It’s finally the best time of the year: strawberry season! Today we’re taking 9 strawberry cake recipes and putting them to the test. Tart and juicy strawberries make this cake an indulgent but fruity dessert that’s especially perfect for spring and summer. If you’re on a quest to find the best strawberry cake recipe, this bake off is the perfect place to start!
Strawberry cake is a dessert that I did not grow up with–which makes sense since anecdotal feedback suggests that strawberry cake is a Southern dessert. But unlike other Southern desserts like Texas sheet cake, I never really encountered strawberry cake during my years in Texas. So I was curious to dive into this category for a bake off!
Strawberry cake is also an excellent category for a bake off because there are many different techniques for getting flavor into strawberry cake. What would provide the best flavor between Jell-o, fresh strawberry puree, freeze-dried strawberries or strawberry extract? Let’s find out!
METHODOLOGY // RESULTS // FACTORS // ANALYSIS // RECOMMENDATIONS
Methodology
- 32 total tasters
- All 9 recipes were baked the day of tasting
- All cakes were baked in parchment-lined 8-inch cake pans
- Tasters ranked each cake on a scale from 0-10 for overall flavor, texture, and as a whole
- Ingredients were measured by weight according to the King Arthur website
Ingredients
- Gold Medal bleached all-purpose flour
- Land O Lakes unsalted butter
- Crisco butter-flavored shortening
- King Arthur cake flour
- Bob’s Red Mill baking powder and soda
- McCormick strawberry extract
- Lorann’s strawberry emulsion
- Strawberry Jello
- Trader Joe’s freeze-dried strawberries
- Daisy sour cream
- Diamond kosher salt
- Imperial granulated and powdered sugar
Results of the Best Strawberry Cake Bake Off
The results of this bake off were particularly mind-boggling to me (i.e. my favorite cake landed in nearly last place). But I ultimately think the rankings were heavily influenced by the frosting, for which I unfortunately forgot to include a data category in the rating forms. While I personally think the cake rankings would be wildly different from frosting rankings, here’s how it shook out with my pool of tasters. These tasters generally seemed to prefer a very strawberry-forward cream cheese frosting over all else.
As always, please note that I still think ALL of these cakes are truly solid recipes and I would eat all of them again. I highly recommend you read through each cake description to find the best one for your personal taste!
Note: It’s always hard to rank frosted cakes because the frosting can really affect the overall flavor. I do it this way because a) I don’t want to eat plain cake and b) I assume the frosting was designed to work with a specific cake. For example, a less sweet cake might be paired with a sweeter frosting.
Factors
Strawberry cake flavoring
- Fresh strawberry puree: Most recipes called for either strawberry puree or a strawberry reduction (reducing the puree until it’s thicker and less watery). My thoughts on strawberry cake are similar to lemon cake–it’s difficult to get a very strong strawberry flavor in the cake from using the fruit. I think strawberry puree does give a fresher, more subtle flavor, and the cakes that did the best either combined puree with extract or a very strawberry-forward frosting. Recipes that used a strawberry reduction generally did better than those that used a simple puree, which makes sense–more concentrated flavor.
- Frozen strawberry puree: There were so many other factors that it was impossible to tell the difference between cakes made with fresh vs. frozen strawberry puree. However, most bakers recommend baking with frozen strawberries as frozen fruits are typically picked at their peak and flash frozen, guaranteeing more consistent sweetness.
- Strawberry Jello: Cake by Courtney and Paula Deen both rely on Jello for strawberry flavor (though Paula also supplements with strawberry puree). To me, strawberry Jello provides a nice tart kick that you can’t achieve with fresh strawberries (but I imagine you could achieve with citric acid). While I don’t think it’s a replacement for fresh strawberries or the best way to achieve a natural-tasting strawberry flavor, used in conjunction with fresh strawberries can achieve a really powerful flavor (as evidenced in Paula’s recipe).
