and added them on top of the cake just before baking. No extra liquid, and instead you get sweet jammy strawberries that almost feel like they've been roasted - yum!
Cutting them thin means they won't sink into the batter or get too soggy!
Grab your ingredients!
- Fresh Strawberries: I have only tested this strawberry vanilla cake with fresh strawberries and not frozen strawberries.
- Lemon Zest: Adding some lemon zest is going to help brighten up that strawberry flavor.
- Yogurt: Make sure you're using full-fat yogurt! You can always swap it out for sour cream. Don't use milk, that'll make the cake batter too thin and the strawberries will sink when baking.
Let's make this recipe!
- Melt the butter, then whisk in the sugar and eggs.
- Add all of the wet ingredients and then dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.
- Pour into an 8x8 square pan lined with parchment paper. Layer over fresh strawberries, then sprinkle over granulated sugar.
- Bake in the oven for 45-55 minutes. Let cool completely and then enjoy!
Baking Tips & Tricks
- Different Pan: Swap out this 8x8 baking pan for a 9-inch round pan, and the baking time will be the same.
- Strawberry Jam: If you want more strawberry oomph, swirl strawberry cake into the cake batter before sprinkling over the sliced strawberries. You might need a slightly longer baking time.
- Weigh your Flour: I always, always, always recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh your flour. Adding too much flour = sad, dry cake. We don't want that!
- Thinly Sliced Strawberries & Lots of Them! Make sure you slice the strawberries thinly enough so they don't sink into the cake batter. Add more strawberries than you think, they shrink a bit while baking!
- Lining the Pan: When lining your square pan, have the parchment paper overhanging on the sides. That way, you can easily lift the cake out.
Storage
Because of the fresh fruit, I recommend storing this cake in the fridge for 3-4 days. Let it come to room temperature before digging in!
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Thank you!
Ella
Recipe
Easy Strawberry Snack Cake (One Bowl Recipe)
Equipment
- 1 8x8 baking pan
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ¾ cup (150 grams) white sugar
- 1 cup (130 grams) strawberries thinly sliced
- ¾ cup (165 grams) full fat yogurt room temperature
- Zest of a lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (180 grams) all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°Fahrenheit/175°Celsius. Grease and line an 8x8 baking pan, making sure that parchment paper is overhanging on the sides so you can easily lift the cake out.
- In a large bowl, melt the butter. Let it cool slightly, then whisk in the sugar and two eggs. Whisk until smooth and slightly pale.½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, ¾ cup (150 grams) white sugar, 2 large eggs
- Whisk in the yogurt, lemon zest, and vanilla extract.¾ cup (165 grams) full fat yogurt, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, Zest of a lemon
- Fold in the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Fold until there are no more streaks of flour!1 ½ cups (180 grams) all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan, using a small offset spatula to even out the batter.
- Sprinkle over your sliced strawberries. You can either arrange them in rows or drop them more organically (which is what I did!). Sprinkle over the extra tablespoon of sugar.1 cup (130 grams) strawberries, 1 tablespoon white sugar
- Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 45-55 minutes. Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pan. It is a fragile cake so when you lift it do it gently!
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