Easy Strawberry Cake tastes and looks like a bakery cake, but is easier than from-scratch! It’s full of fresh strawberries in the cake and the icing. This cake is ‘easy’ because it starts with a cake mix, but don’t worry
unless you tell noone will ever know, it taste like homemade.
unless you tell noone will ever know, it taste like homemade.
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This is my recipe box. Yes, it’s quite large and it’s not the only recipe box I have. This is the box of my family ‘favorites’; I also have a box of recipes that I want to try. And a binder of pretty entertaining and party recipes and tips. And, I have cookbooks.
So many recipes, so little time!
One third of these recipes are for desserts! I know, crazy, it’s my passion.
And, Strawberry Cake has been one of my favorite desserts for many years. It’s the cake I always wanted my Mom to make for my birthday (or anytime I could persuade her to make it!)
I prefer it made in three 8 inch layers and iced.
But, if it’s easier in a sheet pan, by all means you do not have to stack it.
I made it for the teachers at my sons school and baked it in an aluminum 9×13
was much easier to transport and I didn’t have to go back and collect a cake pan.
Easy Strawberry Cake Recipe
The beauty of this recipe? Dump all ingredients in the bowl and mix!
I like using the whisk attachment for cakes. I think it incorporates more air into the batter.
Mix it all together and pour into pan.
I iced it with a Cream Cheese Frosting.
Easy Strawberry Cake
Easy Strawberry Cake
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 12
Easy Strawberry Cake tastes and looks like a bakery cake, but is easier than from-scratch! It's full of fresh strawberries in the cake and the icing. This cake is 'easy' because it starts with a cake mix, but don't worry unless you tell noone will ever know!
Ingredients
- 1 pkg white cake mix
- 1 (3 oz) pkg strawberry jello
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, mashed or finely chopped
- 1 cup vegetable oil (I always use canola)
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 4 large eggs
- Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
- 1/2 cup butter, room temp
- 6 cups confectioners' sugar, more if needed
- *1/3 to 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, more if needed
- *1/2 cup fresh strawberries, mashed or chopped fine
- *depends on how much juice the strawberries give off
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray pans with non-stick spray. Place the cake mix, jello, strawberries, oil, milk and eggs in a large bowl. Mix 3 minutes, stopping to scrap down sides of bowl a couple times. Divide the batter evenly among layer pans or pour into 9x13 inch pan. For 9x13 pan bake 28 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (Cook layers according to directions on box of cake mix.) Remove cake and cool completely.
- For Cream Cheese Frosting: Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth. Sift sugar and add one cup full at a time to cream mixture. Add cream and strawberries and incorporate completely. Pour over cake and smooth out covering entire cake layer.
Notes
Cooking times for pan sizes2 -9 inch round or 9x9 inch square 28 to 31 minutes2 -8 inch round or 8x8 inch square 30 to 33 minutes3 -8 inch round 28 to 30 minutes ©CallMePMc.com All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.
You may also enjoy my Pound Cake Series
Looks delish!!! My sweet tooth also drives my recipe collection!!! Yum!!
Bet it tastes as good as it looks! Those teachers are gonna love you! I finally had to resort to a 2 draw filing cabinet for my recipes!!
I love this cake!!! And love your recipe box! Great idea!
THanks so much!
Glad it's not just me! 🙂 thanks for visiting!
thanks and thanks for visiting!
Glad I'm not the only recipe hoarder 😉 This looks yummy and easy – pinned it!
Ooo this looks good! Ha, I am a recipe hoarder as well. Mine have turned to electronic versions – I have an allrecipes.com account, Food Blogs account, Cook Eat Share account, an email folder labeled recipes that has recipes in it, a Pinterest food board with over 200 recipes and my blog recipes! We could start a show called Recipe Hoarders. 🙂
Oh yea, and I have some cookbooks as well.
