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 Cake, Chocolate 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.
- 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.
You can use any method of crushing that you like but I find a plastic bag and a can of somethin‘ works just great.
- In a large mixing bowl, place cake mix, milk, oil, eggs, and gelatin.
- Mix that up with an electric mixer until you have a smooth, creamy, pink batter, about two minutes.
- Add in your crushed strawberries, juice and all.
- Mix that up again.
- 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.
Now let’s make us some cream cheese icing.
Ingredients needed for cream cheese icing
- Cream Cheese (check out our recipe for easy-peasy homemade cream cheese).
- Butter
- Powdered sugar.
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.
- Ice your cake however you like.
Look how pretty this fresh strawberry cake is!
And this cake is just as delicious as it is pretty!
Now cut it quick! The youngun’s are a waitin’!
Store this cake in the refrigerator. It’s even better served cold!
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
Nutrition
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.
“The distance between who I am and who I want to be is separated by my actions.”
~Brian Solis
Wow! I wish I had a piece of your beautiful Strawberry Cake right now! So pretty!
🙂 Thank you Debi!!
Made this for bake sale in sheet cake squares. Huge hit! I added 1/4 tsp. of strawberry extract to icing and just topped with whole berry. Ant wait to make a layer cake with this recipe.
I made two of your desserts for Easter Dinner: this strawberry cake and the peanut butter pie. BOTH were excellent. The peanut butter pie is better than the recipe I’ve used in the past.
I am so glad you enjoyed them Phyllis, thank you so much for giving them a try and for coming back to let me know!!
What a pretty cake! I was disappointed to see you use a cake mix. I have this illness, called, Startingfromscratchitis. Can’t help myself. Is there a way to adapt this to make the cake “from scratch”?
Thank you! I’m so sorry you chose to be disappointed. It is a lovely cake. It sounds like your illness is easily self medicated so I would suggest whatever you normally take when you have a flair up :). I’m sure your favorite recipe can be adapted. Or, you can take the humorous approach like my mother always did when she made a cake from a mix. She’d happily announce “This is made from scratch, I scratched the whole time I made it!” 😀
That’s a classy response! I’m not a mix person either. But, I decided to trust the source. No one asked, “did you use a mix?” I didn’t lose points!
This was my very first cake that I have EVER baked myself! It came out so yummy!! I will definitely be making it in the future. I wonder can other flavors be used, like lemon or orange, as far as the jello and fruit are concerned?
This sounds wonderful and I love strawberries. Could I make it in a 13×9 pan or in a bundt pan? What would the timing be for those two. I’m not so good on doing a layer cake. Can’t wait to make this and share it with the family.
Thanks
I make it in a 9×13 pan often. It’s about 30-35 minutes, but use a toothpick to test and make sure it’s done 🙂 I’m afraid I don’t know on the bundt pan but I’d love to hear if anyone has made it that way and can share the time!
Thank you Carol! Have a great week!
Hi,
I can’t wait to try this with our locally grown NC strawberries. We’re a bit away from the State Park in Alabama.
I’ve just added this to my Easter dessert bar! Thanks for the great recipe.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do Brenda!!