Fresh Strawberry Cake With Cream Cheese Icing
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!
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
- 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
I made this for Valentine’s. It is the perfect Valentine’s Day cake! Everybody loved it. I changed my mind about adding strawberry puree to the frosting. Christy is right about this — the cake is so intensely pink because of the geletin mix, it is prettier if the frosting is left white. I added a very few white and pink valentine decoration sprinkles to dress it up. It was truly good. Oh, and I only added 1.5 cups of sugar to the frosting instead of 3; we are cutting down on sugar and have come to prefer the fresher taste of less sweetness.
This sounds like just what I’m looking for for Valentine’s. I like the idea of adding some strawberry puree into the frosting. Thanks!
I went to making this cake and realized I forgot to grab the box of white cake mix! Instead of running to the store to get this, how can I make my own? Thanks!!
Made this for our Sunday night family dinner. All I heard was joyous sounds as they scarfed down this beautiful cake. The best part was the chunks of strawberry- and I put in extra (about 1/4 cup). Biting into that that strawberry was amazing. I also put in a few Tbl of strawberry puree in the frosting, which added another dimension. Bravo!!!
This cake looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it. Is it possible to use Betty Crocker Angel Food Cake instead of Duncan Hines White Cake? I couldn’t find Duncan HInes in the market. If the substitution is ok, do I not use eggs and oil as the box only calls for water? Thank you so much for your lovely recipes!
Oh wow I made this the night before our Thanksgiving dinner and refrigerated it. After my uncle ate his dinner he asked about that Strawberry cake i had made so i sliced him and my dad up a piece. They were arguing about who was going to take it home with them lol. My stepson couldnt get enough of it. This is one that is going to be part of my family recipes from now on. Thanks for sharing your recipes and your stories. Not to mention helping me (if not many others) to cook better for their families!!
thank you soo much. i have been looking for a good easy cream cheese recipe. its awesome. thank you