Soft homemade strawberry cake frosted with strawberry cream frosting using fresh strawberries. Exactly, an easy, from the scratch strawberry cake recipe made with real strawberries. This cake is moist and tender, which melts in your mouth. Every bite is filled with fresh taste of strawberries from the reduction. This recipe makes two 8 inch cakes coated with strawberry frosting.
I was never a great fan of strawberry flavored ice creams, Jell-O, etc.. The taste always seems artificial to me. So, I challenged myself to make a strawberry cake that tastes like real strawberries, even though I am not good with baking. I got the idea of incorporating strawberry reduction/ sauce in to the cake, from a chocolate cake that I made a year back for our anniversary. That cake was layered with triple berry sauce and the leftover berry sauce was mixed in the frosting. So, I decided to adapt the same method for the this recipe.
Why Strawberry Sauce or Reduction is Important?
The perfectly balanced and fresh taste of strawberry comes from the reduction that we add in the cake batter and also in the frosting. So, the very first step in this recipe is to make the strawberry reduction.
Start by chopping some fresh and washed strawberries into small pieces. If you are using frozen strawberries, it is not necessary to thaw it before cooking. Combine the strawberries with sugar in a sauce pan, cover with a lid and cook on medium till it starts bubbling. Water from the strawberries and melted sugar are enough to cook the sauce. Lower the heat, remove the lid and stir occasionally to avoid burning. When the berries become tender mash it using a fork and allow the sauce to thicken a bit. (Check out the strawberry cake recipe video)
Adding Strawberry extract in to the sauce gives more flavor and color to the sauce. But this step is totally optional. Also adding lemon juice and zest intensifies the tart flavor of the sauce.
If you desires for a smooth consistency sauce, blend the strawberries using a blender. Strain the puree through a mesh sieve to get a clean and smooth texture. Then follow the above steps.
The beauty of this recipe is you can prepare this reduction ahead of time and keep refrigerate it. The puree stays fresh for up to 1 week in refrigerator and for up to 6 months in freezer in an air tight container. Make sure to take it out of the refrigerator at least an hour before making the cake so that it can come to room temperature.
Strawberry Whipped Cream Frosting
Whip the heavy cream with sugar using a beater until soft peaks appear. Pour vanilla extract and 4 drops of red food color (add more for darker pink color). Beat till stiff peaks appear. Mix the room temperature Strawberry reduction in to it. Refrigerate the frosting to retain its firmness.
You can make this frosting beforehand and keep refrigerated until ready for assembling. Make sure the frosting is always cool enough to work with. So it is important to remember to chill the frosting, if it sits in room temperature for more than half an hour.
How to Make Strawberry Cake?
Make sure all the ingredients (eggs, strawberry sauce, curd/yogurt, butter, milk) are at room temperature. Otherwise it curdle the cake batter. I have used about 3 drops of red food color in the cake batter. Add more red food color for brighter color.
The Strawberry cake is super moist, soft and tender. Using a spring form pan or any preferred pan release for baking is something I suggest. Otherwise it is going to be a struggle to flip the cake from the pan. Once the cakes are cooled off to room temperature, chill it for few hours before starting the assembling. This helps for the easier handling while stacking. Once finished with the frosting, refrigerate the cake until serving.
Please try our other recipe, Red Velvet Cake
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Happy Baking!!!
Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Frosting
Equipment
- 3 Medium Mixing bowls
- 1 Hand Mixer
- 2 Cake pans 8 inch
Ingredients
Strawberry Reduction :
- 2 cups Strawberry (fresh or frozen) chopped into small pieces
- ½ cup Sugar
- 1 tsp Lemon zest
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
Strawberry Cake :
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour / Cake flour
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- ¾ cup Butter melted or at room temperature
- 1 ½ cup Sugar
- 3 medium Eggs or 2 large
- ¼ cup Plain yogurt/ Curd
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- ½ cup Milk
- ½ cup Strawberry Reduction / puree
- 3 drops Red or pink food color optional
Strawberry Frosting :
- 2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 4 drops Red/pink food color optional
- ¼ cup Strawberry Reduction / Puree
Instructions
Strawberry Sauce/ Puree :
- Wash and pat dry fresh strawberries. Cut it in to small pieces. (Refer Notes 1 and 2) Add the strawberry pieces in to a sauce pan along with 1/2 cup sugar. Mix well and cover with a lid.
- Cook the strawberries and sugar over medium heat for 5 minutes. Water starts to release from strawberries. Once it starts to boil take off the lid and reduce the heat to low. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
- When the Strawberries become tender, mash it using a fork and allow the sauce to thicken. Sauce must not be too thick or too thin.
- When the sauce thickens a bit, turn off the heat and add lemon zest and lemon juice.
- Transfer the sauce to another container and let it cool to room temperature before using. (Refer Note 3)
Strawberry Cake :
- Preheat the oven to 325°F or 163°C. Lightly grease two 8 inch cake pans and line the bottom with parchment paper. Then butter the parchment paper and sides of the pans. (Refer Note 4)
- In a medium mixing bowl, sieve together all purpose flour/ cake flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set this dry ingredients aside.
- In another bowl, add melted or softened butter and sugar. Beat on high until the sugar incorporated well with butter. Once it is smooth whisk in eggs (room temperature), adding one at a time. Then whisk in curd or plain yogurt and vanilla extract.
- Gradually add half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk on medium speed. Once it is incorporated into the batter, pour half of the milk and beat until well combined. Then whisk in the rest of the dry ingredients alternately adding milk.
- Add half cup of strawberry reduction/ sauce into the cake batter and whisk on low speed. (Refer Note 5)
- Using a rubber spatula scrap the sides of the mixing bowl and fold the batter gently. Add few drops of red food color and fold till mixed.
- Pour the cake batter evenly in to the prepared cake pans. Tap the pans to release air bubbles and smooth the top using a rubber spatula.
- Bake the cake @ 325°F/163°C for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs on it.
- Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes. Scrap the sides of the pan using a knife and flip the cakes from the pan to a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool completely before assembling.
Strawberry Frosting :
- Whisk heavy cream on high speed for a minute in a mixing bowl. Add powdered sugar and beat until the sugar is mixed.
- Add vanilla extract, 3 to 4 drops of red food color and whisk till soft peaks starts to appear.
- Into the mix add 1/4 cup strawberry puree/ sauce, and beat on medium until stiff peaks form.
Assembling the Cake :
- Place the first layer of strawberry cake on to a cake plate. To make the cake looks even, trim off the top a little using a sharp knife if needed and brush off any crumbs.
- Add a generous portion of strawberry frosting (about 6 – 7 tbsp) over the cake and smooth it out using a spatula until it is flat.
- Place the second layer of cake on top of the frosting and smooth it's top with frosting.
- Cover the outside to the cake with the leftover strawberry frosting and decorate with some fresh strawberries.
- Refrigerate the cake until serving.
Video
Notes
- If using frozen strawberries, cook them without thawing.
- For a smooth consistency sauce, blend the strawberries using a blender. Strain the puree through a mesh sieve to get a clean and smooth texture.
- You can keep the puree for up to 1 week in refrigerator and for up to 6 months in freezer in an air tight container. Make sure to take it out of the refrigerator at least an hour before making the cake so that it can come to room temperature.
- The cake is super moist and soft. Use a spring form pan or any preferred pan release for baking the cake.
- Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature while making the cake. Otherwise it curdle the cake batter.
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