- Lorann’s strawberry emulsion/extract: Many tasters commented that the only cake that contained this emulsion (Sugar Geek Show) tasted like artificial strawberry and didn’t prefer it. While many agreed it had the strongest strawberry flavor, I don’t think this emulsion is necessary, especially if you prefer a natural strawberry flavor. The recipes that used strawberry extract (My Cake School, Amycakes) didn’t taste nearly as artificial, but I’m not convinced it added that much. I think you can easily make a great-tasting strawberry cake without using an extract/emulsion.
Frosting flavoring
Cream cheese frosting is evidently a popular pairing for strawberry cake (7 out of the 9 tested recipes used it). When it comes to the strawberry flavor, there were three main techniques: fresh strawberries, freeze-dried strawberries, or extract.
- Freeze-dried strawberries: Sally’s and Sugar & Sparrow both scored highly and I think this was in large part due to their frosting. Freeze-dried adds a great boost of flavor without the excess wetness from fresh strawberries, contributing to a better texture. Although they’re a bit of a pain to source, this is what I’ll be using in strawberry frostings in the future! Interestingly, Sally’s was cream cheese-based while S&S was a regular buttercream and I think the cream cheese tang really enhances the strawberry flavor and was a big crowd pleaser.
- Fresh strawberry puree: Kara’s and Paula Deen were two recipes that used fresh strawberries. I also loved the fresh flavor of these frostings. However, the added liquid from the strawberries usually requires additional powdered sugar to thicken the texture. This can easily lead to overly sweet frostings. Sugar Geek Show uses a strawberry reduction which slightly helps with the texture issue. She also adds egg whites which adds volume and contributes to a beautifully smooth texture, but mutes the strawberry flavor slightly.
- Strawberry extract: Both Amycakes and Paula Deen called for strawberry extract added to their frosting. As you may expect, this is probably the least flavorful and most artificial way to make a strawberry frosting. I also don’t think it adds much–if you want more of a strawberry flavor boost, I’d always opt for freeze-dried strawberries.
Dairy type
It was hard to draw conclusions about the use of dairy in this bake off. The top #1 and #3 cakes used sour cream, but so did cake number #9. My personal favorite (My Cake School) uses cream cheese in the batter, which I think serves a similar purpose as sour cream. The cream cheese adds more fat and some acidity and tang for a more tender, flavorful crumb.
Wile dairy can clearly enhance a cake’s texture and flavor, there are plenty of recipes that use milk or no dairy at all to make a perfectly tender cake.
Clearjel
Amycakes has a whole article on Clearjel (her favorite bakery secret) which is used to create a smooth and thick consistency. She says it contributes to “moister cakes, thicker, chewier cookies and softer cinnamon rolls” as well as thick frostings.
She gives the option of using instant Clearjel OR vanilla instant pudding mix in her recipe. (Clearjel is the second ingredient in instant pudding mix so it works similarly.) I definitely found Amycakes to be moist and it did quite well in the rankings, but I have a feeling that was more due to its strawberry-forward flavor. With strawberry cake in particular, moistness is not a widespread issue so I don’t think Clearjel is crucial for a delicious cake!
Flour type
Interestingly, the top four rated cakes alternate between using cake flour and all-purpose flour. This seemed to be a bake off where flour matters less because the focus remains heavily on the strawberry flavor (and there are also many other factors that affect texture).
Analysis of the Best Strawberry Cake Recipes
Cake by Courtney: a sturdy but soft and springy, tangy and bright-tasting cake
Courtney’s butter-based strawberry cake uses cake flour, buttermilk and sour cream. I had a feeling the double dose of acidic ingredients along with the tenderizing cake flour would lead to an amazing cake. This cake also uses all egg whites (not whipped!) and relies on its strawberry flavor from a package of strawberry Jello. It’s paired with a regular cream cheese buttercream, no strawberries included.
