Small Strawberry Cake
This Small Strawberry Cake is a 6 inch strawberry cake made from scratch using fresh strawberries. No cake mix and no strawberry jello! Makes enough cake to have dessert for two.
Earlier this week I shared my recipe for Small Batch Cream Cheese Frosting.
Today I’m sharing the cake recipe I used it for – Small Strawberry Cake. I tested this recipe 5 times to get the ingredient list just right without it sinking in the middle.
I decided to do a miniseries of 6 inch cake recipes which includes my small chocolate cake recipe, small yellow cake recipe, and small vanilla cake recipe.
When you’re making dessert for two, you definitely don’t need a large layer cake!
I’m hoping to redo a lot of my past layer cakes into small one layer cakes. Leave a comment below if you have a special request!
Two weekends ago Dad and I went strawberry picking like we do every summer. We walked away with about 5 pounds of fresh berries. I knew right away I wanted to work on a small strawberry cake.
Over the years I’ve been working on several strawberry cake recipes. The problem with most strawberry cake recipes is they’re usually made with a cake mix.
Or if they are made from scratch, they’re made using jello and not fresh strawberries.
The problem with using fresh strawberries, however, is it tends to add too much liquid to the batter. The solution?
Cooking the strawberries down to a jam-like consistency. This allows you to add fresh strawberry flavor while also controlling the amount of excess liquid added.
Using only egg whites instead of a whole egg means the pink color shines through.
However, that also means leftover egg yolks. No worries! Check out my list of recipes using leftover egg yolks.
If you don’t have one already, you’re going to need a 6 inch round cake pan.
You can buy one either on Amazon (affiliate link) or you can buy one in the cake decorating section of your local craft store.
I frosted this particular cake with traditional cream cheese frosting, but you can also use Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting, Strawberry Buttercream, Lemon Buttercream Frosting, or even Chocolate Frosting.
More Strawberry Cake Recipes
- Strawberry Layer Cake – This recipe makes more than dessert for two, but it’s perfect for celebrations like birthdays and anniversaries.
- Strawberry Snack Cake – Made in an 8 inch square pan, this cake is ideal for small get togethers.
- Strawberry Cupcakes – Makes only 6 cupcakes!
- Small Coffee Cake recipe – use strawberries instead of blueberries
- Lemon Raspberry Cake – Substitute strawberries for the raspberries
Small Strawberry Cake
This Small 6 Inch Strawberry Cake is made from scratch using fresh strawberries. No cake mix and no strawberry jello! Makes enough cake to have dessert for two.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
- 1 tablespoon water
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (when measuring, spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off)*
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons whole milk, room temperature (do not use low fat or fat free)
- Few drops red food coloring (optional)
Frosting Options (Pick One)
- Cream Cheese Frosting (get recipe here)
- Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting (get recipe here)
- Strawberry Buttercream (get recipe here)
- Vanilla Buttercream (get recipe here)
- Chocolate Buttercream (get recipe here)
- Lemon Buttercream (get recipe here)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease one 6-inch round cake pan then line the bottom with parchment paper.
- In a small saucepan, stir together 3/4 cup strawberries, water, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil for 4-5 minutes or until the strawberries cook down and are a jam-like consistency. You should have about 2 heaping tablespoons of cooked strawberries. Remove from the heat and cool 15 minutes.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour and cornstarch. Stir in the baking powder and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl on medium-high speed (with paddle attachment if using stand mixer), beat together the butter and remaining 1/2 cup sugar until creamy, about 1 minute.
- Scrape down the bowl. Beat in the egg whites, one at a time, until mixed in then add the vanilla. You do NOT need to whip the egg whites. Just add them like a regular egg.
- On low speed add the flour mixture alternating with the milk, adding the flour in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions (begin and end with dry ingredients).
When you add the final addition of flour, switch to a rubber spatula and gently stir in by hand. You do not want to overmix this part. - Stir in the cooked strawberry mixture and remaining 1/4 cup strawberries. Add a few drops of food coloring until your batter is pink as desired (make it brighter than you want because it'll dull a bit after baking).
- Transfer the batter to the cake pan. Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes then invert cake onto cooling rack. Cool completely.
- Once cool, decorate with frosting of choice. Cover and store at room temperature for up to 2 days (buttercream only) or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week (buttercream and cream cheese).
For best results, let the refrigerated cake sit at room temperature 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
- *To substitute cake flour, omit the cornstarch and use 1 cup cake flour.
- Enjoyed this recipe? Check out my full list of 6 Inch Cake Recipes, including chocolate, vanilla, lemon, and more.
- Don't have a 6 inch pan? Check out my Small Batch Strawberry Cupcakes and 8x8 Strawberry Snack Cake.
