Imagine this: a soft, fluffy strawberry cake filled with sweet strawberry jam and creamy strawberry buttercream frosting. Are you drooling yet? I haven't even told you the best part: this delicious strawberry cake with strawberry filling is made with freeze dried strawberries, so you don't need ripe ones! Let me show you how easy it is to bake.
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The flavor-explosion from freeze dried strawberries + strawberry jam means that this is hands-down the best strawberry cake recipe without needing to find fresh strawberries. And possibly best of all, you don't need to use any artificial coloring or food dye since those freeze dried strawberries add a beautiful pink color. Honestly, I love adding them in place of fresh berries, like in my strawberry crunch cupcakes.
And listen, I treasure this strawberry cake near and dear to my heart, because I made it for my own homemade wedding cake! Yes, that's how much I love it. With that said, the strawberry flavor of this cake is pretty light and subtle, and the color is also pretty pale to give a beautiful contrast to the red jam filling and pink frosting. But if you feel like really amping up the strawberry-ness of your cake, just gently fold chopped fresh strawberries into the batter and add pink or red food dye.
This festive layer cake was inspired by my vanilla cake with strawberry filling. It's another easy "naked cake" meaning the sides don't get frosted so it's less work to decorate. But I'm kiiiiind of obsessed with strawberries, so I had to figure out how to max out this cake with strawberry-goodness.
Notes & Subs for a Few Ingredients
- Greek Yogurt: Instead of plain Greek yogurt, you can swap in sour cream.
- Lemon Juice: If you don’t have lemon juice, you can substitute white vinegar. It’ll still curdle the milk, and it won’t add a vinegar taste to your cake.
- Flour: You can swap in all purpose flour for this cake, but I prefer using cake flour for a softer, fluffier cake.
- Freeze Dried Strawberries: Practically lighter than air, this adds a ton of flavor to the cake and filling. I usually buy mine at Trader Joe's.
Let's Bake Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Filling!
Below is the process to make this recipe. For the full step-by-step directions and ingredient quantities, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
1. Mix the milk + lemon juice & set aside.
2. Pulverize the freeze dried strawberries.
3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and freeze dried strawberries.
5. Beat the softened butter and granulated sugar.
7. Alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients, gently mixing.
9. Allow the cakes to cool completely.
11. Trim the tops off the cakes.
13. Spoon strawberry jam between the frosting circles.
4. Mix the milk + lemon juice, vanilla extract, and Greek yogurt in a bowl, and set aside.
6. Mix in the two eggs until it's well combined.
8. Divide the batter between the cake pans and bake for 25-35 minutes.
10. Mix the strawberry buttercream.
12. Pipe two rings of the frosting.
14. Decorate with more frosting and fresh strawberries.
Cake + Buttercream Tips
- Smooth as Butter: If you feel like your buttercream is too stiff, mix in one tablespoon of milk at a time to loosen your buttercream.
- Room Temp: Have all your ingredients (especially the butter, milk, eggs, and yogurt) at room temperature to help everything combine easily.
- Softened Butter: If you forget to soften your butter ahead of time (boy, have I been there!) then watch my hack to soften butter in 10 minutes.
- Don't Overmix: Be careful not to overmix your cake batter, which can cause it to look like it has big holes in it. Mix slowly and gently with a spatula as you're adding the dry and wet ingredients.
- Ripe Strawberries: Got some unripe strawberries, but want to add them on your cake? Read my post on how to ripen strawberries quickly here.
Tips on Making Ahead
After a day or two any fresh strawberries you decorate on the cake will dry out and shrivel a bit. Therefore I recommend making and assembling your cake, then adding any fresh berries just before you serve it.
Also, I find that cakes with buttercream are easier to slice when they're cold since the frosting is firm. But they taste better after sitting out for about 10 minutes, so the buttercream can soften into a luscious texture.
Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Filling (Freeze Dried Strawberries)
Equipment
Ingredients
Strawberry Cake
- 1 cup freeze dried strawberries (turns into a scant half cup once blended into a powder)
- ½ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1¾ cups cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup plain Greek yogurt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
Strawberry Filling
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (2 sticks)
- 1¾ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup freeze dried strawberries
- ½ cup strawberry jam
Instructions
Make the Cakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans.
- In a small bowl, mix the milk and lemon juice. Set aside for 10 minutes to curdle.
- Pulverize the freeze dried strawberries in a food processor, blender, or by smashing them with something heavy in a sealed bag until it forms fine crumbs.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and freeze dried strawberry powder. Set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the milk + lemon juice, vanilla extract, and Greek yogurt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar for about 3 minutes, until it is smooth.
- Add the eggs and mix until it’s combined.
- Add about one-third of the dry flour mixture to the butter and sugar. Gently mix with a large spatula until there's no dry flour visible. Add one-half of the wet milk mixture. Gently mix again until it's fully combined. Continue alternating between adding the dry and wet ingredients, ending with the dry ingredients. Give the bowl a final scrape and mix, to ensure everything is evenly combined.
- Divide the batter equally between the two greased cake pans and smooth the top of the batter with a spatula. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of each cake. (Be sure to check each cake for doneness, as they could finish baking at different times.)
- Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack to cool completely before assembling your layer cake with the filling.
Make the Buttercream
- Pulverize the freeze dried strawberries into fine crumbs. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer, beat the softened butter for about 5 minutes, until it is soft and fluffy.
- Add one cup of powdered sugar and beat it on a low speed until the sugar is incorporated. Repeat with the remaining powdered sugar and mix until it’s smooth, fluffy, and pale.
- Add the vanilla extract, salt, and pulverized freeze dried strawberries. Mix again on high speed, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed, until it's well-combined and smooth. Set aside.
Assemble the Layer Cake
- Use a serrated knife to trim the tops off the cakes so they are level. (You can trim off the sides as well, but I prefer to leave them on - it looks cleaner since we aren’t frosting the sides.)
- Spread one tablespoon of the buttercream frosting on a cake plate, then place the first cake layer in the center of the cake plate.
- Fill a piping bag with a large open round nozzle with the strawberry buttercream (or you can fill a gallon-sized Ziplock bag and cut the corner off). Pipe a thick outer ring of buttercream on the top of the cake, followed by another thick inner ring (see the photo in the blog post above for reference).
- Fill in the two spaces between the rings of frosting with the strawberry jam.
- Place the second cake layer directly on top upside-down (so the flat bottom is on top). With the remaining buttercream, pipe it on the sides to fill in any gaps and pipe it on the top of the cake, using an offset spatula to spread it in an even layer.If the frosting feels really soft, let your layer cake sit in the fridge for 20 minutes so the frosting can firm up a bit. Decorate with fresh strawberries, and enjoy!!
Notes
- Buttercream: If you feel like your buttercream is too stiff, mix in one tablespoon of milk at a time to loosen your buttercream.
- Room Temp Ingredients: Have all your ingredients (especially the butter, milk, eggs, and yogurt) at room temperature to help everything combine easily.
- Don't Overmix: Be careful not to overmix your cake batter, which can cause it to look like it has big holes in it. Mix slowly and gently with a spatula as you're adding the dry and wet ingredients.
- Make Ahead: If you are decorating your cake with fresh strawberries, wait to add them just before you serve your cake. Otherwise they could seep moisture onto your cake or dry out in the fridge.
- Storing: Store your cake wrapped tightly in plastic wrap in the fridge.
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