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
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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!!!
Hi, I made this last week and it was amazing so many compliments! I only have half a pack of strawberries and can’t get to the shop today, do you think I could replace some of the inside strawberry filling with banana?! Many thanks
Can I use other fruit
Loved this recipe found it a bit too sweet though can you use other fruit.
Another winning recipe, thank you Nagi and Dozer! So simple yet looks impressive and tastes delicious. I had to cook mine fifteen minutes longer, but with some foil on the top, it still came out perfectly.
Hi I have tried making this cake and it goes a bit brown from the top and the strawberries become a bit brown too . I am from India I kept it on 220 degree and I had to bake it for 30 min for it to be well done
Hi Nagi, I was thinking of making this cake with cherries instead of strawberries. Would cherries contain too much liquid to work or do think substituting cherries as per the strawberry measurement would work? Cheers from Rachel & a pat for Dozer 🐾🐩
Is it possible to replace with raspberries?
Hi Jimena, I haven’t trend to be honest, I feel like they may be too soft and won’t hold up as well as strawberries. I’d love to know if you give it a go though! N x
Hi Nagi, i followed the recipe as suggested however the batter was still raw and followed your note on applying the foil to the cake but it made the top layer soggy which i think it was a bad idea. any solutions or alternative to rectify it?
Hi John, sorry you had issues here – can I ask what setting you had your oven on? N x
Hi Nagi, i followed as suggested going 50min on bake function @ 200c then it was getting brown so read your notes and decided to apply the foil and left it for another 10min then it turned out soggy.
This recipe is so easy and delicious! Best of both worlds!
Can olive oil be used in this recipe or would it be too strong flavoured?
The flavour would be too strong I prefer a neutral flavoured oil here. N x
Delicious! Looks so pretty and not too sweet. Great served with yoghurt too.
Thanks
Hi Nagi! I made this cake for my aunt’s 78th birthday this weekend and she loved it, as did the rest of the family. Was my first time using lemon zest in a cake and the citrusy flavour of the cake was marvellous! My cake was a bit dense, so was wondering if it’s supposed to be soft n fluffy or did it come out right. Thanks as always, Nagi!
My daughter wants a strawberry cake for her birthday and this looks delicious and easy. She also wants her name written on the cake … recommendations for frosting or maybe just whipped cream?
Can I swap the yoghurt with coconut yoghurt or something not from dairy?
Hi Debbie – yes 100%! N x
Can I swap the yoghurt with coconut yoghurt or something non-dairy?
Made this and want to say that you have to trust Nagi on the baking time even if the top looks golden and your tester comes out clean! I took mine out 15 mins early and the whole bottom bit is wet and undercooked 🙁 I mean I will still eat it but mortified as I do bake a lot and totally failed at this “Easy” recipe! 😭
Oh no Ming!!!! I hope it’s salvageable? N x
If by salvageable you mean will I still eat it, the answer is yes 😂 and my kids will too, but not sure I will serve it to any guests in its current form…
Such a great and easy recipe! I had all the ingredients so gave it a go and it turned out great. I didn’t have enough yogurt so I just added a small amount of milk to make it the right consistency. Took about 60 mins in my fan-forced oven. Thank you!!
Killed an entire afternoon reading your recipes. I even clicked on many I would never make just to see what Dozer was up to. I’ll definitely be back when I decide I actually want to cook something.
I love hearing this Sara 😂 N x
The family absolutely love this cake! The sweetness from the strawberries goes so well with the tang from the lemon! Definitely worth your time this recipe <3
I’m so glad you love this recipe Natalie, that’s great to hear! N x
Made this recipe yesterday! Some of the strawberries tanked while baking but there was no harm to the end product. An excellent recipe to keep! thank you.