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;
Flour, sugar, egg, baking powder, vanilla, salt – all the usual suspects in cakes;
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
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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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!!!
This is one of my favourite cakes. I’ve made before using different recipes in the past and due to having a faulty oven often slightly burned the cakes. With the past in mind I cooked this at 160C (fan forced) for 1 hour 15 mins,and it came out perfect. I had more strawberries in the batter (2 cups) than on top so went with lower temp and longer cook time.
Hi, just made this but wanted to confirm it is 4 tsp of baking powder? Love the ease of the recipe!
I just made this for my daughter’s winter birthday! We’re had it for breakfast with champagne! Such an easy recipe and it was so delicious! I couldn’t believe I made this! Thank you!
Just made this – delish! I had a bit of sour cream so used that and topped it up with some vanilla yoghurt, but omitted the vanilla extract.
I’ve made this twice – the first time exactly as the recipe says, and it was delicious, great texture. Today I made it with tinned peaches! I had sweetened yoghurt, so reduced the sugar to compensate. The mixture tasted the same and it looks good – baked as per instructions. Looking forward to tasting it later today! Nagi, your recipes are great!
Followed recipie and it turned out lovely. I left mine in the oven for an extra 15min with some foil on top. Delicious.
Absolutely gorgeous – super easy to make and delicious! I’m not that great at baking, so was thrilled this turned out so well. Another winner added to my ‘fave’s’ collection ♥️
So easy and versatile. Needed to use up some strawberries. Thanks Nagi 😘
Disastrous first attempt…baked at recommended temprrature and cake is singed on top and still raw inside 😭
Made this yesterday in cupcake format. Made 12 cupcakes & used 3 small silicone moulds for the remaining batter. Baked at 200°C fan for 20 minutes. Perfect texture, love the lemony taste. Planning to top them with a verbena whipped ganache, mainly to practice my piping skills 🤗
Hi Nagi,
Love your recipes including this cake.
I want to retry this though as the outside was very overcooked, even at the bottom of the pan after covering with foil. Any recommendations for what I might be doing wrong?
Appreciate any suggestions! ☺️
I have no idea where I went wrong.
I was very precise in the measurements. It’s a disaster it was still wet in the centre after 50 minutes so I covered with foil and continued to cook in 10 minute increments. (Extra 30 minutes). The bottom and sides of the cake are burnt. Can anyone please tell me what I might have done wrong. I used Greek yogurt. I’m so disappointed in myself.
Same thing happened to me. I think the pan size is off. I used a 9” but think a 13×9 might be better.
Tips for baking can include Ingredients need to be at room temp. Oven needs to be pre heated and cake baked on middle shelf. This always helps as cake batter will cook evenly. Hope this helps.😊
Hi! Did anyone try this cake with other berries?
Same thing happened to me. I also ended up cooking for an extra 30 mins and covered with foil after the original 50. I’m guessing it’s my oven. Next time I might try cooking it for longer on a lower heat. Luckily the bottom and edges aren’t completely burnt – just a little browner and dryer than I’d like – the rest of the cake is still great! I used greek yoghurt and just a normal wilshire 20cm cake pan (I multiplied the recipe by 1.5 and made two cakes as my tins were a fraction smaller than the one suggested)
Same thing happened to me today. I’ve been following her recipes for ages and never failed me but this time I dunno. It was a block of lump in the Center after 50 min although I inserted a skewer and it was okay. I think the skewer tricked me this time as I think it needed more time because I noticed that the edges were fine. I’m so disappointed.
Same thing happened to me.
Never again
Im having the exact same issue. Its not my oven. Oven is fine. Something off in recipe for me.
Sorry but I followed exact and left 10 mins longer and outside cooked very well coloured but inside raw. So sad after work and expense 🙃
Hi Joanne,
What kind of tin did you use? Did you make sure to preheat your oven? I doubt that Greek yoghurt would change much, it sounds perhaps like your oven is acting up 😬
Mine was the same! I was so upset with myself and want to know what I did wrong or how I can fix it next time.
Nagi, this is delicious! Such a delicate crumb and so easy to make, without the guilt 🙂 My bake time was exactly 50 min without any issues. Thank you!
Hi Nagi! Any tips on reducing this for a 20cm pan instead? It seems to be about 3/4 of the volume, so just reduce by that much? Thank you!!
My ex’s mom used to make cakes like these with different fruit all the time, i blocked her so obviously i wasnt going to ask her for the recipe but this one is top tier! Mine came out a little darker on top so i think ill put it on a lower rack or cook for like 40-45 minutes instead. seems my oven may run a lil hot.
Can this be made gluten free?
Have made this 4 times now. It’s delicious but every time it burns on the bottom. I’ve tried all sorts of methods to stop this: use baking tray underneath, different size cake tins, reducing temperature for the last 15-25 minutes. Can’t win! What am I doing wrong??? At 35 minutes cake is always completely wet in the middle and at 40,45,50 minutes, even at reduced temp, always burnt on the bottom.
Used an oven thermometer; my oven temp is correct!!!
Hi Nagi (or anyone that’s made this)! Will this recipe be ok with overripe strawberries? I want strawberry picking and they’ve squashed down a bit from the heat.
Made this today and it was absolutely delicious!! I don’t understand how anyone could find it bland – the sweetness of the strawberries and the slight zing of the lemon juice (I didn’t have a lemon so didn’t add any lemon zest!) was the perfect balance! It was ridiculously soft and moist and just sweet enough – my son who hates his fruit or food with ‘bits’ in it actually ate his whole slice (albeit with chocolate sauce drizzled on top haha) 😍
I made this cake for my husband’s birthday tonight and it turned out pretty good. I used sugar substitute because I am diabetic. It took an hour and 5 minutes to completely cook through. He had his with ice cream and I had mine plain, no powdered sugar on top. I would make again.
Hi Nagi, I made this today. So you are right, the batter is very forgiving as I was making this without an electric beater. Anyway, I mixed the wet ingredients (used sunflower oil which is tasteless and light) and squeezed out all the juice from one lemon (have no idea if I was close to 1/4 cup but I did add some water at the end because the batter was super thick). I did not mix the dry ingredients first before adding to the wet…first added the baking powder and vigorously mixed. I went to find the flour and when I returned to the bowl I found that the batter was kinda bubbly from the addition of the baking powder (I suspect some sort of chemistry thing happened). I added the flour, mixed by hand and baked in a 9-inch springform for 50 min. Cake was super dense and not so sweet. No pudding like interior. I am going to try the recipe again using regular yogurt (not Greek) and maybe swirl strawberry preserves in the first layer with diced strawberry chunks. Just wondering if my big mistake was not mixing the dry altogether first. Or if you can spot the problem since you rigorously test the recipes.
Hi Jojo
Imho the problem was indeed adding the baking powder by itself first. It would’ve reacted with the acidic liquid, so that you lost the CO2 needed to raise the cake.
Hi Carolyn, the cake raised fine. It was super dense and not so sweet. Like I said, I have never used 4 tsp of baking powder ever at one time and I suspect that it is 2 more than is needed.
Note: this wasnt bad – it just wasnt fabulous like all the other recipes I have tried on this site. Like I said, I will try it again with some changes. FYI – served warm with vanilla ice cream.
P.S. Could it be the baking powder? In all my baking over the years, I dont think I have ever added 4tsp to a recipe.
I’ve made this many times and it’s always turned out just right – one of my favourite cakes😊
I thought the same thing with the baking powder.Waiting for my cake to come out of the oven and will see how it tastes.