Fresh strawberry cake from scratch with jello flavoring and lemon cream cheese frosting. Perfect homemade cake for a birthday or any other special occasion.
After seeing a photo of a fresh strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting, I just had to make the cake as soon as possible.
The whipped cream cheese frosting and perfectly pink, moist, crumbly cake was calling to me.
This is such a refreshing cake. I love how moist the cake is and how there’s just enough strawberry flavoring to make it the perfect amount of sweet.
Tips for this fresh strawberry cake recipe:
- The cake was easy to whip up. However, with the frosting, you really need to pay attention to the order of what goes in the mixer. Mix the cream cheese and sugar first, until smooth, then fold in strawberries. Remove the cream cheese mixture from your stand mixer. Add in heavy cream and lemon juice to mixer bowl and start to beat on high speed, until frothy. Add in the sugar and mix until stiff peaks form. This is where I mixed too long, and the mixture became goopy. Bottom line, when you see the stiff peaks (kind of like a meringue), STOP mixing. Then, mix the heavy cream mixture into the cream cheese mixture, and you’ll have a perfect frosting.
This is a fairly easy strawberry cake recipe to pull together, and you will have many happy people at your table saying “Yum, strawberry cake is sooooo good.”
Hope you enjoy it too!
You might also like:
Small Cake Recipe with Almond Buttercream Frosting
SAVE THIS STRAWBERRY CAKE TO YOUR “DESSERTS” PINTEREST BOARD!
And, let’s be friends on Pinterest! I’m pinning delicious recipes all the time.
Strawberry Cake
Fresh strawberry cake from scratch with jello flavoring and lemon cream cheese frosting. Perfect homemade cake for a birthday or any other special occasion.
Ingredients
- 1 unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups cake flour
- 2 tbsp strawberry flavored jello gelatin powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk, well shaken
- 2/3 cups fresh strawberries, chopped
Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 2/3 cups sugar, divided in half
- 2/3 cup fresh strawberries, chopped (optional)
- 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with butter spray. Line baking dish with parchment paper with the long sides extend 2-3 inches, so that it will be easy to use the paper as handles when removing cake from pan after cooking. Spray parchment paper with butter spray.
In a stand mixer, on high speed, beat butter until creamy. On medium high speed, slowly add sugar, then continue to beat 4-5 minutes until its fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat after each addition until they're incorporated. Do not overmix. Add lemon juice and vanilla and mix in.
In a small bowl, combine flour, strawberry jello powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to butter mixture, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Gently stir in strawberries.
Pour batter into prepared baking pan and bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool cake completely. Lift cake out of pan, using the parchment paper handles.
Frosting
In large bowl, beat the cream cheese with 1/3 cup of sugar until mixture is smooth. Fold in chopped strawberries.
In large bowl, beat the heavy cream and lemon juice until mixture is frothy. Continue beating on medium-high speed and gradually add the remaining 1/3 cup sugar. Beat until mixture forms stiff peaks.
Fold half of the whipped cream mixture into the cream cheese mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream mixture. Immediately spread the top and sides of the cake with frosting. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Adapted from Gonna Want Seconds
Dang this looks really good! I simply love strawberry cake. Our daughter used to work at a local cafe that made the best strawberry cake. Sometimes she would bring me a slice home! I really need to give this recipe a try!
I love strawberry cake too. If you try the recipe, be sure to follow my tip for mixing up the frosting above the last photo in the post. Thanks so much for checking in!
The Head Spoon recently posted…Pecan Sandies
This yummy strawberry cake looks so yummy…Gonna try it during the holiday season
It really is yummy! Be sure to follow the frosting steps carefully. The order of ingredients and when to mix them make a big difference in the fluffiness factor of the cream cheese frosting. Enjoy!
The Head Spoon recently posted…Strawberry Cake