This cake had the most unique highlighter pink color and followed suit with a very tart, citric acid-y flavor. While not as strawberry-forward as some, I liked the bright, tart flavor of this cake. It almost reminded me of pink lemonade. Texture-wise, it was very close-crumbed and was an interesting combination of slightly springy, tender yet firm at the same time. There was a sturdiness to the cake that felt good for stacking (a classic Cake by Courtney aesthetic).
The frosting is a very sugary cream cheese buttercream, my personal favorite type where you can taste a slight graininess from the sugar. Although I prefer a slightly more natural looking and tasting cake, this is a very fun, summery cake and perfect for layering!
Taster comments:
- I liked the texture and flavor of this cake! It wasn’t too sweet and the cake was moist.
- This one tastes like a delightful boxed mix. Safe, bright, comforting. Is it special? Not so much. Also the frosting is wayyy too sweet for me, I prefer more of a cream cheese icing
- Great icing. Cake was moist, could taste hints of salt and less intense strawberry flavor
- Not too strawberry forward, tight crumb but with frosting it was the perfect amount of strawberry. Frosting was pretty sweet but a little tangy
- I didn’t get strawberries at all here – this actually just tasted like vanilla or white cake to me! It was dense and a bit chewy, and reminded me of a boxed cake mix. I wondered how suggestive the hot pink color might’ve been, so I tried closing my eyes and tasting a bite – all I got was vanilla-ish cake.
My Cake School: a finely-crumbed, very moist, almost cottony texture with a sweet but muted strawberry flavor
This recipe was unique in its use of butter, oil AND cream cheese in the batter. While I’ve seen cream cheese pound cakes, it’s rare that I see cream cheese used in cake batters. Its strawberry flavor comes from a mixture of fresh strawberry puree and strawberry extract. The cream cheese-based frosting (a 3:1 ratio of butter to cream cheese) uses both strawberry puree and extract.
With a thick but somehow delicate cake crumb, this strawberry cake had one of my favorite overall textures. It’s kind of like a strawberry pound cake, but moister than your average pound cake. It almost sticks to your mouth, but in a good way. I think this cake was dinged for its lack of strawberry flavor (it had a good sweetness but barely any strawberry flavor). It may have also been dinged for its sugary buttercream. I loved the flavor with fresh strawberry puree, but it was definitely a grainier buttercream (which again, I loved). Next time, I’d omit the food coloring in the frosting as it looked a bit off-putting. However, this was still one of my favorite cakes and I’ve already made it again!
Taster comments:
- No question it was strawberry cake. Good flavor. Texture was good, and moist cake.
- Close textured cake, maybe a little oily? Frosting is light but grainy, and artificial tasting. Overall strawberry flavor of the cake is weak and fake tasting, which is not helped with the frosting.
- The frosting reminds me of strawberry ice cream. I think this frosting was on the sweet side. The color of the frosting was the most artificial on this one. Didn’t love the flavor of the cake though.
- Such a vivid pink color on the frosting! The cake was very heavy – it looked like some of the oil had sunk to the bottom of the cake, and that was evident in the taste. Besides that, the cake was only mildly sweet, which was nice, but not very flavorful. The frosting did a lot of work here – strong strawberry flavor, though it tasted artificial rather than like fresh strawberries. Generally I like a cake with a light, fresh, natural flavor, and this cake seemed to go in the opposite direction.
- This cake was very buttery and a bit on the saltier side. The cake wasn’t sweet enough and didn’t have a strong enough strawberry flavor.
Serious Eats: a moist and soft, subtle-strawberry flavored cake with an uber-creamy, tangy cream cheese frosting
As you’d expect from any Bravetart recipe, this butter-based strawberry cake uses several interesting techniques. Stella uses freeze-dried strawberries to add flavor without extra moisture. She also adds fresh strawberry puree that takes the place of added dairy like milk or buttermilk while adding moisture and acidity. Egg whites only keeps the focus on the strawberry and a pinch of Chinese five spice powder helps amplify the flavor. Stella also notes that the “unique PH and starch behavior” of the cake flour helps counter the acidity from the fresh/freeze-dried strawberries to keep the cake fluffy and light.
