Strawberry Cake, made with a yogurt and oil based batter, sponge cakes made with creamed butter with strawberries on top

What goes in Strawberry Cake

So hereโ€™s what you need:

Ingredients in Strawberry Cake
  • Strawberriesย โ€“ 500g/1 lb to be exact! Some goesย inย the cake, most goes on top;
  • Flour, sugar, egg, baking powder, vanilla, saltย โ€“ all the usual suspects in cakes;
  • Lemonย โ€“ the freshness of lemon works so well in cakes made with berries! Proof ->ย Strawberry Cheesecake,ย Blueberry Cake,ย Blueberry Cheesecake Bars,ย Blueberry Lemon Loaf; and
  • Oil and yogurt or sour creamย โ€“ as noted above, this is what keeps the crumb really moist as well as adding a touch of tang, reinforcing the brightness we get from the lemon.

How to make this easy Strawberry Cake

Being that this doesnโ€™t have creamed butter in it, itโ€™s a one-bowl, hand mixed batter. Whisk Wet ingredients first, then mix the dry in.

How to make Strawberry Cake

Some of the strawberries go inside the cake โ€“ not too much, I was a little overenthusiastic about this at first but the strawberries made the batter so wet and weighed it down so much it took 1 hour 40 minutes to cook! Most go on top โ€“ they hold their form pretty well but burst with juice when you bite into them.

Iโ€™m so unoriginal that whenever I see strawberries and baked goods, I immediately think cream. So for me, a (big!) dollop of freshly whipped cream is mandatory for serving.

Ingredients

CupsMetric

STRAWBERRIES

  • โ–ข500g / 1 lbย strawberriesย , hulled (ie tops removed)

WET:

  • โ–ข1ย cupย sugarย , caster/superfine best but granulated ok too
  • โ–ข1/2ย cupย oilย , canola or vegetable oil
  • โ–ข2ย eggsย , large (~50g/1.75 oz each)
  • โ–ข1ย tbspย grated lemon rind
  • โ–ข1/4ย cupย lemon juiceย (1 large lemon)
  • โ–ข1ย cupย plain yoghurtย , unsweetened (Greek or just plain)
  • โ–ข1ย tspย vanilla extractย (or essence)

DRY:

  • โ–ข2 1/4ย cupsย flourย , plain/all purpose
  • โ–ข4ย tspย baking powderย (or 1 1/4 tsp baking soda)
  • โ–ขPinchย of salt

SERVING:

  • โ–ขWhipped cream
  • โ–ขExtra strawberries
  • โ–ขIcing sugar/ powdered sugarย , for dusting

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 200ยฐC/390ยฐF (180ยฐC fan).
  • Grease and line a 23 cm / 9″ cake pan with baking paper/parchment paper. (Any type of cake pan is fine)

STRAWBERRIES:

  • For inside of cake:ย Dice some strawberries into ~1.5cm / 1″ pieces to make 1 cup (about 1/3 of the strawberries)
  • Topping:ย Cut the remaining strawberries in half.

CAKE:

  • Place Wet ingredients in a bowl and whisk well for 1 minute.
  • Add Dry ingredients then whisk well until lump free.
  • Pour half into cake pan, smooth surface. Scatter over diced strawberries.
  • Top with remaining batter. Smooth surface, then top with halved strawberries, cut face down.
  • Bake 50 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. (Note 1) If you need to cook longer, cover with foil if it starts getting too golden.
  • Stand 15 minutes in the cake pan before turning out onto cooling rack.
  • Cool 15 minutes+ before serving warm or at room temp. Dust with icing sugar, and serve with cream or if serving warm, ice cream!

Recipe Notes:

1. Bake time – I know 200ยฐC/390ยฐF (180ยฐC fan) sounds high for a cake, but for this one it needs a higher temp. If your oven runs weak so it takes longer to bake, it can really affect the bake time of this cake due to the juiciness of the strawberries! At 180ยฐC/350ยฐF (160ยฐC fan) it took me 30 minutes longer, and a bit more moist inside (but still a terrific soft tender crumb).

2. Different measures in different countries – tablespoon and cup sizes differ slightly from country to country. In most recipes, the difference is not enough to affect the outcome of the recipe, but for baking recipes, you do need to be careful.

This cake recipe is forgiving enough such that the difference in cups won’t matter – I’ve made it mixing up US and Australian cups (the greatest size variance) and the outcome was exactly the same.

3. Cake batter recipe is from my Lemon Yogurt Cake and Blueberry Cake. Strawberry Cake version inspired by various recipes I’ve seen around in including ones from Smitten Kitchen, Martha Stewart and Natasha’s Kitchen.

4. Storage – keeps well for 5 days, the crumb stays nice and moist thanks to the yogurt and oil. If it’s hot and humid where you are, keep it in the fridge and bring to room temp before serving. If it’s cold where you are, it doesn’t need to be kept in the fridge. Also freezes 100% perfectly.

5. Nutritionย per slice, assuming 12 slices.