This Strawberry Cake is just about the quickest and easiest cake you will ever make. Loaded with 500g / 1 lb of strawberries IN and ON the cake, it’s a great way to use strawberries when they’re in season! Yogurt makes the crumb moist, it’s not too sweet and you’ll love the hint of lemon.
No stand mixer, no creaming butter. Just one bowl and a wooden spoon!
Strawberry cake
A pink sponge cake with pink frosting made entirely with fresh strawberries without cheating* is a recipe that’s officially been in development for 3 years.
I’m confident 2020 will be The Year when I finally crack it. I’m getting close – and I’m SUPER excited to share it with you. And while infinitely doable by any home cook, it is quite an involved recipe.
So for now, here’s the cake you make with all those strawberries – the best easy cake recipe you will ever make bursting with fresh strawberries!
* No cheating = no food colouring, no strawberry flavouring, no fancy pants ingredients like freeze dried strawberries.
The cake is made with a yogurt and oil based batter which keeps the crumb beautifully moist for days and gives it more structure than delicate sponge cakes made with creamed butter so it can stand up to the weight and considerable juices that sweat out of the strawberries.
It’s still a beautifully soft crumb, it’s just not as delicate as traditional butter and sponge cakes. I’ve used it for Blueberry Cake and this Lemon Yogurt Cake if you’d like to read feedback from people who have tried it (spoiler: it’s good!)
What goes in Strawberry Cake
So here’s what you need:
-
Strawberries – 500g/1 lb to be exact! Some goes in the cake, most goes on top;
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Flour, sugar, egg, baking powder, vanilla, salt – all the usual suspects in cakes;
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Lemon – the freshness of lemon works so well in cakes made with berries! Proof -> Strawberry Cheesecake, Blueberry Cake, Blueberry Cheesecake Bars, Blueberry Lemon Loaf; and
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Oil and yogurt or sour cream – as noted above, this is what keeps the crumb really moist as well as adding a touch of tang, reinforcing the brightness we get from the lemon.
How to make this easy Strawberry Cake
Being that this doesn’t have creamed butter in it, it’s a one-bowl, hand mixed batter. Whisk Wet ingredients first, then mix the dry in.
Some of the strawberries go inside the cake – not too much, I was a little overenthusiastic about this at first but the strawberries made the batter so wet and weighed it down so much it took 1 hour 40 minutes to cook! Most go on top – they hold their form pretty well but burst with juice when you bite into them.
I’m so unoriginal that whenever I see strawberries and baked goods, I immediately think cream. So for me, a (big!) dollop of freshly whipped cream is mandatory for serving.
Though recently, I really showed my wild side when I served it warm with ice cream – and it was to die for. As with most cakes, the inside is a little “pudding like” when it’s still warm from the oven (hence why most cake recipes sternly instruct you to be patient and let the cake cool fully before serving).
But for this Strawberry Cake, that “pudding like” texture with the warm strawberries just seemed to enhance the eating experience. Especially with that (adventurous! risky!) scoop of ice cream I plonked on the side.
It’s terrific both ways – at room temp OR warm. You choose! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Strawberry Cake (really easy cake recipe)
Ingredients
Strawberries
- 500g / 1 lb strawberries , hulled (ie tops removed)
WET:
- 1 cup sugar , caster/superfine best but granulated ok too
- 1/2 cup oil , canola or vegetable oil
- 2 eggs , large (~50g/1.75 oz each)
- 1 tbsp grated lemon rind
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (1 large lemon)
- 1 cup plain yoghurt , unsweetened (Greek or just plain)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (or essence)
DRY:
- 2 1/4 cups flour , plain/all purpose
- 4 tsp baking powder (or 1 1/4 tsp baking soda)
- Pinch of salt
SERVING:
- Whipped cream
- Extra strawberries
- Icing sugar/ powdered sugar , for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan).
- Grease and line a 23 cm / 9" cake pan with baking paper/parchment paper. (Any type of cake pan is fine)
Strawberries:
- For inside of cake: Dice some strawberries into ~1.5cm / 1" pieces to make 1 cup (about 1/3 of the strawberries)
- Topping: Cut the remaining strawberries in half.
Cake:
- Place Wet ingredients in a bowl and whisk well for 1 minute.
- Add Dry ingredients then whisk well until lump free.
- Pour half into cake pan, smooth surface. Scatter over diced strawberries.
- Top with remaining batter. Smooth surface, then top with halved strawberries, cut face down.
- Bake 50 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. (Note 1) If you need to cook longer, cover with foil if it starts getting too golden.
- Stand 15 minutes in the cake pan before turning out onto cooling rack.