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Oh yes… Happy to see a doable (by me) strawberry cake..This will be baked soon.. :O)
Enjoy! Let me know how it turns out.
This cake actually looks cute, lol. Delicious too, of course. Can’t wait to try it.
Ha I try ;) Enjoy!
I made this cake today, It’s so pretty and very tasty! This is definitely a cake I will make often. Thank you for the recipe and the other 6 inch pan cakes, I live alone and these are the perfect size. :)
Thank you for the positive feedback! I’m working on some more 6 inch cakes – stay tuned :D
I tried the recipe this afternoon. It turned out lovely; thank you for sharing! :)
Also for anyone who may wonder if something like almond milk will work in this instead of regular milk, I can confirm it does.
Thank you for the positive feedback! And thank you for letting us know almond milk works well.
This strawberry cake was the perfect size for my family of 4. Everyone loved it!
Happy to hear everyone enjoyed it!
Strawberry season is the best! This cake sound perfect – it’s just the 2 of us so a mini cake is the perfect size.
Let me know if you try it!
Can we use oil instead of butter?
I haven’t tested it with oil, but I would say no because it’ll throw off the ingredient ratio. You’re beating a solid stick of butter, so liquid oil wouldn’t be a good 1:1 substitute. If you were to use oil, you’d need to adjust the other ingredients to compensate for the extra liquid in the recipe.
Can you use frozen strawberries in this recipe?
I haven’t tried it with frozen strawberries. I’d let them thaw and drain them of any excess liquid before using in this recipe. If they’re too wet, it may alter the batter.
I did. Haven’t cut into it yet but the little bund pan cake looks like it turned out fine
Oh you used a mini bundt pan? I like that idea but haven’t tried it myself.
I have those Wilson Easy Layers cake pans. I wonder if I could use 1 or 2 of those? I just love these small cake recipes. Thanks for all your testing.
I don’t have them, but I looked them up. Looks like they are 6 inches round (yay!) but only .75 inch deep. You will definitely need two, possibly even three to account for the cake rising (if it rises too high over the edge of the pan, it’ll sink back down and create a dip in the middle). So I bet you can use them as long as you divide the batter accordingly.
I made this cake (in cupcakes) yesterday and it turned out great. Pretty AND good. We don’t have very tasty strawberries yet so I added some strawberry extract. I’ll try again in a couple of weeks when fruits will be sweeter. I was wondering if this kind of cake could be made with peaches? Or would these have too much water in them?
I ordered a 6 inch pan, can’t wait to try the other small cakes! Thanks for your inspiration Miss Introvert :)
Happy to hear this recipe works as cupcakes! I haven’t tried them with peaches. In theory it should work, but like you said peaches have a lot of water in them, probably even more so than strawberries so hard to say without testing. I do have a different recipe for peach cupcakes if you wanted to check them out. I haven’t scaled down the recipe yet, so it does make 12 for now: https://www.chocolatemoosey.com/2013/08/19/peaches-and-cream-stuffed-cupcakes/
This looks delicious! I will try this on coming weekend but i have a question that can i make this cake without eggs? Kindly guide me.
I’ve only ever made this cake with eggs, so I don’t have an answer for you. You will have to do some research via Google and see what would work best.
This looks delicious. What if it was an 8 inch pan, how much more of everything do we need?
I have a two layer cake using 8 inch pans. You can cut that recipe in half for one layer: https://www.chocolatemoosey.com/2014/06/26/strawberry-layer-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/
Can I substitute the AP flour for cake flour? If so, would the measurements change?
Yes. Use 1 cup cake flour and omit the cornstarch.
I’m not quite sure where I went wrong (or the recipe, if the case), but the flavor was not what I was hoping it would be. It almost tasted like raw flour. Or could it have been the cornstarch? The strawberry flavor was also not as strong as I would have liked. Luckily, I used a very good strawberry frosting recipe (in lieu of the cream cheese one) that elevated the strawberry flavor.
The cake rose quite a bit. It had a bit of a dome shape, but that was fine. It is certainly plenty of cake for 4 people. As for the texture, though the toothpick came out clean (and the cake was baked towards the longer recommended time), it was a little pastey-like. I’m thinking that maybe the cooked strawberries could be cooked down slightly more (with a couple extra strawberries) and the fresh strawberry addition eliminated.