Jamie and Julie, that is too funny!! Recipe Hoarders – I can see it now! Danni has just inspired me to get all my non-online recipes organized so that's my mission today (that and keeping my hubby doing The List I made for him! I just love a good Honey Do list!)
Wow Paula! My mouth is watering just looking at it. Strawberry was my fave growing up and now my youngest, it's his favorite too. I'll be trying this one out!
Wow Paula! This makes my mouth watering just looking at it! Strawberry was always what I asked my mom to make as well. Now it's my youngest favorite too. I have a birthday coming up. I think I might have to make this just for me. Maybe I'll share…maybe I won't!
Thank you! it's so easy too, that's the best. Let me know how you like it.
Paula I wanted to make the cake with three layers like in the pic. The recipe calls for one box of cake mix. Would you need to use a 1/2 box of cake mix to make 3 layers?
Hi Sherry, no, I only used 1 box, the 18 oz size, for this cake. Now some cake mixes have started making the boxes 15.25 oz (or 15 something), if this is the only size you can find, you will need 3/4 more of the mix.
It's so pretty! Mmmm I can almost taste it!
Eye candy!
I could eat that entire thing right now!
My daughter has been begging for strawberry cake- she must have had some at school or a friends house? Now I have a recipe- and the photos to prove it looks scrumptious!
Stopping by from DIY dreamer blog hop and saw your link…we'd love for you to stop by our blog link up: Photo Friday- you're welcome to add any photos from your blog! Hope to see you there.
Cheers!
This looks delicious! I'm your newest follower from “Adorned from Above” blog hop. If you get a chance I would love for you to follow me back: http://www.godsgrowinggarden.com/
Thanks
Angie
This cake looks so good! I am not a fan at all of cream cheese but I will lick the bowl clean with some cream cheese frosting! Thanks so much for sharing this at Mom's Test Meal Mondays!
Hey – if Honey Boo Boo can get a show, I'm sure we can too! There is one problem though – it would definitely contribute to the delinquency of a recipe hoarder and not help stop the hoarding! I'm like Julie – I have recipes everywhere! LOL Thanks for sharing at All my Bloggy Friends last week. I can't wait to see what you share tomorrow! 🙂
Yum! I can't wait to try this. My daughter loves the boxed strawberry cake but this looks SO much better and I love that fresh strawberries are used in the cake and frosting. Thanks for sharing at Creative Thursday.
Michelle
Hi Paula
This is a great recipe and I love your box of recipes. You are so much more organized then I am. Thank you so much for sharing with Wednesdays Adorned From Above Link Party last week. This weeks Link Party is opened at
http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2012/09/reeses-smore-brownies-and-wednesdays.html
from Wednesday until Sunday.
Hope to see you there.
Debi Bolocofsky
Adorned From Above
http://www.adornedfromabove.com
I bet these are a lot better than the store bought strawberry cake mixes!
Thank you for linking up to Friday Fascinations! Don't forget to come back and link up to this week's party! http://domesticrandomness.blogspot.com/2012/09/friday-fascinations-6-everything-linky.html
Oh Paula! Where were you a month ago when I was looking for a recipe just like this? 🙂 hehe! I am definitely keeping this one up my sleeve for my mum's birthday. Lovely!
This cake looks delicious Paula! I love how it uses real strawberries in the batter.
Hi:
I want to make this cake this weekend for 4th of July celebration. Is that a 1/2 cup of milk? I am assuming that it is….Thx!
Hi Pammela! Yes, 1/2 c milk. thanks so much for noticing that I have corrected it now.
Paula,
I have made this cake for years and it is truly one of my favorite desserts. It would be perfect for Valentine’s day.
Thanks for stopping by Saturday Dishes Valentine’s blog hop and linking this up. I pinned it!
Blessings,
Diane Roark
recipesforourdailybread.com
I love strawberry cake and this looks delicious and I love easy! Pinning.
Such a pretty cake, Paula! Perfect for a bay shower! Or really, anytime 🙂
Just saw this on Pinterest & Pinned! Paula, this looks SO GOOD!
