Fresh Strawberry Cake With Cream Cheese Icing

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Fresh Strawberry Cake is my Mama’s favorite and a guaranteed showstopper. I mean look at this y’all. I’ve served this at baby showers, bridal showers, brunches and made for birthdays as well. My favorite place to serve it, though, is at my own dinner table.

When Are Strawberries In Season?

I’ve had strawberries on the brain lately. The national strawberry season can be January all the way through to November so it is usually easy to find them at stores. Prices may vary depending on the time of year you want them.   In deeper parts of the South they are usually ready for harvesting April and May.

When I get them I tend to eat them all on the way home, then throw the container in the trash on my way in the house. The trick is always to hide the evidence! So it’s a big restraint for me to have enough left to make fresh Strawberry Cake! Check out some of my other delicious cake recipes like Triple Chocolate Cake (a.k.a Chocoholic Cake)Red Velvet Bundt CakeChocolate Velvet Cake With Cream Cheese Icing and Coca Cola Cake ~Oh So Good!~.

I mean Y’all, look at that beauty.  It tastes even better than it looks!

The ingredients you will need for the cake are:

  • White cake mix
  • Strawberry gelatin mix
  • Cooking oil
  • Milk
  • Fresh strawberries
  • Three eggs

Helpful Kitchen Tools

  • Wash your strawberries and cut the tops off, slice them up a bit.

Mashing Strawberries for Fresh Strawberry Cake

  • Put them in a big old plastic bag and crush them a bit. You can use a rolling pin if you want to be civilized but somedays call for a few fun karate chops!

*The amount of strawberries needs to be one cup after they are crushed, not before.

Mashed Strawberries for Fresh Strawberry Cake

You can use any method of crushing that you like but I find a plastic bag and a can of somethin‘ works just great.

Mixing up Fresh Strawberry Cake

  • In a large mixing bowl, place cake mix, milk, oil, eggs, and gelatin.

Fresh Strawberry Cake Batter

  • Mix that up with an electric mixer until you have a smooth, creamy, pink batter, about two minutes.

Fresh Strawberry Cake Batter

  • Add in your crushed strawberries, juice and all.
  • Mix that up again.

Batter for Fresh Strawberry Cake in Cake Pans

  • Now grease and flour two round cake pans.
  • Divide your batter evenly among the cake pans
  • Bake these at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • Remove from oven and allow to sit in the pans for ten minutes before turning out to cool completely.

Making Cream Cheese Icing For Fresh Strawberry Cake

Now let’s make us some cream cheese icing.

Ingredients needed for cream cheese icing

Important note: If you want to decorate your cake as I have done in these photos, you will need to double this recipe.

Another note: Your cream cheese and butter really need to be room temperature so set them out earlier in the day before starting this.

  • Place your butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar in a bowl. Mix ’em up til they’re nice and creamy smooth, scraping down sides as needed.

Fresh Strawberry Cake

  • Ice your cake however you like.

Fresh Strawberry Cake

Look how pretty this fresh strawberry cake is!

Fresh Strawberry Cake

And this cake is just as delicious as it is pretty!

Fresh Strawberry Cake

Now cut it quick! The youngun’s are a waitin’!

Store this cake in the refrigerator. It’s even better served cold!

 

fresh strawberry cake

Fresh Strawberry Cake With Cream Cheese Icing

Fresh Strawberry Cake is my mother’s favorite and a guaranteed showstopper. I mean look at this y'all. I’ve served this at baby showers, bridal showers, brunches and made for birthdays as well. My favorite place to serve it, though, is at my own dinner table.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: strawberry
Servings: 4
Calories: 393kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 Package Plain White Cake Mix
  • 1 Cup Chopped strawberries with juice
  • 3/4 Cup Milk
  • 1 Package Strawberry Gelatin 3 ounce
  • 3/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
  • 3 Eggs

Icing

  • 8 ounce Cream Cheese room temp
  • 4 Tablespoons butter room temp
  • 3 Cups confectioner's sugar

