Strawberry Cake

A decadent strawberry cake made with easy strawberry jam for maximum strawberry flavor! Frost with an easy strawberry cream cheese buttercream for the best strawberry cake recipe.

📝 Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups strawberries (hulled and halved (1 lb or 1 dry quart))
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
• 1/2 lemon zested
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 1/3 cup cake flour
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t kosher salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (soft and pliable)
• 1 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 5 large egg whites
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1 cup strawberry jam (from above )
• 1-2 drops red food coloring (optional)
• 16 oz cream cheese (room temperature (2, 8 oz boxes cream cheese))
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup freeze dried strawberries (or can buy them as powder already)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1--- Prepare the strawberry jam: ---
2. 2Combine strawberries, sugar, zest and lemon juice in a pot.
3. 3Bring to a boil and cook on medium heat until the strawberries begin to break down and release their juices. Immersion blend or mash with a potato masher. You can also use a traditional blender (carefully!).
4. 4Once strawberry mixture begins to thicken, combine cornstarch and 2-3 teaspoons of water in a small bowl. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the strawberry jam while whisking constantly. The mixture will instantly thicken. Reduce heat to medium low if in danger of burning and boil for 60 seconds to cook the cornstarch.
5. 5Pour into bowl or onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet to cool quickly.
6. 6Cool completely before preparing cake. This step can be made up to a week in advance!
7. 7--- Prepare the cake: ---
8. 8Preheat oven to 325°F convection (fan) or 350°F conventional. Spray and line 2, 9 or 8 inch cake pans with parchment.
9. 9In a large bowl sift together cake flour, baking powder, salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl whisk or stir together milk, vanilla extract, food coloring and cooled strawberry jam from above. This will reduce the amount of folding needed to combine the ingredients later, and will keep the cake lighter and more tender.
10. 10In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, begin whisking the egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form. Being careful not to over whip or they will be difficult to incorporate into the batter and, thus, defeating the purpose!
11. 11Remove meringue from the mixer bowl and transfer to a clean bowl (or switch to a second mixer bowl if you have one! Lucky!)
12. 12Don’t stress about any meringue that remains behind. Add the butter and sugar to the bowl. Switch to the paddle attachment and cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This will take at least 5 minutes depending on your mixer. It will also depend on how soft your butter was before mixing. The softer the butter, the faster the creaming process.
13. 13With the mixer on low, alternately add the flour mixture and the milk mixture. I never allow the flour mixture to mix in completely before adding the next round. This helps prevent overmixing.
14. 14Remove the mixer bowl from the machine, scrape down the paddle attachment. Fold in any remaining dry ingredients.
15. 15Take about ¼ of the meringue and aggressively fold it into the batter. This is called “sacrificing” because you are sacrificing the aeration in the meringue to loosen the batter. Fold in the remaining meringue in 2-3 additions; being careful not to over fold.
16. 16Portion between the prepared cake pans.
17. 17Bake in preheated oven for 14-18 minutes or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out from the center with only clinging crumbs.
18. 18Cool 10 minutes in pans before flipping out onto a wire rack to cool completely
19. 19--- Prepare the strawberry frosting: ---
20. 20In a blender or food processor, pulse freeze dried strawberries until a powder forms. [You can also buy them in powder form, which I find better because it saves a step.]
21. 21Cream together cream cheese, butter, strawberry powder and powdered sugar until smooth. Add vanilla extract.
22. 22If it gets too warm, chill it. Just pop the whole bowl and attachments in the fridge and give it an hour. Beat with paddle Breathe. It’s just buttercream.
23. 23--- Assemble the cake: ---
24. 24Place bottom layer on your favorite cake stand or plate. Add about 1 cup frosting to the top and smooth out. Flipping the top layer over so the bottom of the cake is now the top. This allows for a completely flat cake without needing to level. You could also level the cakes but I say, “waste not, want not.”
25. 25Chill cake about 30 minutes before frosting the outside.
26. 26Mound the frosting up on the top, spreading it out towards the sides, letting it fall over the edges. Use an offset spatula to spread it over the sides. Adding more frosting as needed.
27. 27Decorate the cake with fresh strawberries, a sprinkle of crushed freeze-dried strawberries and or white sprinkles!