Finding the perfect cake for a special birthday has just gotten easier! This Homemade Strawberry Cake with silky Cream Cheese Frosting is perfection! (Video below on how to create this ruffle technique!) I love making my own birthday cake! It is one of the few times I year I throw all caution to the wind and just bake to please my soul. And belly. ๐Ÿ˜‰ 

Cream Cheese Frosting Ruffles on Strawberry Cake
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How to Make a REAL Strawberry Cake

Strawberry Cake Recipe (Below)

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

8-inch round cake pans

Offset Spatula

Pastry Bag with #113 Leaf Tip

Inside slice of REAL strawberry Cake

Food Coloring: Yay or Nay?

As you can see, this is not a pink cake. Real strawberries will only lend so much of their color to the batter. But readers have mentioned that they do not want to use red food coloring and this cake is a perfect example of not needing to. The flavor is wonderful enough on its own!

If you want your cake to be more pink feel free to add some red food coloring. I would recommend at least a teaspoon.

Tips for Real Strawberry Cake

  • Room temperature ingredients are ESSENTIAL for this recipe. You can see how I quickly bring eggs to room temperature here.
  • There are a number of steps to this recipe, so it’s a good idea to read through first and prepare your ingredients beforehand.
  • If you want to use all of your strawberry puree IN the cake, feel free to brush cakes with a simple syrup after they have baked. This is a dense cake, so it does need the additional moisture added before serving.
  • This cake would also be amazing with Whipped Cream frosting.
  • If you are baking at a higher altitude, check out my High Altitude Baking Tips.

Cream Cheese Frosting

For the Cream Cheese Frosting recipe, feel free to add 1-2 tablespoons liquid (milk, heavy cream, etc.) to create the soft, velvety texture needed for this frosting technique. I also turned my mixer on high and let it go for about 4 minutes to add some air into the frosting.

A crumb coat is important in this cake as you will want something for the ruffles to “adhere” to. (frosting sticks to frosting)

Cream Cheese Ruffles

Here is a video on how I created the Ruffle technique on this cake:

I used an offset spatula to create lines in the crumb coat that helped me to stay straight. (Some of my ruffle lines are crooked… I apologize! This happened because I was trying to pipe and film at the same time. You can easily create vertical perfection at home with the guidelines in your cake!)

Top of Ruffle Cake

For the top, I just used my offset spatula to smooth the edge. Gently pull the frosting from the edge towards the center of the cake. Very easy!

And of course, feel free to do ignore the fancy design and just smooth the frosting out as you see fit. ๐Ÿ™‚ 

Slice of Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe adapted from Strawberry Ruffle Birthday Cake.

Seriously amazing From-Scratch Strawberry Cake with a silky Cream Cheese frosting that will blow your mind!
5 from 3 votes

From-Scratch Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Finding the perfect cake for a special birthday has just gotten easier! This Homemade Strawberry Cake with silky Cream Cheese Frosting is perfection! 

Ingredients

  • 4 large egg whites, (save yolks for later)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup (226g) butter
  • 1 cup granulated sugar, for separate step
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • ยฝ teaspoon almond extract
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ยฝ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup strawberry puree (1 cup thawed frozen strawberry & 1-2 tbsp water in blender)
  • 2 -3 cups dices fresh strawberries, or thawed strawberries

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 350ยฐF. Prepare three 8-in round cake pans.
  • Whip four eggs whites in mixer until soft peaks form. Add 1 cup sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, whipping to maintain soft peaks. Pour whites into large bowl (This was about 5 cups in volume after whipped) and set aside.
  • Without fully cleaning the mixer bowl, cream room temperature butter and 1 cup sugar until fluffy. Add in vanilla and almond extract. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating after each addition.
  • Sift together 3 cups flour, baking powder, and salt.
  • Alternatively add flour mixture and โ…“ strawberry puree to batter until fully combined. (Flour, โ…“ cupย puree, flour, โ…“ cup puree, flour) Batter will be thick. You should have โ…“ cup puree LEFT OVER. (Thisย will be brushed on cake later)
  • Fold in egg whites.
  • Gently add diced strawberries to batter. (I used 2 cups but think 3 cups would alsoย be delicious.)
  • Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 32-36 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centerย comes out with no wet batter. (crumbs are ok!) If using two 8-in cake pans, bake for 38-42 minutes.
  • Remove cakes from over and use a pastry brush to spread remaining strawberry puree over warm cakes.
  • Cool until ready to assemble cakes.

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Meet Amanda Rettke

Amanda Rettke is the creator of I Am Baker, and the bestselling author of Surprise Inside Cakes: Amazing Cakes for Every Occasion โ€“ With a Little Something Extra Inside.Over the course of her 15+ year blogging adventure, she has been featured in and collaborated with the Food Network, New York Times, LA Times, Country Living Magazine, People Magazine, Epicurious, Brides, Romantic Homes, life:beautiful, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Mail, Star Tribune, The Globe and Mail, DailyCandy, YumSugar, The Knot, The Kitchn, and Parade, to name a few.

Reader Comments

  1. What an absolutely fun and gorgeous way to use that leaf tip! I need to pull out my tips and see what I could do differently with them. You have inspired me ๐Ÿ™‚ And happy birthday…I know I’m a little late…I’m so sorry about that! Hugs from me to you!

  2. Happy Birthday!!! mine is tomorrow. I also love baking my own birthday cake but this year I am under strict orders not too. I am sure that it will be a wonderful surprise. this cake looks delicious. I will definitely bake it real soon. thanks

  3. I hope you had a wonderful birthday. This looks great. Thank you for a cake recipe that is from scratch. We are trying to stay away from “mix” food. I am so disappointed when I see a great looking desserts and it is from a box mix.

  4. I’ve searched the Internet for a strawberry cake using real strawberries and no artificial flavors! Thanks for taking on the challenge! I’d like to make them cupcakes, though. How would you adjust cook time/temp for cupcakes? I’m wondering if the real strawberries inside changes the game from the normal cake/cupcake conversion.

    Thanks!!

    1. Ok I tried it. ๐Ÿ™‚ For anyone wondering the same thing as me:

      I split the recipe in half, and still made 18 cupcakes! I did use 2 cups of diced strawberries and 3/4 cup of the purรฉe. Cooked 20 minutes st 350ยฐ.

      It. was. DIVINE. Such a great strawberry flavor. My friends were shocked that biting into them they actually bit into strawberries–it’s so uncommon in strawberry cake. I’ll make these again for sure! Thanks for the recipe!

  5. Hello from an American living in Germany!

    I bought everything to make this cake, and im so excited to show my German/European friends how amazing American baking is!!

    Also looking forward to your canning video as a newbie. Mason jars are about 10 Euro A JAR here so Im left with only 1 piece jar lids, I think they are called lug lids. Any info on safe canning with these would be great. I know the USDA doesn’t approve them but this is the only thing old German omas can with here, so how bad could it be?
    THanks,
    noel

  6. Looking forward to making this for my 6 year old. I too am thrilled to find your from-scratch recipe. What recommendations can you make for making a day or two in advance? Thank you!

  7. I’ve made this cake (haven’t tried the frosting) at least 3 times and always get RAVE reviews. This is one of my favorite cakes because it’s soooo moist and full of strawberry flavor! I made cupcakes once and my only feedback on that is that, depending on how they’re frosted (I used a star or French pastry tip, I can’t remember), you can see the brushed puree on top of the exposed cupcake. For those, I used a marshmallow buttercream for a strawberries ‘n cream flavor and BOOM. Amazing. Thank you for a REAL, from scratch strawberry cake that makes the Beast in my belly very happy!

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