29 Strawberry Cake Recipes For Every Occasion

Strawberry Shortcake Sheet Cake — Photo:
Johnny Autry; Food and Prop Styling: Charlotte L. Autry

You know spring has arrived when strawberries begin to appear at the local farmers' market. For a few blissful months, ripe, jewel-toned berries tempt us from the fruit stands, begging to be incorporated into a strawberry dessert for all the picnics, potlucks, cookouts, and other social gatherings of the season.

Lucky for you, the juicy fruit takes center stage in these delightful strawberry cake recipes. Fresh, in-season strawberries provide the perfect excuse to whip up a decadent dessert, whether you're celebrating a special occasion or just having a relaxing dinner at home with your family. These show-stopping strawberry cakes are pretty as a picture and will certainly keep them coming back for more.

From the crowd-pleasing strawberry sheet cakes and strawberry cupcakes to the nostalgic ice cream and icebox cakes, plus fun pairings like strawberry and lemonade, these strawberry cake recipes will have you celebrating spring and its bounty.

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Strawberry Rosé Snack Cake

It's always wine o' clock with this easy strawberry cake. The pretty pink comes from the freeze-dried strawberries and a generous splash of rosé. We love snack cakes for their simplicity—no frosting multiple layers here—and their creativity. Recipe developer Ann Taylor Pittman's ingenious use of rosé brings the batter a lovely pink hue and helps it be fluffy and light once baked.

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Strawberry Birthday Cake

What looks like a plain white cake from the outside hides a truly special strawberry cake inside. A simple strawberry compote is the key to this strikingly simple cake. Whip one up for all the special occasions: birthdays, showers, and summery holiday gatherings.

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Chocolate Strawberry Cake

This party-perfect flavor pairing delivers as a decadent chocolate layer cake with fresh strawberry buttercream. What a crowd pleaser, especially for those chocolate lovers who know the magic of pairing with strawberries. We encourage offering more berries on the side.

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Strawberry Lemonade Cake

You can assemble this glorious strawberry cake up to two days ahead and store at room temperature. Also, you can freeze cooled layers up to a month in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. The sweet-tart Strawberry-Lemonade Jam and Strawberry Frosting make for a delicious finish.

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Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

Strawberries and lemonade are a duo for a reason. The sweet berries are the perfect pairing to the tart drink, and now you can have them in cupcake form. These are also a sweet choice for any baby shower, bridal celebration, or rite of spring or summer.

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Fresh Strawberry Meringue Cake

Stack layers of fluffy, nutty meringue between whipped creamy filling and juicy fresh strawberries. This is a picture perfect choice, especially if you want to practice your cake layering technique. No matter where you serve this, it's a show stopping sweet everyone will enjoy.

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Strawberry Crunch Ice Cream Cake

Five ingredients stand between you and this summery dessert. Inspired by the ice cream shop cakes, this rendition of a strawberry crunch cake is sure to bring back loads of memories. You will not want to make this just once.

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Strawberry Banana Pudding Icebox Cake

This no-bake strawberry cake was made for hot summer days. It combines the cooling powers of banana pudding with a sweet-tart bite of strawberry cake. We use graham crackers instead of vanilla wafers to make for easier layering and slicing.

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Homemade Strawberry Shortcake

This no-fuss strawberry dessert uses homemade buttermilk biscuits and whipped cream to showcase fresh berries. These might be a little more fussy than a standard layer cake, but the individual portions makes for a beautiful presentation.

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Strawberry Vanilla Cake

Delicate, fluffy strawberry cake gets a coat of sweet vanilla icing. Top it all off with some fresh, ruby-red berries before serving for an added wow factor. The look of a layered cake is classic and traditional, and your efforts will make this a star of the buffet.

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Strawberry Icebox Cake

The nostalgic icebox cake is back, featuring crisp chocolate wafers and strawberries with a hefty serving of whipped cream. The whipped cream's delicate pink hue is thanks to strawberry jam. It's worth taking the time to follow the layering instructions. You will make this a knockout dessert option.

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Strawberry Kuchen

A German word meaning cake, Kuchen represents the cultural influences of our region. Unlike quick batter cakes, this strawberry cake is yeasted and requires some time and patience, but it will reward you in spades—or, rather, in slices.

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Katie Jacobs' Strawberry Shortcake

"Naked" cakes are ones that aren't finished with layers of buttercream or frosting. They're allowed to be a bit more freeform. That concept is used in this strawberry cake to great effect. Use a pastry cutter to work butter into the flour mixture to help dough come together seamlessly.

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Sour Cream Flag Cake

This sour cream pound cake uses strawberries for a patriotic punch. If you don't need Old Glory for a particular theme, use any combination of berries and fruit to make beautiful displays atop this casserole-sized cake.

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Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake

There are a few things to note about this strawberry cake recipe before you start baking. First, the cream cheese is added after beating the butter and sugar. And, yes, you read the cooking instructions correctly—the cake bakes at a slightly higher temperature than usual.

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Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

No artificial flavors and colors over here. The vibrant pink shade is achieved with freeze-dried strawberries and plenty of fresh fruit chopped and thrown into the batter. This might be your birthday cupcake go-to for multiple celebrations.

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Plum Berry Cornmeal Sheet Cake

Baking in your favorite 13-by-9-inch pan with parchment paper makes this cake easy to transport and also makes cleanup a breeze. The cornmeal paired with the fruit presents two kinds of sweetness, and they are a match made in dessert heaven.

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Strawberries And Cream Sheet Cake

Trust us: This simple and swoon-worthy strawberry sheet cake will be a keeper in your recipe box. File it under "Springtime Crowd Pleaser." Once you see how it is received at Easter dinner, you will be looking for excuses to make it again. How about, "It's Tuesday night and we need some cake."?

19 of 29

Strawberry Rhubarb Skillet Coffee Cake

Not all cakes require frosting to be spectacular. This strawberry cake sure proves that. Baked in a cast iron pan, the dense, butter batter envelopes strawberry and rhubarb slices. A delicately sweet crumble sits on top for a nice textural contrast in each bite.

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Angel Food Cake

The options with angel food cake are many, and our favorite is adding fresh macerated strawberries to the proceedings. Add freshly squeezed lemon juice to a bowl of sliced berries, sprinkle in some sugar and cornstarch, heat up on the stove, and you've got yourself a sweet-tart topping that is to die for.

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Classic Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

This Southern staple is all the rage when berries are in season, but look for early spring strawberries also at your local supermarket. The availability for decent early spring produce is impressive, and you will be eating this delightful dessert long before Easter.

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Cakey Strawberry Cobbler

If you're wondering what to do with lots of fresh strawberries (a wonderful dilemma to have), this is a great way to use up a couple quarts quickly with minimal effort. If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can substitute regular whole milk, but the cake won't rise quite as high. You can also substitute any other type of fresh berry or stone fruit; all will yield delicious results.

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Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecake

Whether you're baking a dessert for a special holiday or simply in the kitchen for some fun, be careful not to over beat the cheesecake.This is how a cheesecake cracks, though any imperfections can easily be covered by the luscious chocolate layer on top. It's hard to assemble this without testing every ingredient.

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Strawberry Shortcake With Bourbon Soaked Berries

bourbon soaked strawberry shortcake — Joy Howard

Each homemade scone in this recipe is topped and baked with a generous sprinkling of coarse sugar that lends a sweet crunch, and the dense texture of the crumb is just right for soaking up the juices of the strawberries and dolloping with light and fluffy whipped cream. And don't forget the bourbon soaked fruit makes this dessert just a bit more decadent than your average strawberry shortcake.

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29 Strawberry Cake Recipes For Every Occasion

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