Fresh Strawberry Buttercream Cake Recipe
You can taste the real strawberry flavor in this fresh strawberry scratch cake, as it skips ingredients like food coloring and jello gelatin and uses strawberry jam and real strawberries! Use this recipe to bake a strawberry layer cake, a sheet cake, or even cupcakes. Then spread on the strawberry buttercream frosting with its beautiful pink color on every layer, and decorate with sweet juicy strawberries, it's the real deal.
Servings: 12
Calories: 836kcal
Ingredients
Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
- 2 cups butter room temperature softened
- 6 cups powdered sugar sifted
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 cup strawberry jam
Strawberry Cake
- ½ cup strawberries for the strawberry puree
- 2 cups all-purpose flour organic preferred or cake flour
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup softened unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup buttermilk or sub whole milk
- 1 cup strawberry jam
- 2 baskets fresh strawberries for decoration
Instructions
Make the Strawberry Buttercream
- In the mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, or hand mixer, cream the butter and sift the powdered sugar in on low-speed until blended.
- Next, increase speed to high speed until light and fluffy for another 3 minutes. Add the sea salt, vanilla extract, and heavy cream and beat for 1 minute. If needed, add a bit more cream to make it smooth and creamy.
- Add strawberry jam, for "food" color and delicious strawberry flavor. Keep refrigerated and cool until ready to use.
Bake The Strawberry Cake
- Puree ½ cup strawberries in a blender, or chop very finely. Set the fresh strawberry puree aside in a separate bowl.
- Prepare pans you chose for baking. I used a small 5 layer pan set from a craft store. Lightly coat the pan/s with butter or coconut non-stick spray, dust with flour, and tap out excess. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift the 2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teapoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon sea salt together. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer, cream the ½ cup of unsalted butter and 1 ½ cups sugar. Next, slowly add in the 2 eggs and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
- With the electric mixer on low, gently add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and just combine then add the ½ cup buttermilk (or milk) until well combined. Do not overmix.
- Add the ½ cup of strawberry puree (the strawberries that were mashed chopped) and the strawberry jam by hand using a rubber spatula to combine.
- Pour the batter into prepared pans, and spread evenly. The batter is pretty thick.
- Bake 20 minutes at 350, or until toothpick comes out clean. Bake time will depend on the size of your pans. Small 6" pans are baked in 20 minutes, larger pans will take about 24 mintues.
Assemble The Cake
- Tap the cakes out of pans onto a wire rack to cool. It helps to place some buttercream frosting on your plate to hold the first layer of cake down in place. Then add some thin strips of wax paper to keep your plate clean. Spread the cake layers with a thin coat of buttercream frosting.
- Once each layer is frosted and stacked. Run your off-set spatula around the side to make it smooth. Chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Then spread the final layer of buttercream frosting, and swirl or coat evenly.
- Decorate with the extra strawberries cut in half and about the same size. Press into the buttercream frosting, and put one on top of the in the center.
- Buttercream frosting will melt at room temperature, be sure to keep this cake refrigerated until ready to serve.
- Store extra remaining frosting in an airtight container and use in 2-3 months from the freezer.
Notes
Buttercream Frosting
Store for up to a week in an airtight container. Before frosting, let come to room temperature and re-whip in the mixer until it is light and creamy again. PRO TIP: You can freeze your buttercream frosting! When you are ready to use it for another recipe, simply store it in a sealed ziplock bag with all the air pushed out. Place on the counter to soften, squish the bag around to get the frosting ready to use and you are ready to add frosting to another dessert! You can freeze buttercream up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge, and re-whip in a mixer. Adding powdered sugar will thicken the buttercream. Heavy cream will thin it out and makes it easier to spread. Simply store it in a sealed ziplock bag with all the air pushed out. Place on the counter to soften for an hour, squish the bag around to get the frosting ready to use and you are ready to add frosting to another dessert!Cake Flour vs. All-Purpose Flour
The main difference between cake flour and all-purpose (AP) flour is the protein content (which becomes gluten). Cake flour is about 8% protein content, while the protein content of AP flour is about 10-11%. When you're making cakes, use cake flour that's lower in protein and will result in a spongier fluffier crumb.Decorating
Use a crumb coat to get a smoothly frosted cake.
- Using an offset spatula spread a thin layer of buttercream frosting on your cake and chill for 30 minutes
- The final coat of buttercream frosting will go on really nicely, and you avoid bumpy crumbs in your frosting!
Baking Pans
Small 5-6" pans are bake cakes in 20 minutes, larger pans will take about 24 minutes. Choose the cake pan you want to bake in, any of these will work!- two 9" round pans for a 2-layer cake
- single rectangle pan 9 x 13
- for a strawberry sheet cake - use a regular large sheet pan
- 5 small 6" round cake pans
- for strawberry cupcakes - silicone muffin pans or paper baking cups
Nutrition
Calories: 836kcal | Carbohydrates: 122g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 42g | Saturated Fat: 26g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 136mg | Sodium: 605mg | Potassium: 136mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 99g | Vitamin A: 1312IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 53mg | Iron: 1mg