This cake had a perfect moist, soft, dense and slightly spongy texture with excellent squishiness. The strawberry flavor is fresh but subtle, though unfortunately I think I was too heavy-handed with the five spice because tasters generally agreed the spices overpowered the cake. This was definitely baker’s error, and I think this cake would have been ranked much higher otherwise–so please give it a try!
I also think the grayish color compared to the other cakes made it less appealing, which probably brought down the score of an otherwise wonderful cake. I paired this cake with the suggested cream cheese frosting, which uses granulated sugar instead of the typical powdered sugar. This resulted in a cloud-like, extraordinarily smooth frosting more akin to the texture of Swiss meringue. This is a perfect frosting if you don’t want graininess. I implore you to give this cake a try, and be very cautious with the five spice!
Taster comments:
- Cake texture had a nice grain and strawberry bits. Good light flavoring that wasn’t overpowering. Tart frosting overpowered the cake flavor too much.
- Lovely subtle fruity flavor in the crumb. The texture was soft, though a little heavy. I liked the fluffiness and tangy flavor of the frosting but not sure I enjoyed the combination–the textures worked nicely together, but the frosting distracted from the strawberry cake, which is what I’m here for!
- Not too sweet, tight crumb, dense crumb and not a lot of strawberry flavor
- Visually less appealing, tastes more like carrot cake with spicy undertones. Less of a true strawberry cake but tasty nonetheless!
- Tastes like banana bread with cinnamon undertones. The only strawberry flavor seemed to come from the frosting, which tastes like strawberry yogurt. I’m personally not a big fan of strawberry-banana because banana tends to overpower the strawberry flavor. But I liked how moist this cake was.
Kara’s Couture Cakes: a soft but structured cake with subtle strawberry flavor
NOTE: Kara has removed her recipe from her site. I recreated a very similar version on my blog (linked above), but you can also check out the original recipe.
Kara’s recipe relies exclusively on pulverized freeze-dried strawberries for its strawberry flavor. As a butter-based cake made with all-purpose flour, Kara also adds a tiny bit of vegetable oil, milk and egg whites for a tender texture. This was the only cake that also calls for an optional strawberry simple syrup that gets layered underneath a strawberry cream cheese frosting made with strawberry puree.
I’m always surprised when cakes made with all-purpose flour can achieve a tender, cottony texture that I expect from cakes made with cake flour. This had such a unique crumb–it’s almost bready but in a good way! It’s cottony with a tight crumb but also light and EXTREMELY moist. Similarly to My Cake School, it almost sticks to your mouth (but I find Cake School to be a little more tender and less thick than Kara’s).
While this wasn’t the most strawberry-forward in flavor, I think the food coloring does a number in making you think it’s more strawberry than it is. This was a perfect level of sweetness to me. It’s not overly sweet, so it could be paired with a very sweet frosting. I loved this strawberry buttercream. It was similar to Cake by Courtney but not as grainy as The Cake School/Paula Deen’s buttercreams. This was another of my favorite cakes, but I would torte the layers next time so they’re not as thick.
Taster comments:
- Tight crumb, not super sweet. A perfect amount of strawberry flavor, frosting tasted like strawberry ice cream. A bit dense but overall pretty good!
- Loved the silky texture of the crumb. The frosting texture was classic buttercream, which I enjoyed. I wasn’t crazy about the flavor–a little too sweet and artificial-tasting.
- The frosting and cake both had a pleasant strawberry flavor that tasted fresh and non-artficial. I liked that the frosting had strawberry flavoring but it didn’t overwhelm the cake.