I literally just ate a piece of it 🙂 Thanks so much, Averie! This little cake is near and dear. It’s the cake my Mom always made for my birthday growing up.
Would it be possible to use a yellow cake mix?
Yes, it may not be as pink, but it’ll stil taste great!
This looks delicious, Paula! I wish I had a slice right now! I love that it uses fresh strawberries but also some shortcuts to make it easy.
This looks so creamy moist and delicious! And strawberries are perfect for summer. Stopping by from The Country Cook. Have a great weekend!
Thanks so much, it’s my all time favorite cake. Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend!
OH.SO.SENSATIONAL! Looks totally luscious! Thanks for sharing at Weekend Potluck.
Thanks so much! It’s my very favorite!
The Strawberry Cake looks absolutely gorgeous but I don’t like cream cheese so what could I use in it’s place? I will definitely be checking out more of your recipes!
Thanks, Janice. You could make this decorator frosting: https://www.callmepmc.com/2012/06/decorator-icing/ or make a Butter Cream. For the butter cream, substitute the cream cheese for one stick of butter (not margarine). So you would have 2 sticks butter 3 1/2 or 4 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Butter cream frosting is really rich but it’s really good too. Hope this helps.
I have been searching for this recipe for a few years now. I originally had it in my collection years ago and had gotten it from a restaurant owner in Cincinnati, Ohio. My son loved it for his annual birthday cake in June. I made it with the 3 layers and had to put it in the icebox in the summer to keep the icing from sliding off the cake. But that made it even more delicious because it was a cool thing to eat on a hot summer day! Love this cake–it is truly delicious!
Thanks so much Caryn! I, too, always had it as my birthday cake. It’s a classic, so happy you found it and me 😉
How much is a stick of butter?
a half of cup, sorry, since I wrote this recipe, I’ve tried to put cup measures instead of that. I’ll update this recipe.
Yum! perfect for the summer!
I have made this cake for years. It is the best strawberry cake I’ve ever found.
Too much oil in this recipe. It seeped out of the cupcake liners!! Can I use less than a whole cup?????
I’ve only made this in cake layers, it does use a lot of oil. If you decrease it the cake won’t be as moist, but you can experiment with using less. You may also want to use foil liners instead of paper ones.
That would absolutely work. I believe there is another comment concerning making this into cupcakes above as well.
The a Easy Strawberry Cake looks so good and the recipe sounds good/easy. It was shared on Facebook by Gina Garner and reminded me of my late grandmothers’ (maternal & paternal) homemade strawberry cakes. I plan to share once I return to my Facebook newsfeed. Thanks to you for sharing your recipes. I’ll probably look at several others since seeing pics here that also caught my attention.
Made the strawberry cake (2-9 in pans), but the strawberry cream cheese frosting turned out very loose. Thinking I should’ve drained chopped berries. Added more cups of confectioners sugar (6 1/2 total) and still not thick enough to spread on layers, but very sweet, HELP! Will adding another 8 oz cream cheese & stick of butter help thicken the mixture?
It will thicken the mixture and make it not as sweet. Also, Refrigerate the mixture 20 to 30 minutes to firm it up. Test it and if it’s still to thin to spread and hold on cake, this is what I’d do. I would cut the cake in cubes and layer one of the layers in the bottom of a pretty glass bowl, top with half the icing and 4 ounces of cool whip. Repeat with second layer of cake, other half of icing and rest of cool whip. Serve it and don’t tell anyone it was supposed to be a layer cake. I flopped on a pound cake, my Amaretto pound cake actually, one time, it was a big mess. I made a trifle out of it and my husband’s family wants me to bring it every holiday now. Let me know how it turns out with the additions.
