Fresh Strawberry Cake
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A simple, beautiful cake that lets ripe berries shine—this strawberry cake is perfect for spring and summer baking.
This strawberry cake recipe was sent to me by Karen Tannenbaum, a longtime reader, avid baker, and all-around lovely person. In her note, she described a dinner that ended with this dessert as “just like a night in heaven.” I was sold. A few days later, I gave it a go—and it turned out to be one of the simplest, prettiest, and most delicious cakes I’ve ever made. The batter comes together in under 15 minutes with just a handful of ingredients, and it’s a great way to use up extra strawberries (even the ones that are a little past their prime).
This recipe originally ran in Martha Stewart Living back in June 2005, but I’ve made a few tweaks to make it even better. If you have extra strawberries on hand, be sure to also try my strawberry shortcake and strawberry muffins. You’ll be glad you did.
“The most requested cake I have ever made.”
Strawberry Cake Ingredients
- All-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt: The base of the cake. The flour gives it structure, baking powder helps it rise, and the salt balances the sweetness. For best results, always measure flour using the spoon-and-level method.
- Unsalted butter and sugar: Creamed together, these create a light, fluffy base. The butter adds richness, and the sugar sweetens the batter and helps the top caramelize a bit as it bakes. A little sugar is also sprinkled over the strawberries before baking—it creates a pretty, slightly crisp topping.
- Egg and vanilla extract: The egg adds structure to the cake and binds everything together, while the vanilla adds that warm, bakery-style flavor.
- Milk: Thins the batter just enough to make it smooth and pourable (low-fat works just fine).
- Strawberries: Halved and arranged on top, they bake down into the cake and add sweet-tart bursts of flavor.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mix dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set the mixture aside.
Step 2: Cream the butter and sugar. In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. his step helps incorporate air into the batter, which gives the cake a lighter, more tender texture. Don’t rush it—give it a good 3 minutes or so.
Step 3: Add egg and vanilla. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.
Step 4: Finish the batter by adding wet and dry ingredients. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. This keeps the batter smooth and helps everything incorporate evenly without overmixing.
As you can see, the finished batter will be quite thick—that’s exactly what you want, since the strawberries release a lot of moisture as they bake.
Step 5: Assemble the cake. Transfer the batter to a buttered 9-inch deep dish pie pan (or a 9-inch round cake pan) and smooth the top with a spatula. Arrange the strawberry halves on top, cut side down, covering as much of the surface as you can. They’ll sink slightly as the cake bakes. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the remaining sugar. Don’t skip this step—it balances the tartness of the berries and creates a deliciously crisp, golden crust as the cake bakes.
Step 6: Bake. Bake the cake at 350°F for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325°F and bake for about an hour more, until the top is golden and a tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool on a rack, then serve warm or at room temperature—plain, or topped with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Either way, it’s hard to stop at one slice!
The cake is best enjoyed fresh on the day it’s made, but it’ll keep nicely on the countertop for a few days, or you can freeze it for longer storage.
More Strawberry Recipes You Might Like
Fresh Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pan
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup milk (low-fat is fine)
- About ¾ lb strawberries, hulled and halved
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and butter a 9-in (23-cm) deep dish pie pan (or 9-in/23-cm round cake pan).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and 1 cup of the sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on low speed until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, and beat on low speed until smooth. (Note: the batter will be thick.)
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula. Arrange the strawberries on top, cut side down, so they completely cover the batter, using more or less as needed. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar over the strawberries.
- Bake for ten minutes, then reduce the heat to 325°F (165°C) and bake until the cake is lightly golden and a tester comes out clean, about an hour. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack. Serve with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.
- The cake can be stored at room temperature for several days, loosely covered.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I made this cake and loved it. It came out more like a pound cake which was fine. I doubled the recipe and put it in a tube pan. It had to bake about 1-1/2 hours. In hindsight I only kept the 350 temp. for 10 mins. and probably should have gone a bit longer. I also added 1/2 almond extract and 1/2 vanilla extract. I served it with a ricotta creme on the side, flavored with lemon peel/extract. So delish. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
I made this about a month ago because we had extra strawberries. It was absolutely delicious! It was also very easy to put together, and I actually had all the ingredients on hand. Today, we have extra peaches. I’m going to make it soon with peaches instead to see how it works!
Love this recipe!! I’ve made it twice already.
Did a test run of this cake in preparation for Father’s Day for my dad, and it is amazing! I have the very same pie dish, so that is what I used. None of my strawberries sank! When placing my strawberries I made sure to put the biggest ones around the outside, and the smaller ones towards the middle. The biggest ones I cut into quarters; the rest I cut in half. The cake is so light, fluffy, and perfectly moist and the slightly crisp bottom is very yum. The strawberries become tender and taste jam-like, and a nice glaze forms around the edges. Mine was ready 5 min early in a standard oven (used toothpick to check). I paired it with homemade sweetened whipped cream. Will be serving this for Father’s Day!
didn’t work for me
I did find this easy to make but it was pretty dry. Not moist at all.
Do you have any suggestion for making this as an individual dessert? I want to make this with a group of kids and I was hoping that they could make each one themselves. Thanks!
Hi Karen, I really don’t know if that’s possible as the portions they’d be using would so small, and not sure that it would translate well. If you wanted to have them all help with the batter but give them individual baked goods to eat, you could use this muffin recipe instead. Hope that helps!
I made this for a friend last year and she liked it so much she is giving me 2 lbs of freshly picked ripe strawberries from her garden to make one for her (and one for me, yay!!!). Can I double this recipe without making any adjustments? Thank you for making me look like I know what i am doing 🙂
That’s funny — she supplies the berries and you bake the cakes! Yes, it’s fine to double this? I assume you’ll be using 2 separate baking dishes? Keep in mind that you may need to add a minute or two to the baking time because the oven will be slightly more crowded.
Fabulous, easy, beautiful, tasty! My daughters never take home dessert leftovers, but this one was the exception to the rule.
Everything was done per Jenn’s recipe. Right before putting it in the oven, I sprinkled the center with “Sparkle” sugar in white and red.
Excellent! Made this exactly as written. Did take a while to bake, but worth the wait. Going strawberry picking this week. This is on my list for company. Looks so pretty and so easy.
We had a bunch of strawberries that were rapidly going bad, and this cake was a perfect way to use them. My only mods were that I soaked the halved strawberries in a wash of apple cider vinegar (to clean and enhance flavor), used almond extract in place of vanilla (it is EXCELLENT), and added less sugar in the cake but the full amount on top. I have a similar stoneware pie pan and cooked exactly to your specifications and when the alarm went off it was perfectly baked. I ate it with whipped cream last night but then this morning I couldn’t be bothered and ate it by itself with my coffee. Really delightful!