I love strawberries!
No doubt about that, strawberries have always been a part of my life and recipes. Almost 6 years ago, I blogged about a drool worthy fresh strawberry cake that I made and it has been a BIG hit on my blog, getting pinned and shared all over the place the last few years. The pictures I took are really bad….6 years ago I had no idea how to take decent pics, so it was pretty pathetic. I just went back and edited that post with a good picture and a printable recipe sheet that I’m adding here too.
Best ever strawberry cake
One of my friends I went to college with sent me a funny note recently. She was looking for a strawberry cake recipe and her daughter found one on Pinterest and sent it to her. Yep, it was from MY blog from 6 years ago and I had to laugh. Small world, after all!
After bringing all these beautiful fresh strawberries back from Florida, I had to make another one of these strawberry cakes. So, I’m reprising the strawberry cake recipe today, which I’m also updating on a printable recipe page. We didn’t do that back then, but now recipes can be printed easily.
I pureed the strawberries and used about 3 cups fresh strawberries in this cake. One cup in the batter and one cup in the icing. I had leftovers for adding to the top too, so the strawberry flavor is pretty intense.
The recipe calls for a white cake mix, so I bought a Duncan Hines French Vanilla. Then you add some other ingredients to the cake batter mix, along with 4 eggs.
Mix it all up with a mixer. Puree the strawberries.
Then add the cup of fresh pureed strawberries.
Pour into a 9×13 pan. You could also make this as a layer cake too in round cake pans, I’m sure, if you wanted to. Layer cakes have never been my specialty so I did the sheet cake version.
After baking, it came out golden brown.
Mixed up the frosting, which is butter, cream cheese, confectioners sugar, and strawberries.
The icing is runny and not a hard icing, but it’s very yummy!
Please note that the icing is not a hard icing at all, it’s runny and if you leave out some of the strawberries it should be less runny so be aware of that. I used this icing recipe as I found it online, but the icing needs to be tweaked, it does make a lot of icing (almost too much) and the icing is very runny as is. I’ve read to add more powdered sugar to thicken up icing, so I would use less strawberries and more powered sugar to make the icing thicker.
Let it drip down the cake and then add a dollop of strawberries on top for garnishment. The taste is out of this world!
Invite some friends over and let them eat strawberry cake. It might taste from scratch, but it’s very easy to make and super delicious if you like strawberries! Feel free to pin this one too, I love that it’s been shared so many times! The sweetness is delicious and has such strawberry flavor.
Best Ever Strawberry Cake
Easy strawberry sheet cake made with a box cake mix base, with added ingredients and a cream cheese frosting with strawberries.
Ingredients
- 1 box white cake mix
- 3 tbsp plain flour
- 1 (3 Oz) box strawberry jello
- 1/2 cup water
- 3/4 cup oil, I used canola oil
- 2 cup fresh or frozen pureed strawberries (one cup for cake & one cup for icing)
- 4 eggs
Instructions
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Combine cake mix, flour, Jello and water. Add oil and eggs, one at a time, beating well between. Add strawberries. Beat 2 minutes. Pour batter into well greased and floured 9×13 pan. Bake at 350* for about 45 minutes.
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CREAM CHEESE ICING: adapted from Paula Deen online recipe
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1 stick butter softened
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1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
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1 cup frozen or fresh pureed strawberries ( or frozen strawberries)
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3 cups powdered sugar
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Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix with mixer until creamy. Pour over cake after it cools from the oven. Add a strawberry to top for garnishment or pureed strawberries to top. Eat and Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Cake recipe Adapted from Cooks.com
For those of you who can’t see the printable recipe above, here’s a screenshot of just the recipe:
If I used 2-9” pans, how long would I bake them?
HI, Jan, I’m not sure how it would change, but just bake and check it as you go for doneness. It would probably bake faster in layers.
I just finished baking it in 2 8×8 pans. I baked them for 40 min. and they came out fine, not over baked. You may have to wreak it with your oven. I love this recipe!
can you send instructions on how you puree frozen strawberries for your cake?
Just put them in a blender or food processor.
I love this recipe. I also tweaked it a little. I left out the eggs and used nonfat milk instead of water to make it lower in fat and calories. used butter instead of oil and used 3/4 stick only. Left out cream cheese in the frosting and used 4 Tbsp butter.
Can u refrigerate this cake for 2 or 3 days
Yes you can.
this is very similar to a recipe, I believe, from the 70’s called Summer of 42 Strawberry Cake.
awesome recipe! what I had on hand was a strawberry cake mix and half the cream cheese. made cake as directed and half the frosting. Perfect! my husband doesn’t really like strawberrys, he asked for a second serving!
Could this be done in a round cake pan like 9”x3”deep?
Hi, I think that would probably work. Just check it for overbaking and time.
This cake is simple and very good. I just can’t believe some of the questions people ask.
THIS cake is amazing! I love it without the frosting as much as I do with! It’s super moist & has a great strawberry taste!
I love seeing the White Lily flour–I live in Peachtree City and my mom used this my whole life, so of course that’s what I use!
I haven’t made this yet, I’m going to make it this weekend for my granddaughter’s birthday. I was wondering if you thought using just 1/4c of strawberry puree and adding powdered (in the food processor) dried strawberries would keep the frosting from being so thin? I’ve seen dried strawberries used in frosting recipes before and thought it might work here!
I think that would probably work, you just have to experiment and see what it does. Less of the liquid would help, I’m sure.
Phenomenal recipe! To thicken the icing the only adjustments I made was using a 1/2 cup of pureed strawberries and 1/2 pkg of softened cream cheese (4 oz). WOW! Thanks for sharing!
i made this for my granddaughter’s 19th birthday and used an organic vanilla cake mix. Maybe that made the difference. While I substituted fresh whipped cream and fresh strawberry halves for the icing, which were delicious….the cake had more of a cloufuti substance….quite dense and only so-so. For the leftovers, I scraped off the whipped cream and berries in a bowl and tossed the disappointing cake.
What is the weight of the cake mix?
Since cake mixes now are only 15 oz as opposed to the original 18 oz, do you add more flour than the 3 tbsp?
I think the standard cake mix is just fine in this case.
I don’t use box cakes nearly never but when I must for a fast easy cupcakes need I suggest this and you must try it next time: substitute the oil for the boxed cake with same amount melted butter. Trust me. ALWAYS substitute butter for oil – brownies too – it makes a HUGE difference.
And always sift the powdered box cake or brownies (unless there’s nuts and you can’t) and it makes a big difference too. Thanks for the recipe – would’ve been so perfect for Val Day.
Do you make the cake according to box instructions then add your additional ingredients? Or make the cake with just your ingredients listed? A little clarity please
Hi, I thought it was clear, just buy the cake mix and add the things that are listed.
All of it is super yummy! One quick question that I didn’t see answered anywhere: does the cake with icing on it need to be refrigerated if not eaten all in one day? Thank you
HI, Eliza, I did refrigerate my cake.
I can’t wait to make this. It looks so wonderful and yummy. I have a question though. I am making the cake, but also wonder if it would work as cupcakes?
But if not, I can’t wait to make your cake! Thank you for sharing with us. ❤️
HI Kim, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work as cupcakes, so give it a try and let us know how it works. You will have to adjust cooking time of course.