Hi Sharon,
You could try mixing the cream cheese and butter together while they are still relatively firm from the fridge. This should give you a firm consistency versus a loose liquid one. When the butter and cream cheese are too soft the mixture tends to be loose and liquid like. Maybe cutting the stick of butter and block of cream cheese into cubes prior to mixing will help with the mixing process. And as Paula mentioned, letting it chill helps. Hope this helps.
Following this recipe could you make cupcakes with it?
Yes, you’ll bake cupcakes 18 to 20 minutes at 350 degree F (for a standard size cupcake)
Hi Paula,
I am a huge strawberry cake fan, with that said I’ve tried many and this is by far the best I’ve ever tasted! This includes big name cupcake bakeries. I made them into cupcakes and the recipe was quite easy. I will continue to makes these probably, forever! They were a huge hit, my boyfriend must have ate like 5 or 6 the night I made them. Thanks so much for sharing:-)
What a great looking cake! It looks like it is bursting with strawberry flavor!
I am new here and I was an avid cook. Your recipes are so easy and scrumptious looking!! I can’t wait to try the Asian Lettuce wraps ( Atkins diet here ). The grandkids will get the desert recipes I make. Their parents will love that I am making dinners for them again. I got away from any kind of recipes and just almost stopped cooking altogher after my husband died. But, the kids need me to come back to the meals I am famous for making ( my kids are my fans! lol) I am so happy to stumble on your site in an email I got from Recipe Lion. I will check in as soon as I make the wraps and this strawberry cake.
I am so glad you’re here too. Cooking is therapy for me, but I like to keep it easy and quick. I know your kids miss your cooking. There are some dishes that my mom makes that only she can do. I look forward to them every holiday. Can’t wait to here back from you!
Just made this for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. It was really amazing. It will be our ‘go-to’ birthday cake for my daughter each year. I left out the strawberries in the icing so it was a little more spreadable- and tinted it pink. I decorated with some sprinkles and strawberries on top. It was a HUGE hit! I brought leftovers to school and everyone loved it! Thanks for the recipe!
Wow!! This cake looks absolutely amazing. I would like to make this cake in 2- 9 inch round pans… could you tell me how long I would bake it for?? Thanks! Love your blog btw 🙂
im not a great cook for starters, but I did make this cake today and it turned out nothing like yours looks, with that said it has to be the best strawberry cake I’ve ever eat. My icing well had its own problems and was to runny…any suggestions on what I did wrong?
It’s probably wasn’t you, strawberries can vary greatly with how much juice is in them which will affect that. You could probably firm it up by just adding more confectioners sugar. Also, sometimes I think the weather (if it’s humid or raining) affects icing as it does with candy making. I’ve never read that to be true, but I know from personal experience that I’ve made icings the exact same way and have them turn out differently. I usually add 1/4 cup confectioners sugar at a time until it is the consistancy that I want. I’m glad it tasted good though!
Suddenly cake mixes have a couple less ounces in them. Is there any adjustment you do for that? Thank you!
I did see that my store now has the smaller sizes as well as the traditional 18 oz size so I hope they keep having both.
I would make these changes reduce the strawberries to 2/3 cup, oil to 1/2 cup and eggs to just 3 large. And I’d make 2 layers instead of three. Cook for 23 to 24 minutes. (test the cake with a pick)
I made this Friday for my daughter. I flubbed on the pan and the cake stuck so we ended up with a plate full of pieces. Took us about 5 minutes to eat it ALL! Made another yesterday and it’s already half gone…and we’ve not yet tried the frosting!
Seriously…drop what you are doing and go make this cake! It will change your life!! Wooo!
I have made your strawberry cake… It was delicious and I took some over to the Aged Care residence where my mother lives and they all loved it, too. I live in Australia now, but love American cooking, as is what I grew up with. Thank you for this recipe..
Made way too much frosting, as I read the recipe wrong…I froze it so I have made for next cake.
Thank you for your easy and interesting recipes…
I’m so you all enjoyed the cake recipe and was able to share it. And now you have icing for another cake 🙂 Thanks for visiting!