Instructions

  • Grease and flour two 8 inch round baking pans or one 9x13 inch pan.
  • Wash and cut the tops of strawberries. Coarsely chop them. Gently mash strawberries by placing them in a large plastic bag and rolling over it with a rolling pin or large can.You need to measure out one cup once they are mashed.
  • Place cake mix, milk, gelatin mix, vegetable oil, and eggs in large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, about two minutes or so. Add in strawberries and juice, mix again until well combined. Pour into baking pans.
  • Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. If using two round pans, allow to sit for ten minutes before turning out of pans to cool completely. If baking in 9x13 pan, simply allow to cool in pan.
  • Combine all icing ingredients and mix with electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Ice cooled cake.
  • Store cake in refrigerator.
  • Ice cake. Store in the refrigerator.

Notes

Important note: If you want to decorate your cake as I have done in these photos, you will need to double this recipe.
*Some people add 1/2 cup crushed, drained strawberries to this icing as well. I leave them out to make the cake a bit prettier and easier to ice but feel free to add them in for more great strawberry flavor! Just mix them in after your icing is smooth and creamy and all other ingredients have been added.
Another note: Your cream cheese and butter really need to be room temperature so set them out earlier in the day before starting this.
If you don't want to you can make this into a sheet cake as well.  This recipe would be good for a 9 x 13 sheet pan. 

Nutrition

Calories: 393kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

The versatility of strawberries…

There are so many strawberry dishes that I love. My personal favorite is my Mama’s strawberry pie, My husband’s favorite is Strawberry punchbowl cake, and my son favors good old fashioned strawberry shortcake. 

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323 Comments

  1. Great recipe! I found it’s easier, though, to just chop the strawberries with a food chopper as I didn’t have good results with the rolling can method! Oh, & putting strawberries in the frosting was fabulous. Thanks!

  2. Goodmorning Christy! I am pregnant with my third child, and we find out in two weeks what we are having:) If we find out it’s a girl, I am going to make this cake to cut “via skype” to show our family what we are having!

    My issue is… our stores are starting to sell strawberries, but they are not very good yet:( Should I still use them, or do you have a different idea for when they aren’t really in season? Thank you!

    1. You could certainly use a different berry if you felt like you needed to, but you will be surprised at how much sweetening the strawberries will help them, and 2 weeks will make a significant difference in the quality of the strawberries available.

      1. Ok thank you so much!! Strawberry cake is one of my very favorites so I don’t think I can bring myself to try a different berry…. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that the strawberries will get sweet with the cake:)

      2. Hi Christy,
        My oldest son fell in love with this cake and wants it every Birthday and any other time he can get me to make it. My favorite is the lemon poppyseed bread. So moist and delicious. Everyone just loves your recipes.

  3. This is the cake I posted about yesterday but I never did see my comment go through. I’ll have to check again. I had stated that I never can get my icing to right consistency. I do use the mashed strawberries in icing. Now try now to fall on the floor laughing, but when I made this recently for my husband’s birthday, I kept having to add powdered sugar trying to get the consistency right………6 POUNDS of powered sugar!!!! Put the layers of cake in refrigerator before icing and the icing still ran off cake but not as badly as the time before. I even had to use toothpicks to hold the layers in place. Despite all of that, that cake was devoured, and there was lots of fingerlicking around bottom of the cake plate! Even the 3, 2, and 1 year old grandbabies loved it and they don’t love much! I have and LOVE your cookbook, Christy and have recommended it to so many friends and they have not been disappointed. Keep it up, girl! –A neighboring Mississippi gal!

  4. I took a picture yesterday of a sign that made me think of you, Ms Christy but it wont let me post it here. I don’t usually do things like this but it made me smile to think of you and wanted to share it. But, I am still excited as I have all the ingredients to make this cake! Love me some fresh strawberries! Thanks for all that you do! Have a great weekend!

  5. Thanks for this recipe.I grew up in a very small town in NC that “use” to be the strawberry captial of the US,but alas is no more…but anyway I always perk up when I see strawberry recipes.And I truly love that most of your cakes can be made in 9X13 dish,cause I find them quicker to make and easier to carry if needed to.Bless you Christy…Cant hardly wait til the next cook book comes out! Your little “diner” is so full of sunshine,just like you!

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