- I really enjoyed this cake (though perhaps it could be a tad fluffier?) but I did not like this frosting. Super grainy, and the sourness of the cream cheese (I’m assuming it’s cream cheese) was a little delayed and caught me off guard.
- Moist cake, tasted more like a pound cake, good texture. Strawberry too subtle though.
Sugar Geek Show: a tender, fluffy cake with a sweet, slightly artificial strawberry flavor
Of all the cakes I tested, Liz’s felt like one of the most labor-intensive with a lemon-laced strawberry reduction that goes into the cake batter. The butter-based cake also gets its own dash of lemon extract, lemon zest and juice in addition to strawberry emulsion or extract. (I used the recommended LorAnn bakery emulsion.) This cake gets paired with a strawberry buttercream enhanced with pasteurized egg whites and more of the strawberry reduction. Note: I didn’t add the optional sugar to the strawberry reduction.
I was proud of how closely my final product resembled the beautiful photos on Liz’s site! (The color of the cake was off, but I was probably too enthusiastic with the Americolor electric pink gel that she recommends). The crumb was even, airy and tender–a light and fluffy cake that was pleasant to eat and not overly moist. Flavor-wise, the emulsion gave a pronounceable strawberry flavor, if a bit artificial (not my personal favorite). The frosting was silky, almost foamy smooth with good salt balance. If you’re looking for a buttercream that doesn’t have the sugary graininess of most others, this is the one! Overall, this cake felt like a lot of work but the result is well-deserved.
Taster comments:
- Loved the deep pink color of this cake, and how it tasted like fresh strawberries. I also enjoyed the crumb – a little springy, a nice balance between moist and not-too-moist. The frosting was silky and balanced it nicely. Very strawberry forward. Everything I wanted in a strawberry cake.
- Far and away the most strawberry flavor of all of them. I liked the cake’s subtle citrus and vanilla notes and wasn’t too sweet! The crumb is light, but I think it could’ve been a bit moister. The whipped buttercream frosting was also an excellent touch!
- Nice cake soft and nice crumb, not overly sweet. Frosting a little too sweet but good strawberry flavor
- This cake tastes artificial and the cake texture was a little drier – it needed the frosting for moisture. The frosting feels and tastes very slick.
- Getting citrusy flavors from the cake itself but the strawberry tastes artificial which didn’t appeal to me but I liked the texture and flavor of the frosting which was light and refreshing.
Paula Deen: a very moist and thick, tangy cake that you probably grew up thanks to cake mix and strawberry Jello!
This classic Paula Deen recipe is a formula that many in the South seem to have grown up with–white cake mix, strawberry Jello and pureed frozen strawberries. This recipe calls for a 15-oz package of frozen strawberries in syrup, which I couldn’t find, so I added 2 tablespoons of simple syrup to the puree. (I don’t think this was necessary; I would just use plain pureed strawberries next time.) The frosting is a cream cheese buttercream enhanced with strawberry puree and extract.
Unlike most boxed mixes that result in a very light and spongy final result, this cake was extremely moist with a thick, spongy crumb that was significantly heavier than the others. The flavor was extremely tangy and strawberry-forward–a rare case where the cake tasted more like strawberry than the frosting. And the frosting was of course a very sugary buttercream, one that felt particularly sweet, even for me.
While this was one of my least favorite cake textures, this cake is extremely easy to throw together. With its powerful strawberry flavor for very little effort, I can see why this is a classic! Those who grew up with strawberry cake made from a mix will likely gravitate to this one for its nostalgic flavor; I found it a bit too moist and artificial-tasting (though I also couldn’t stop eating it).
Taster comments:
- Real strawberry in the cake batter? Loved that. Moist. Good amount of frosting. Frosting was not offensive and lets the cake shine. Good pairing
- Best sponge flavor. Real strawberry and tangy! Texture is spectacularly moist, the frosting is nice. Best cake of the 9!
- This cake had a lot of strawberry flavor which I loved but the frosting was the messiest here and the cake was almost too moist? Still I can’t help but come back to it.
