Right in time for Mother’s Day, I’ve got you covered for dessert! 🙂 This Strawberries and Cream Cake is relatively simple to make (no worrying about different pans and layering cakes with frosting in between), moist and flavorful, packed with strawberries, and it’s beautiful! I mean, who could ask for more?! And after your mom absolutely flips over this cake, then you’ll want to use this recipe for all kinds of occasions—a baby girl shower, a pink-themed party, Easter Sunday, a gorgeous spring/summer cake…there are so many times when you’ll need a delicious-from-scratch pink strawberry cake!
How Do You Make a Strawberries and Cream Cake with Real Strawberries?
The base of this cake has real strawberries in it! It also has an amazing topping of sugared strawberries–making this cake quite the delicious strawberry treat!
Special ingredients: Mix butter until smooth, then stir in sugar. Add eggs, lightly whisked, and a splash of lemon juice to boost the strawberry flavor, freshness, and texture. Stir in buttermilk (store-bought is best, but homemade works too by adding vinegar or lemon juice to milk).
Keep it light: Shift flour and cornstarch to make “DIY cake flour” for a finer crumb and moist texture. Stir in Jell-O®, baking soda, and salt. Stir everything together with the wet ingredients until just combined—don’t over-mix.
Strawberries: Stir in gently finely chopped strawberries.
Frosting: While the cake bakes, prepare the cream cheese frosting and sweetened strawberries to finish the cake.
Quick Tip
MEASURING FLOUR: The flour is the most important thing to measure right in this recipe. If you press a measuring cup into a bag of flour, you will pack in way too much flour, which can make the cake dry and bland. Spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level the top with the back of a table knife.
How Do You Frost a Strawberries and Cream Cake?
This scrumptious treat has a delicious strawberry cake base and then a perfect cream cheese frosting to top it all off, making it a “strawberry-and-cream” flavored dessert. I’ve talked a lot about making the cake, so let’s quickly cover that cream cheese frosting. The most important thing for the cream cheese frosting is to make sure the cream cheese and the butter are both at room temperature. This will give you the perfect smooth and creamy base for the frosting. You don’t want the cream cheese or butter melted, microwaved, or softened, which makes the frosting greasy; yet you don’t want it chilled, which is hard to mix smoothly. They should both be at the same room temperature for best results.
The one “secret” ingredient to my cream cheese frosting that I think makes it the best is vanilla bean paste. The paste has a more intense vanilla flavor and adds gorgeous flecks of beans to the frosting. I love what the paste does for this frosting, but pure vanilla extract also is delicious in its place.
Why is there Jell-O in this cake?
This Strawberries and Cream Cake is made from scratch, but I am aware that using a strawberry Jell-O mix could be considered by some to be cheating. 🙂 Honestly, I’ve tried dozens of strawberry cakes over the years and my favorites always have it in them (which is why my recipe includes it as well). If you’re concerned about using the packaged gelatin mix, you can use strawberry extracts or a reduced strawberry puree. Here is a recipe that does not include strawberry Jell-O mix. But seriously, all “from-scratch” recipes use ingredients that are packaged, unless you churned the butter yourself and made the cream cheese in your kitchen!
This made-from-scratch Strawberries and Cream Cake is a dream, topped with rich cream cheese frosting and sugared strawberries. The perfect sweet treat for Mother’s Day or any celebration!
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9×13-inch pan and set aside.
Beat room-temperature butter with a hand mixer until light and creamy. Slowly add the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.
In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs; add to butter mixture and mix. Add 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice. Beat in the buttermilk (see note 1). If desired, add the red food coloring and mix it in.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and cornstarch, then add the Jell-O mix, baking soda, and salt. It is important to use separate bowls so the cake isn’t over-beaten, which will result in a dense cake.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat at low speed until just combined.
Remove stems from the strawberries and chop finely. Add finely chopped strawberries to the cake batter.
Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake 30–40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.
Cool the cake for at least 1 hour, then refrigerate for another hour.
Frosting
Beat the softened butter and room-temperature cream cheese until completely creamy. Beat in vanilla and salt. Slowly beat in powdered sugar until smooth and your desired consistency.
Spread the frosting evenly over the cake.
Sugared Strawberry Topping (optional)
Stir together the sliced strawberries and sugar in a medium bowl. Let them stand at room temperature about 20–30 minutes to develop the syrup. Add them to the cake only when serving and not beforehand.
Video
Recipe Notes
Note 1: If you don’t have buttermilk, remove 1 tablespoon from your milk and replace it with fresh lemon juice or white vinegar. Mix and allow to sit for 5 minutes before using.Storage: Store leftover frosted cake in the fridge for 4–5 days.
Hello, and welcome to Chelsea’s Messy Apron! I’m Chelsea, the recipe developer, food photographer, and writer behind the site. I’m passionate about creating simple, reliable, and delicious recipes that anyone can make.
Thanks for stopping by—I hope you find something delicious to make!
How long would I bake if I split it into 2 8 in pans?
Sorry I haven’t ever tested this recipe in different sized pans; baking is finicky I can’t guarantee it will work the same!