This beautiful light and fluffy strawberry cake combines a vanilla and lemon sponge cake with chunks of fresh juicy strawberries throughout. Made with basic ingredients, it keeps moist for days too!
Fresh strawberries = the taste of summer. This moist strawberry cake is a lovely summer cake recipe and, like strawberry compote, is also very useful to use up slightly sad ones that may have been sat in the fridge a little too long.
Similar in style to my school cake recipe, this cake takes the weights of the ingredients from the eggs.
The big challenge when making a cake with fresh fruit is to get that balance with enough fruit in the cake but creating a light cake too; however I think this cake manages it!
Jump to:
Newsletter
Ingredient notes and substitutions
Made with basic ingredients plus fresh strawberries, this cake is one I find very useful for whipping up for last minute playdates and guests.
Please scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post for ingredient quantities.
- Strawberries – fresh strawberries. This cake is ideal for those slightly bruised or squishy strawberries.
- Pain flour – also known as all-purpose flour.
- Butter – I use unsalted butter, but you could use salted butter if you prefer. Make sure the butter is softened to room temperature to make it easier to beat with the sugar.
- Eggs – I use size large eggs which weigh approx 60g / 2oz each, but as you will see with this recipe egg weights do vary (especially when you have chickens!) so weigh them first and then use this weight for the flour, butter and sugar.
- Vanilla – I like to use vanilla bean paste for a strong hint of vanilla. You can use vanilla extract if you prefer.
- Lemon – lemon zest adds a beautiful light background flavour and I love the combination of lemon and strawberry. You can leave the lemon zest out if you prefer.
How to make this fresh strawberry cake
Please scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post for the full recipe.
- Weigh the eggs in their shells. This is a super important step as this will be the weight for the sugar, flour and butter!
- Whisk the butter and sugar with the vanilla and lemon zest until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, alternating with the plain flour mixed with baking powder. Then add a little milk until you get a cake batter that drops off the spoon.
- Strawberries – wash and dry the strawberries, chop off the stalks and then chop the strawberries into 4-8 pieces, depending on their size. Gently stir these through the cake batter, taking care not to over mix, as this can make the cake tough. As soon as the strawberries are incorporated, stop. Spoon the batter into the lined tin and bake in the preheated oven until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
FAQ
Yes you can use frozen strawberries, however the cake will take longer to cook. It can take another 10-15 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. If the top of the cake starts to brown, cover with foil.
My recipe tips
- Don’t be tempted to add more strawberries – it is a balance between getting a cake flavoured with strawberries and one that doesn’t cook / is too wet because of the strawberry juices.
- If your cake is starting to brown on top – cover with foil. You shouldn’t need to do this, but ovens do vary.
- If you want to make this strawberry cake in a square tin (which is easier to cut into slices for school lunchboxes!) – use a 20cm x 20cm (8 inch x 8 inch) tin and cook for 35-40 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
Serving Ideas
This cake is a beautiful cake to serve as is for morning tea. However it makes a delicious dessert served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or drizzle of fresh cream.
Make ahead/storage
This cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days. If the weather is particularly hot and humid then it won’t keep as long.
Why not try…
You may also like these other easy cake recipes:
Strawberry Cake
Author: Robyn
Equipment
- 21 cm / 8 inch round cake tin
Ingredients
- 3 eggs weighed in their shells. Mine weighed 166g
- 166 g butter softened
- 166 g white sugar granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1 lemon zested
- 166 g plain flour all purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 125g (4½ oz) fresh strawberries washed, dried and roughly chopped into 6-8 pieces.
- 6 fresh strawberries halved, for the top of the cake.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160˚C fan / 180˚C / 320˚F convection / 356˚F
- Line a 21 cm (8 inch) round cake tin with baking paper / baking parchment
- Weigh the three eggs in their shells and use this amount for the butter, sugar and flour.
- Cream the butter and sugar with the vanilla and lemon zest until pale and fluffy (you can do this by hand with a spoon, or in a food processor).
- Mix the flour with baking powder.
- Add one egg to the butter / sugar mixture and stir lightly before adding ⅓ of the flour.
- Repeat with the remaining eggs and flour.
- Add 1 tablespoon milk and mix, adding a little more if the mixture looks dry – it should just drop off the spoon.
- Fold through the chopped strawberries then spoon in to the prepared tin and sprinkle over the 6 remaining chopped strawberries.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for for 45 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve with a dusting of icing sugar, optional.
Notes
- Strawberries – fresh strawberries. This cake is ideal for those slightly bruised or squishy strawberries.
- Pain flour – also known as all-purpose flour.
- Butter – I use unsalted butter, but you could use salted butter if you prefer. Make sure the butter is softened to room temperature to make it easier to beat with the sugar.
- Eggs – I use size large eggs which weigh approx 60g / 2oz each, but as you will see with this recipe that you take the rest of your ingredients weights off the eggs.
- Vanilla – I like to use vanilla bean paste for a strong hint of vanilla. You can use vanilla extract if you prefer.
- Lemon – lemon zest adds a beautiful light background flavour and I love the combination of lemon and strawberry. You can leave the lemon zest out if you prefer.
-
- Don’t be tempted to add more strawberries – it is a balance between getting a cake flavoured with strawberries and one that doesn’t cook / is too wet because of the strawberry juices.
-
- If your cake is starting to brown on top – cover with foil. You shouldn’t need to do this, but ovens do vary.
-
- If you want to make this strawberry cake in a square tin (which is easier to cut into slices for school lunchboxes!) – use a 20cm x 20cm (8 inch x 8 inch) tin and cook for 35-40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
Nutrition
HAVE YOU MADE THIS RECIPE?
I’d love to see your creation!
Or just leave a comment below!
Let me know your thoughts!