- it was overly moist for my taste, and has a pretty artificial aftertaste that is strongest out of all 9 cakes; however, I like enjoyed it and would eat it again!
- This one was *dense* and moist. So moist that it was almost like tres leches cake, which was a little off-putting. The frosting was lighter in texture, which was a nice and necessary contrast, but not quite enough to distract from the cake texture. Also a little too sweet for my preference.
- I didn’t love the cake texture – it felt too moist and jello-y. The frosting was good overall but felt like it could have used more strawberry flavor.
Sugar and Sparrow: a perfectly even, close-crumbed cake with a tender, not-too-sweet crumb
This strawberry cake recipe follows a similar formula as My Cake School with cake flour, butter, whole eggs and fresh strawberry puree. However, it omits the oil and adds sour cream and whole milk instead of cream cheese. Whitney also calls for reducing the puree into a strawberry reduction to lower the moisture content. This was one of two frostings that called for freeze-dried strawberries instead of fresh strawberries.
This texture was somewhat similar to My Cake School with a tighter, even crumb that remained fairly plush, but with a slightly more coarse texture. This cake actually wasn’t as sweet as some and while I struggled to get much strawberry flavor from the cake itself, the sugary strawberry buttercream added the needed moisture and flavor. I did think this buttercream was a bit sweet when compared to a buttercream like Kara’s that felt more balanced.
However, as many tasters pointed out, this buttercream had a very good flavor thanks to the boost from the freeze-dried strawberries. Only Sally’s frosting seemed to edge this one out as it combined freeze-dried strawberries and cream cheese for a less sugary effect, but this was still a very solid contender and I think it received high scores thanks to the frosting!
Taster comments:
- The cake itself has a great density and a lovely moist texture, but the strawberry flavor is very subtle. More of the strawberry flavor is coming from the frosting.
- Moist, pleasant crumb, though I didn’t get a strong flavor from the cake itself. The frosting really carried this recipe – creamy, rich, with a strong fresh strawberry taste. Pairs nicely with the cake!
- The crumb is light, fluffy and bouncy, the taste is faintly of strawberry, but the frosting was a bit grainy for me.
- I don’t normally like frosting, but I liked this one! Not too sweet/greasy with good strawberry flavor–enjoyed seeing the strawberry/red bits on top. I also liked the texture of the cake, though it was a little more on the dry side.
- Super sweet frosting, very dry cake. Cake was not sweet so it balances the frosting–basically a vanilla cake with a very sweet strawberry frosting
Amycakes Bakes: a moist and tender cake studded with fresh strawberries and a sugary buttercream
Amycakes is known for her well-tested secret bakery recipes. Similarly to Sugar Geek Show, she uses a strawberry compote along with either Clearjel or instant vanilla pudding to add a thickening agent to the batter. After adding it, the batter must sit for 5-10 minutes in order to thicken before baking. Unlike most cakes which use a creamed butter method, Amy calls for melted butter along with vegetable oil, light corn syrup, buttermilk, and strawberry extract. For her extract-studded cream cheese frosting, Amy notes that you can either use Clearjel or additional powdered sugar to achieve a thicker texture (I used the latter).
This cake was extremely moist and tender and laced with chunks of strawberries since I didn’t mash them much when making the puree. This cake was on the sweeter side, its appealing hue was happily paired with one of the strongest strawberry flavors. I thought the strawberry flavor was less prominent than Sugar Geek Show, but also more natural tasting, which I preferred.
Texture-wise, this felt very similar to the very fluffy Sally’s cake, just slightly thicker/denser (thanks to the instant vanilla pudding??). The cake was paired with a very sweet, slightly grainy frosting. For some reason, I found this pairing slightly too sweet and would probably pair this cake with a different frosting next time.
Taster comments:
- Best cake so far. Flavor reads as whole fruit rather than syrup or extract. Texture is perfect! Color of sponge is enticing. Favorite cake so far!
