This Vanilla Strawberry Cake is one of the most easy and delicious desserts to make! There is a soft and moist crumb inside, topped with juicy fresh strawberries. It will be a great Summer single layer cake that can be served for breakfast or dessert!
I love making simple one-layer cakes that are easy to whip together, like this Vanilla Strawberry Cake! It has amazing moist and fluffy crumbs inside, topped with fresh strawberries!
This dessert is based on my other popular recipe, Apple Coffee Cake. No matter what fruit or berries you use as the topping, the vanilla cake makes all the difference! It based on sour cream, which provides a lot of flavor and moisture that produces the most delicious crumbs.
And if you want to try more strawberry desserts, please check out my Strawberry Panna Cotta, Strawberry Crumble, No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe and Strawberry Swiss Roll.
Why you will love this recipe
- Easy to make. It takes only about 10-15 minutes to put it together and transfer to the oven.
- Moist and fluffy crumbs. Thanks to the sour cream, this cake gets the moist delicious and soft crumbs.
How to make it
In a mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients (1 cup all-purpose flour, ½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, and ⅛ tsp salt). Whisk and set aside.
In a larger mixing bowl, add ½ cup unsalted butter and ⅔ cup granulated sugar. Using a hand mixer or a spatula, cream it together until light and fluffy.
Add 2 eggs and 2 tsp vanilla extract and beat again.
Then add ½ cup sour cream and 1 tbsp milk and mix until well combined.
Add dry ingredients to the wet ones, and using a spatula, fold it in. Try not to overmix the batter.
Pour the batter in a pre-greased 9-inch baking pan and spread evenly. Then top with halved fresh strawberries.
Bake at 350°F for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let it sit on the counter for 10-20 minutes. Then sprinkle some powdered sugar on top before serving.
Tips for best results
- Ingredients. Make sure you use room temperature ingredients, like butter, eggs, sour cream, and milk. That will help them to blend together better without curdling.
- Mixing. While you can mix the wet ingredients just using a spatula, I always prefer to use a hand mixer. The main reason is it beats the butter and sugar so much better and helps them to stay light and airy. That creates the base for the fluffy crumbs.
- Don’t overmix. It’s important not to overmix the batter, so it will stay light and fluffy. Overmixing makes the cake tough and chewy.
- Topping. If you like a crispy topping you can sprinkle some course sugar over the berries before baking.
- Serving. I like to serve this dessert simply with powdered sugar. You can also top with some whipped cream or even French Vanilla Ice Cream.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can store this cake covered at the room temperature for a day or refrigerate for 2 days.
I made this and other similar cakes so many times and used different pans. My usual go-to is a classic 9-inch pie pan, because you can serve the dessert right in the pan. Make sure you grease it well, so the cake doesn’t stick to the bottom. You also can use 8-9-inch cake pan or 8×8-inch square baking pan. When I use a square pan, I like to like it with parchment paper, so it’s easier to take the cake out.
Yes. You can use full fat Greek yogurt. Although, I think that sour cream adds more flavor.
Yes! While this recipe is called “Strawberry Cake”, you can easily substitute them with pretty much any other fruit or berries you have on hand, like blueberries, raspberries, peach, apples, mango, pears, and so on.
I wouldn’t suggest to use frozen berries in this recipe as they have too much liquid and can make the cake soggy.
Want more Summer desserts?
- Chocolate Chip Blondies
- Tart Lemon Curd
- Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins
- French Crepes Recipe
- Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler
- Old Fashioned Apple Crisp
- Classic Apple Pie Recipe
- Classic Tiramisu Recipe
- Italian Lemon Ricotta Cake
Vanilla Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ½ cup sour cream room temperature
- 1 tablespoon milk room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 8-10 large strawberries halved
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients (1 cup all-purpose flour, ½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, and ⅛ tsp salt). Whisk and set aside.
- In a larger mixing bowl, add ½ cup unsalted butter and ⅔ cup granulated sugar. Using a hand mixer or a spatula, cream it together until light and fluffy.
- Add 2 eggs and 2 tsp vanilla extract and beat again. Then add ½ cup sour cream and 1 tbsp milk and mix until well combined.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ones, and using a spatula, fold it in. Try not to overmix the batter.
- Pour the batter in a pre-greased 9-inch baking pan and spread evenly. Then top with halved fresh strawberries.
- Bake at 350°F for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let it sit on the counter for 10-20 minutes. Then sprinkle some powdered sugar on top before serving.
Video
Notes
- Ingredients. Make sure you use room temperature ingredients, like butter, eggs, sour cream, and milk. That will help them to blend together better without curdling.
- Mixing. While you can mix the wet ingredients just using a spatula, I always prefer to use a hand mixer. The main reason is it beats the butter and sugar so much better and helps them to stay light and airy. That creates the base for the fluffy crumbs.
- Don’t overmix. It’s important not to overmix the batter, so it will stay light and fluffy. Overmixing makes the cake tough and chewy.
- Topping. If you like a crispy topping you can sprinkle some course sugar over the berries before baking.
- How to store. You can store this cake covered at the room temperature for a day or refrigerate for 2 days.
The kids loved making this recipe, so easy to follow! We also loved eating it, it was really delicious and moist!
The texture of this cake looks perfect and I love the fact that it uses strawberries- one of my favorite fruits
Just WOW!!! Your photos are amazing and truly draws you in. This cake is gorgeous and it looks absolutely perfect! Thank you so much!
Great way to use strawberries, especially since they are in season. We all had a slice for dessert and one for breakfast.
This cake looks so delicious and fluffy! Strawberry season is my favorite and I’m always looking for new recipes to use them in!
Such an amazing cake. I had all the exact ingredients and needed to use up some delicious strawberries. We all had second slices.
This strawberry cake is so beautiful! I love how simple it is. It will be such a great dessert for summer company.
Wow, this cake is so beautiful!! And so perfect for strawberry season! I am definitely giving this recipe a try this weekend, thanks so much for sharing 🙂
What a wonderful recipe! Such a gorgeous cake, and looks delicious. Thank you for your post; I will definitely make this vanilla strawberry cake.