Easy strawberry sheet cake made with pureed berries, and a little secret to up the strawberry flavor. Topped with fresh strawberry American buttercream.

Oh how I love a good sheet cake recipe. It just feels more down home, right? Like your mama whipped it up on a Sunday afternoon after church. Just instantly makes me happy. And then use fresh summer berries for the cake AND the buttercream? Yeah, I’m all the way in.

Strawberry cake is my husbands favorite cake flavor by far. He insisted on at least some of our wedding cake being strawberry. One of the VERY few decisions he put his foot down about! 😉 Although I put up zero fight about it. The more cake flavor options at a party the better, right?

Anyway, so because he loves strawberry cake so much, you know I’ve practiced it a lot. Tweaking my recipe for about a decade now. So trust me when I say this is the perfect strawberry cake.

How to Make Fresh Strawberry Sheet Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a 9X13 pan with parchment paper. Or spray the pan with a non stick spray that has flour in it. I like to use Baker’s Joy. My cakes come out perfectly browned on the edges and don’t stick ONE BIT. Huge fan!

Puree and strain the strawberries, then set aside. You will need 1 cup of puree. Not just 1 C of berries. The amount you will need depends on the size of your strawberries, but I can usually get a cup (plus a little extra to make the buttercream) from a standard 1 lb container of berries.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and oil for 5 minutes. It will be fluffy and light in color. With the mixer running, add in the eggs one at a time until combined. You will need to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure all of the egg is getting incorporated. The whites sometimes tend to settle at the bottom of the mixing bowl.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, salt, and my secret ingredient – strawberry jello powder. The jello powder does two things – 1. Amps up the strawberry flavor, and 2. Makes the cake the prettiest pink color. The strawberry puree alone won’t get you that perfect color and flavor that adding the jello powder does.

In a large liquid measuring cup (or any cup) stir together the buttermilk, vanilla, and strawberry puree.

Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk mixture into the bowl of the stand mixer. Start by adding 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 of the buttermilk mixture. Repeat until everything is combined. Do a final mix with a rubber spatula making sure that everything is incorporated.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Let cool completely. While the cake cools, prepare the fresh strawberry buttercream.

How to Make Fresh Strawberry Buttercream

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter by itself for 10 minutes. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl half way through. The butter will become very smooth and pale in color. After 10 minutes, add the vanilla and salt and mix another 1 minute.

Add the powdered sugar in 2 additions, mixing for 3 minutes after each addition. So, add 2 cups of powdered sugar, mix three minutes, then repeat. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Add in the strawberry puree, mix to combine. If you want to thin out the buttercream more after the strawberry puree, add heavy cream 1 TBSP at a time until you reach your desired consistency.

Plop the buttercream onto the cooled cake and spread it around using a rubber or offset metal spatula. Serve and enjoy!

Fresh Strawberry Sheet Cake

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Author: Elizabeth Buuck
Prep Time: 15
Cook Time: 45
Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: 1 Sheet Cake 1x

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Description

Fluffy strawberry sheet cake and buttercream both made with fresh strawberries.

Ingredients

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For the Fresh Strawberry Cake

3/4 C Unsalted Butter, at room temperature (1 1/2 Sticks)
2 C Granulated Sugar
4 TBSP Canola Oil (or vegetable oil)
4 Lg Eggs, at room temperature
3 C Cake Flour
4 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
2 TBSP Strawberry Jello Powder
1 C Buttermilk, at room temperature
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 C Fresh Strawberry Puree

For the Fresh Strawberry Buttercream

1 C Unsalted Butter, at room temperature (2 Sticks)
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp Salt
4 C Powdered Sugar
4 TBSP Fresh Strawberry Puree
2–4 TBSP Heavy Cream (to thin the buttercream to desired consistency)

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Instructions

For the Fresh Strawberry Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a 9X13 pan with parchment paper (or nonstick spray)
Puree and strain the strawberries. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar, and oil for 5 minutes.
Add the eggs, 1 at a time, until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, salt, and strawberry jello powder.
In a liquid measuring cup (or any large cup) stir together the buttermilk, vanilla extract, and 1 C of strawberry puree.
Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture into the stand mixer bowl. Add in 5 total additions, starting and ending with the flour mixture. (So add 1/3 of the flour, then 1/2 of the buttermilk, and repeat until combined.)
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. Let cool completely.

For the Fresh Strawberry Buttercream

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter alone for 10 minutes, scraping down the bowl half way through.
Add the salt and vanilla. Mix for 1 minute.
Add the powdered sugar in 2 additions (2 cups at a time) and mix for 3 minutes after each addition.
Add the strawberry puree and mix 1 minute.
You can stop there, or add cream 1 TBSP at a time to reach your desired consistency.
Spread the buttercream over the cooled cake in an even layer and serve.

Notes

If you don’t have cake flour – you can use regular flour + cornstarch. For every 1 C of AP flour, sub in 2 TBSP of cornstarch. **This does not mean ADD 2 TBSP cornstarch.** To measure correctly – Use a 1 C measuring cup and put 2 TBSP cornstarch in the bottom. Then, using a spoon, scoop AP flour to fill the rest of the cup up, then level off with a butter knife.
You can also bake this on a regular full sized sheet pan. The cake will be thinner – bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, then check the center with a toothpick.
For cupcakes – only use 2 tsp of baking powder instead of 4. And bake at 325 for 20-22 minutes.

Check out some of my other strawberry desserts like this No Churn Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream or these Sugar Cookie Bars with Strawberry Buttercream.