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!!!
I have just made this cake & the batter was soooo thick I had to use my fingers/ spoon to spread it. I followed the recipe … what do you think went wrong?
Thanks
Tonight we are having beef short ribs in red wine sauce and for dessert strawberry cake with ice cream cannot wait. Thanks Nagi i just love all your recipes you make me look like i can cook…
YUMMMMM!!! Enjoy Janine! N x
Has anyone tried this with non-dairy yogurt such as coconut or soy yogurt?
Nagi, what happened to your Strawberry Upside Down cake recipe? It was amazing and I can’t find it anywhere. This strawberry cake is good, but my family asks for the Upside Down recipe. Thanks!
Hi Nancy, I’ve just updated it with an easier version that I think is just as good. If you shoot me an e-mail I can send you through the old recipe. N x
I made this today with strawberries I picked on the farm. This recipe is very easy and the cake is moist and delicious without being overly sweet. I added a pinch of cardamom powder with the dry ingredients which was lovely with the strawberries in the cake. Nagi, I’ve been a home cook for well over 20 years and have used countless websites looking for good recipes. Now I only come to you because your recipes always deliver fantastic results. Thank you for all the hard work you’ve put into this site and for inspiring us all to cook well.
Sheeba, you’ve made my day – that’s truly amazing to hear, thank you so so SO much!!! N x
Hi Nagi
Can i use frozen strawberries instead of fresh?
Thanks.
I made this recipe tonight for my husband and it turned out wonderfully! It was incredibly moist and very flavourful. It is super easy to make and it is definitely company worthy! I absolutely love that all the ingredients get mixed together in one bowl – talk about easy clean up. Thanks for sharing another great recipe.
Hi Nagi, I tried the recipe but it didn’t turn out the way it should. The inside of the cake was dense and hard, and did not have a cake texture. Not sure what was the issue. Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Michele, sounds like you’ve missed some ingredients or gone wrong somewhere. It’s too hard for me to say sorry! N x
I’ve misplaced my 9inch cake pan! I’ve torn up the house looking for it. Will this work in two 8inch pans or will it not since it won’t be as tall?
Thanks
yes, it will work, i used an 8 inch and it worked just fine, really moist!
This strawberry cake is soo moist and delicious, in our house it’s gone in one day! One of the best parts is no mixer required.
I love hearing this Eva!! N x
Hi Nagi, will it ruin the cake if I use self-raising flour instead of plain four? 🙁
Hi Steph, you can use self raising, just omit the baking powder that the recipe calls for. Enjoy! N x
Everyone raved about this cake! I served it for dessert after a BBQ using new season strawberries. It was super quick to make & was lovely with chantilly cream.
Made this for an afternoon tea today and although the batter was quite thick(I had to use my fingers to spread in pan) it was so moist and amazing. Went down a treat. Will definitely make again
LOVED this cake recipe. I used coconut oil , which kept solidifying so I had to manage the temperature , and my cake batter was quite stiff so I was initially a little worried, but it came out well! Sooo good. I’m going to try again with a different veg oil next time but otherwise wouldn’t change a thing!
OMG ! What a lovely cake!
I have to say it went down a storm with all my family & I will definitely be making again.
Thanks once again Nagi for another fantastic recipe.
Hi Nagi! I have so many of your recipes on rotation in this house. I swear they think I’m THAT good. Lol I do have a question for you for this cake recipe. I followed it to a T but my batter came out more like a cookie type batter. It was very thick and didn’t run like yours at all. I had to form the batter in the pan with my fingers so that it could cover the bottom since it was too thick to cover by itself. The cake still ended up decent. It was a bit dry though. What do you think I did wrong? Maybe next time I’ll do just 2 cups of flour or even 1 3/4 instead.
I also had this problem and even weighed out the flour to make sure I had the right amount
I’ve baked this twice and both turned out perfect, I used 1/4 cup of sugar in both.
Also your carrot cake again 1/4 cup sugar perfect and what can I say about your Christmas Cake. Made 9, even divided the recipe between two 6inc cake tins. Not as high but still as yummy.
Thank you love your recipes.
Funny story. We homeschool in the US. Each of my children had to pick a recipe that highlighted a “new world” food. My son chose this recipe. Well, we learned that a standard round US cake pan is too small for this cake. It spilled out all over the oven. We caught it soon enough, transferred it to a square pan and it was absolutely delicious. My kids ate it up, leaving not a single crumb. Thanks for this recipe!!
What can i use instead of yoghurt as want to do it today but do not have it…skimmed milk is good?
Hi Fiona, sour cream works well as a substitute here – N x
Wow! Lovely crumb and taste. I followed the recipe exactly except I used coconut flavoured yogurt and so dropped sugar to 150g. The top was browned but not bad, the inside is heaven.. will definitely bake again, and again.
One of the best cakes I have ever made (and I’ve madea few in my time!). Got a double punnet of overripe strawberries for $1 at the market and new it was meant to be. Divine!
Perfect Georgia!! N x
Could I use buttermilk instead of yoghurt? Forgot to ask in earlier comment. 🙄 Thanks…
It’s too think unfortunately Nina, but sour cream will work as a sub for the yogurt. N x