My (southern) mother used to make a strawberry cake when I was a child but I never liked it (poor mom). My granddaughter requested a strawberry cake for her brother’s birthday Lol. So in addition to his traditional birthday cake, I thought I would make her one. I have never made a strawberry cake in my life so i had to find a recipe and try it out before the big day. I made this for our Easter dinner tomorrow but I had to sample it early 😉 and it is FABULOUS!! So moist and strawberryish, if that’s a word. Highly recommend making this.
the frosting didn’t come out as i had hoped i was looking for more of a cream cheese and it was very sweet and runny. not sure what happened
The ingredients asks for Strawberry Jello.
Are you talking about the Strawberry Gelatin.
I am so disappointed in the icing for this cake. Strawberry cake is my husbands favorite kind and I usually order it from our local bakery. I was excited when I saw this recipe on Pinterest because it sounded delicious and easy. I made it this morning and the icing is an absolute runny mess. I added about 4 extra cups of powdered sugar and had it in the freezer for 45 minutes and it did not thicken up one bit. I added the strawberries to the icing mixture against my better judgment (and my mothers) and am sorry I did. I think for future reference you should add a warning to the recipe that the icing might end up not what you normally expect as “regular” icing. I had to throw it out. I’m not trying to be rude but I think you should know it turned out like this. I’m glad the party is tomorrow!
Strawberry desserts are my husband’s favorite so I think he’s going to love this. I’m making it tonight to take to a potluck at church tomorrow night. Would you recommend refrigerating it overnight? I never really know whether to do that with desserts that contain cream cheese.
I plan to make mine in a 9 x 13 pan. I figure if the frosting ends up runny like some, I won’t worry about it. It can’t run off in a pan like that, and if necessary, everyone can eat it with a spoon, lol. Thanks for sharing the recipe! 😀
yes, you’ll need to refrigerate it since it has the cream cheese in it. I would set it out about an hour before you want to serve it. Hope they love it!
Thank you, Paula, for your quick response! 🙂 I’ll come back here and comment/rate it after I’ve served it.
I made this cake and took it to our church’s potluck last night, and it was a huge hit. I seriously got compliments from everyone there. It’s a good thing I cut and left a piece at home for my son, or he would have missed out, as it was all eaten at church.
As to the runny frosting; yes, mine was a tad runny (not like a glaze), but as I knew to anticipate the possibility, I baked mine in a 9×13 pan, rather than as a stacked layer cake. That way, the excess frosting was contained within the pan. It looked delicious, and the taste matched the look. This will certainly be going into my regular rotation of desserts, at least during fresh strawberry season.
is it 3oz of jello pre made of gelatin mix?
Could I use melted butter instead of oil in the strawberry cake? Making for my daughter’s birthday, she will love it!
I used to make this cake years ago and as well as I remember the recipe was exactly the same except it called for cool whip to be folded into the frosting. That will stiffen it up…
Thanks so much for posting this strawberry cake. It looks too yummy!! Will definitely try this one.
The cake looked great when I took it out of the oven, BUT, as it cooled, it began to shrink, and shrink, and shrink. The finished product was only an inch high and dense. What could be the cause? I used sugar free jello, otherwise I followed the directions above.
My mom had this recipe from my Dad’s mom…Always a hit! I always remember this cake being made in the 9×13 inch covered aluminum pan!
Could I use frozen Strawberries?
I made the strawberry cake into cupcakes for my grandsons school birthday party. My husband is a lover of all things batter & dough! He said ooo that would be so good drizzled over ice cream lol. I had no problem with the oil in this as others have posted. My grandson looovvveeessss strawberries he was so excited when I showed him the picture of the cake. He wanted chocolate icing though. Thanks for posting. I tried putting my email in to follow you but kept coming up with errors.