- Best light cake texture and taste so far of them all. loved icing from [Kara’s and Sally’s] more, but otherwise this cake was great!!
- This cake was super soft and pillowy! The frosting was a little sweet, but overall I enjoyed the cake as a whole.
- I wasn’t crazy about this cake. The crumb was very rich and moist, which was good for one bite but might’ve been rich for a whole slice of cake. The cake was evocative of the *idea* of strawberries – very pink, with a somewhat artificial strawberry scent – but the flavor was mostly sweet rather than strawberry. I would’ve loved a stronger berry flavor!
- Artificial strawberry flavor. Kind of like strawberry pocky. Moist cake though!
- The cake seems to have more strawberry flavor but with a slight chemical aftertaste. The frosting texture was too grainy.
Sally’s Baking Addiction: a fluffy, perky cake with a tangy, vibrantly strawberry-y cream cheese frosting
Sally’s recipe is another butter and egg-white based airy, fluffy cake. It bears many similarities to Smitten Kitchen’s popular pink lady cake, but contains less flour. Enhanced with sour cream and milk, this cake relies on a simple strawberry reduction for its strawberry flavor. Sally and Sugar and Sparrow were the only ones to use freeze-dried strawberries in the frosting.
Sally’s cake whipped up perfectly fluffy, airy and a delightful pink color with a subtle strawberry flavor. Airy but not spongy, it’s also fluffy but not coarse. Tasters were divided on whether this cake was dry or not. I thought the moisture level was fine and well compensated with the frosting.
Where this cake really shone in my opinion was the frosting! While it uses very similar ratios to Sugar and Sparrow, Sally uses half butter and half cream cheese (vs. S&S uses only butter) for a frosting that tastes vibrantly of strawberry. I think the sugar kind of overpowers the strawberries in Sugar and Sparrow’s frosting while the tang from the cream cheese actually accentuates the flavor in Sally’s frosting. This would be my recommendation for the most strawberry-forward frosting, hands down!
Taster comments:
- This is my favorite so far – really captures what I think of as strawberry cake. Only reason it’s not a 10 is I’d like to icing to be SLIGHTLY thicker
- GREAT strawberry flavor and excellent texture. Frosting had a good smooth texture, tasted like real fruit.
- Great texture! Soft and bouncy/light, and not dry at all. Tastes like there are fresh strawberries in the frosting; not too heavy and very fresh; however, cake alone does not have much flavor and a bit hard to tell on its own that this is strawberry cake.
- Nice springy, moist crumb on the cake, though it was a little bland on its own. I enjoyed it quite a bit with the frosting, which was pleasantly fruity and creamy. The strawberry flavor was middle-of-the-road – it didn’t taste artificial, but not really fresh either. On the whole, this was nice, but maybe a smidge too rich, and not quite strawberry-y enough for my preferences.
- Great tangy strawberry frosting! Cake could use more strawberry flavor and is a little more open textured and drier textured than I’d like.
Best Strawberry Cake Recommendations
Erika’s picks: My Cake School, Kara’s Couture Cakes (Sally’s for frosting)
The crowd favorite: Sally’s Baking Addiction
Strongest strawberry flavor (cake): Paula Deen, Amycakes Bakes, Sugar Geek Show
Best strawberry flavor (frosting): Sally’s Baking Addiction
Easiest to make: Paula Deen or Cake by Courtney
Easiest to make (from scratch): My Cake School
Best sturdy cake for layering: Cake by Courtney, Sugar Geek Show, Kara’s Couture Cakes
Best light and fluffy cakes: Sally’s Baking Addiction, Sugar Geek Show
Best moist and dense cakes: Kara’s Couture Cakes, My Cake School, Serious Eats, Sugar and Sparrow, Paula Deen
Did You Find a New Strawberry Cake Recipe You’re Excited to Try?