- Cool 15 minutes+ before serving warm or at room temp. Dust with icing sugar, and serve with cream or if serving warm, ice cream!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published as this Upside Down Strawberry Cake in August 2017 which, due to lack of reader interest (ie virtually ZERO readers!) and some technicality issues, has been replaced with this sparkling new easy Strawberry Cake recipe!
More strawberry recipes
Life of Dozer
When the video camera kept focussing on his big golden head instead of the darn cake!!!
Liz says
12 Servings? Ha ha ha ha ha ha. You obviously don’t have teenage boys.
Nagi says
Ba ha ha!!!
Liz says
It looks delicious, by the way.
Herkman says
Love this cake made it friday and its gone in saturday morning.love love thank you for the recipe.
Natalie says
Can this cake be frozen?
Ashah says
Everyone loved this cake. Thank you again!
Holly says
Really enjoyed this cake. It’s moist with a nice crumb and is quick and easy to pull together. I did cover the last ten minutes to prevent overbrowning – cook time was otherwise bang on for me. I will make this again I’m sure.
Thanks Nagi!
Nagi says
You are very welcome Holly! N x
Linda Crowley says
Can frozen strawberries be used
Nagi says
Not this one Linda, sorry! N x
Shawna says
Made this today. Great, easy recipe. Only put 1/2 cup sugar and still turned out fine. Took about 15 minutes longer to cook before toothpick came out clean. I sprinkled a little sugar on the berries before putting the cake in the oven. Love the lemon flavour in the cake as well. Impressive looking cake for being so easy. Will definitely make again.
Nagi says
I am happy that you enjoyed it Shawna! N x
leina younes says
Very healthy tasty simple cake. Made it today in a heart shape pan and turned out amazing. But my kids didnt like the cooked strawberries in it( i loved it). Can i make it without strawberries with the same amount of wet ingredients or should i increase them? thank you 😊
Elizabeth Moroney says
Great recipe I didn’t have the suggested cake tin so made it in a loaf tin and cooked the rest of the cake mixture as muffins shared it with family for afternoon tea the cake was so moist and enjoyed by all thank you
Anne says
Hi Nagi, I’ve only recently discovered your website and have tried a few recipes….they’ve turned out great so am now a fan!
Re this strawberry cake, do you think almond flour/meal would work OK? With 4 tsps baking powder, I’m thinking it could work.
Chaz says
Hi, can I make this with SR flour? (Don’t have any plain) so I just leave out the baking powder and salt? Thanks
Joael says
This cake was recommended on your “appreciation” site, so I made it for our Thanksgiving dinner. My oven tends to run a little cool, so I upped the temp to 400 degrees. After 50 minutes, it was still very wet in the middle, so I covered it and put it back for another 15 minutes. Still, it was wet at the bottom of the skewer. So, another five minutes. The ultimate result was that it was overcooked on the outside and fine inside. Any suggestions? I’m a cook but not much of a baker.
Nagi says
Hi Joael – what size pan did you use? N x
Leisha says
I would love to make strawberry cake recipe with my family at my house. I am going to watch. Bailey is stupid staff in resource centre. This is Baileys fault. Bailey is not suppose say that no more. Bailey is the verse staff.
Amanda says
I made this cake with sunflower oil. It was one of the worst cakes I have ever eaten… Very bland… Any insights from other bakers? I usually don’t use sunflower oil.
Angelin says
Thanks for the sharing such awesome recipe! I’m a beginner (0% knowledge in baking), would like to make a cake for my 1yr old baby. & I found out that your recipe is super easy n truly looks yummy. Hope i can do it~ by the way how many minutes should I preheat the oven for 100°C? As I found your note didn’t stated it..
Nagi says
Hi Angelin. This cake bakes at 200, not 100. It usually takes about 15-20 minutes to preheat the oven but that depends on your specific oven. N x
shl says
Made this yesterday for my niece’s birthday and it turned out wonderfully! As other commentors mentioned, the batter was very thick (may have to do with the type of yogurt?) but I left it as it is. Had some blueberries so I scattered them in the middle layer with the strawberry pieces for contrasting colour, and the taste and effect was lovely. Thank you for another great recipe, Nagi!
Nagi says
Glad you enjoyed it! N x
Petrina says
Off to farmers market where hope to get some strawberries to make this beautiful looking cake
Nagi says
It’s that time of year! N x
Tess says
Love this cake! Tastes amazing and easy recipe
Sam says
Great, easy recipe but the inside took quite a bit longer to cook which meant the top got a little over cooked with the strawberries looking a bit too dark. Is there any solution for this? I stuck to 1 cup of strawberries in the middle.
Sue says
Hi Nagi. I’ve just made the strawberry cake and it’s in the oven. I never leave comments but I must commend your recipe compilation. It is easy to follow, covers everything and it’s so refreshing to have commonsense comments like any tin will do. Best online recipe presentation I’ve ever seen. Looking forward to trying the cake👍