I made the strawberry cake into cupcakes for my grandsons school birthday party. He looovvveeessss strawberries. Only thing was he wanted chocolate icing. My husband loves all things batter & dough. He said oooo that would be so good drizzled over ice cream. Thanks for posting.
Looks yummy!!
But ingridients say you need strawberry cream cheese frosting. I just couldnt find when in the instructions is used???
This cake looks amazing, I’ve attempted something like this and couldn’t get the frosting thicken, what am I doing wrong?
Thanks!
HELP. I made this yesterday and have a good bit of strawberry frosting left only thing it’s pretty thin. How can I make it little more thicker/pipe-able?
after I baked a 13×9 cake it pretty much flopped down in the pan. not sure what I did wrong. thanks
Hi, I didn’t see anyone posting questions regarding the whole milk. I was wondering if I would be able to use 2% milk instead of whole milk? Would this effect anything?
I’m making this cake for my Dad’s 61st birthday. I was wondering if you know if this recipe would work if you substituted the strawberries for raspberries and the jello for raspberry jello. My daughters birthday is in 2 weeks and she requested a raspberry cake.
Hey Paula, my mom made tHis cake for my dad’s birthday and Father’s Day . Now my daughter want.s this for all occasions 😊. I had to chuckle a little when I saw your cake. We never know how many ” ruffles and puddles” the frosting will have🙄. It looks like you had a couple of ruffles on the side of your cake too. I’m so glad others have this unique feature on this cake😊. It’s always delicious but sometimes we have to scrape the frosting back up on the cake!
I made this cake because I found it on pinterest and looked amazing. When I first took it out of the oven, it was very high to rI’m of my 9×13 pan. Now that it’s beenot cooling, it fell. My cake shrunk half its size and fell. Is this normal? I followed recipe 🙁
it will fall some but shouldn’t fall to half the size. It may have needed to cook a little longer in a 9×13. Was it set in the center?
looks wonderful, unfortunately, you lost me at box cake mix and vegetable oil.
Do you put sugar on your strawberries before mixing them in or just cut them up and throw them in?
I made your Strawberry Cake for Easter and was thrilled at how beautiful it looked and it tasted even better! I added a phyllo dough “nest” and Cadbury egg candies for Easter. To keep the frosting from softening too much I refrigerated overnight & then let took it out Easter morning. It was perfect and moist . Wish I could add a pic because it was so pretty. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe !
I love your nest and egg idea! I’m so happy you liked the recipe
I used to make this and lost the recipe – so glad to find it again! Hope you can help with a question, though. Is it 1 cup of strawberries, chopped? Or 1 cup of chopped strawberries? That’s a pretty big difference, and I doing want to use too much or too little.
I always chop then measure. ( I need to check how I have it written )
I love this cake and so do all my coworkers. But everytime I make it, the frosting is always very runny. Is it supposed to be this way?
It’s so hard to judge how juicy the berries will be. I usually start with a small about of berries and juice and add as needed.
Just curious….I’ve seen a lot of comments on the frosting being too thin or runny….should the whipping cream be whipped before adding to the frosting mix? Would that help with the consistency? I can’t wait to try this recipe!
No, the problem comes when the berries or too juicy therefore too much liquid for the sugar to absorb. I’ve started adding in the berries a few at a time, this has helped to add too much liquid
Hi Paula. I am planning on making this strawberry cake. I am using Pillsbury Moist supreme white mix. Your recipe calls for 1 Cup oil and 4 eggs, and the box cake calls for only 1/2 c. oil and 3 eggs. Is this correct? A whole cup of oil seems like a lot.
Just checking as I don’t want to mess it up.
Thank you,
Debbie
A whole cup is a lot, it’s a very moist cake you could reduce it to 3/4 cup. This is an old recipe that used the 18oz cake mix, you may have the new smaller size cake mix. However, the recipe treated the cake mix as flour and didn’t go by the cake mix directions.
What is jello. Is strawberry jelly or strawberry instant pudding
gelatin – Jello is a brand of gelatin