I hope you enjoyed this sampling of some of the best strawberry cake recipes on the internet. If you think I missed a great recipe, let me know in the comments below!
Marcy
As usual, I love all your bake-offs. One note about Sally’s strawberry buttercream, if you make it 1-2 days in advance and store it in the refrigerator, once it comes to room temp, it is the perfect consistency.
Jenny
Thank you for this !! Was looking for a good comparison for strawberry cake recipes. Ive been finding sweet recipes a bit cloying though. Do try tahini based recipes. Theres so much character that the savoury and bitter elements bring to desserts!
Liv
Thanks so much for this time-intensive review! I tried Sally’s Baking Addiction strawberry cake but while I liked so many things about it, I didn’t love the crumb (personal preference) and wanted a little more insight before trying another strawberry cake recipe. This was so helpful!
Tobi
Hello,
Please does anyone have Kara’s couture cakes strawberry recipe saved, it’s pretty hard to find it . Thank you
Katherine
I have the recipe saved and am happy to forward.
erika
Hi Katherine! Would you mind forwarding to me as well? I’ll see if I can find a way to publish it and link to it in the post.
Tobi Obodo
Hello Katherine and thank you for replying . Please can you forward it to me, here’s my email if you don’t mind.
te************@gm***.com
Lisa Thomas
Hello Katherine, I too would love to have a copy of Kara”s Couture Cakes Strawberry cake recipe. you are so Very nice to share! Thank you so much!
Tobi Obodo
Hello Katherine, my apologies for all the hassle but I cannot find the recipe you sent. Please can you let me what email you send it from ?
Katherine
Recipe sent. Enjoy.
Maia
Hi, I was wondering if you had a copy of the Kara Couture recipe, as their website was entirely lost. They’ve recovered a few recipes but this is not one of them. I’d love a copy for my sibling’s birthday cake this week and I’m assuming they would appreciate it if you had it on record as well. Thanks so much!
Candace Cutsforth
This was so much fun to read!! Thank you! It’s really hard to find a great strawberry cake recipe.
I loved that you broke down the recipes and frosting flavors. It was so helpful and knowledgeable.
what a fun post!!
Michelle
I would have loved to have seen CakePaperParty.com’s Strawberry cake in this trial and left out the very artificial tasting one by Paula Deen as it also uses a box mix and not from scratch. Just a thought. Thank you for your time and effort that went into this! I will need to try a few of these to see how they stack against my go to recipe.
Kate
I would highly recommend retrying the serious eats cake with a traditional formula, rather than aluminum-free baking powder. That is the reason the cake was brownish instead of pink.
Stine
What was the reason for using KAF unbleached cake flour as opposed to traditional bleached? Knowing that changed structure of bleached produces a different crumb.
Joli
Omg, need an over all best cake and overall best frosting! 🤣 Would make it easier to decide.
Elianna
Hey Miss Erika! I LOVE all your posts that you’ve done so far. Pls keep them coming as fast as possible. Keep’em comin!
Elianna
Hey Miss Erika! I LOVE all your posts that you’ve done so far. Pls keep them coming as fast as possible.
Dee R.
I absolutely love your comparisons.
Sheri
Thank you Erika, what an amazing Bake-Off! I’m so excited to try a couple of these. I’ve been planning to make the Preppy Kitchen recipe for ages. Did you find it was similar to any of the recipes you included in the bake off? I know John uses egg whites only. When you recommend some for their structure for layer cakes, would you not use Sally’s for a layer cake? Was it too fluffy? I get SO excited when you release a new Bake Off!! Thank you so much 😁 x
Ítalo Campanelli
When you say all ingredients were measured by weight according to KAB, you mean for the recipes that don’t provide the measurements in weight or you convert even the ones that provide both in cups and grams? For example… if a recipe says “1 cup of flour (140g)”, you use the 140g in parenthesis or the 120g that KAB says?