Hmm the cake is definitely not domed nor tastes like flour. If it tasted like raw flour, then you either measured too much flour or something is up with the brand of flour you used. Did you measure the flour using the proper technique of spooning flour into the measuring cup then leveling the top with a knife? Or did you scoop your cup into the container and pack it in (which adds too much flour – you can google more about it). Did you measure out 3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons or did you guess and/or round it up to 1 cup? Did you sift your flour and cornstarch together as directed in Step 3? What kind of flour did you? For the strawberries, did you use fresh or frozen? How ripe were the berries? Did they taste flavorful on their own? If it’s not strawberry season, there’s a chance your berries didn’t start out with great flavor. The other possibility is you didn’t cook the strawberries down enough. For the domed cake, how hot was your oven (measured with a digital thermometer for accuracy)? If it’s baking hotter than 350, then the edges would have baked too quickly while the middle wasn’t done yet. There’s also the possibility of too much flour (again, I think this may be your issue if it tastes like raw flour) or perhaps too much leavening if you added more than written.
Hi there! Happy to have found your site :-) I made your 6″ strawberry cake last night and unfortunately, it was very dense and did have a faint taste of Bisquick (aka flour). I measured the flour and dry ingredients as you recommended earlier. It also did bake with a bit of a dome. I’ve been baking up a storm during the pandemic and not having many issues, so was wondering your thoughts? I’d really love to bake a strawberry cake in my 6″ pan. I did top it with homemade cream cheese frosting (tinted with a touch of red food coloring), so it looks pretty, but just too dense. Thanks for your thoughts!
Hmm if it tasted like Bisquick, are you use you didn’t accidentally use Bisquick? What kind of flour did you use? Did you use 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons flour or did you round it up to 1 cup? Did you sift together your flour and cornstarch? Is your baking powder expired? Did you change any of the other ingredients? Did you measure your oven temperature using a thermometer for accuracy?
Hi, no, I didn’t use Bisquick as I don’t buy it. I used King Arthur AP flour and measured everything carefully. My baking powder wasn’t expired and I didn’t change any of the ingredients. I will check my oven temp. I’m going to try making your small coconut cake recipe next. Happy Thanksgiving!
If I wanted to make this a two layer cake. What ingredients would be changed?
You would double everything.
My dog eats all the strawberries growing in my garden so those are spoken for but I can definitely buy some to try this recipe. I love the idea of cooking the strawberries down to something similar to jam!
Let me know what you think!
Can you substitute blueberries? Doing the same steps? Same ingredients?
I haven’t tried it with blueberries, but I treat blueberries and strawberries the same way so yes I believe you can. Let me know how it turns out!
very delcious recipe i have a question are we used the butter cream as well as cheese cream both for frosting.????
You can use either frosting you want. I personally recommend cream cheese because it balances the cake well with its tanginess.
Hello, if I don’t have cornstarch can I sub it for anything else? Thanks !
I’ve only used cornstarch. However, I believe you can use arrowroot or tapioca starch. You’ll have to look up what the substitute ratio is.
Thanks :)
Baked this cake for my birthday and it was an absolute hit! So moist and tasty. Thank you for doing what you do
Happy birthday! Happy to hear you enjoyed the cake.
Thank you for the recipe, came out great! I only had frozen strawberries, so I just used them for the cooked strawberry part and didn’t add them later in case it would make it too wet. It was a more subtle strawberry flavor. My 3 year olds loved it too.
Glad the frozen strawberries worked out for you!
Can 3/4c strawberry preserves be substituted for the cooked strawberries? Or do you think frozen would be a better substitute? I’m looking to make this for Valentine’s but strawberries will not be in season.
Yes, I think the preserves will work since you’re cooking down the strawberries into a sauce. I haven’t tried it with frozen strawberries yet, but I’m guessing if you let them thaw and drain the excess liquid, it should still be ok.
Made this cake to celebrate a bday today and it was a huge hit! It was the perfect size for a fam of 4 and tasted really good. Thank you for sharing. I love your 6” cake recipes and can’t wait to try more of them!
Wonderful! Glad everyone enjoyed the cake.
Oh my gosh this is So GOOD!!! I veganized the recipe by subbing aquafaba for the egg whites and using vegan butter. And made a strawberry glaze to drizzle over the top. YUM!
Good to know it can be made with vegan ingredients! Thanks for sharing your feedback and tips.
Hi,
I would love to try this cake but i have 2 cups.. 240 ml & 200 ml.Is it possible to give the measurements in grams. Thank you
You want to use dry measuring cups. Those sound like liquid measuring cups. With that said, you can use this chart to convert to grams: https://www.allrecipes.com/article/cup-to-gram-conversions/
Thanks ..will check the link.
My cups are for dry ingredients
It looks amazing. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Thanks! Let me know if you try it.
Made it for valentines for my family of four and doubled the recipe so I can make a stacked cake. It was delicious and no artificial strawberry taste. Thank you.
Oh wonderful! Glad the cake worked out for you.
The flavor was great, but the cake seemed so dense. I wonder why.
Hard to say since I don’t have any information. What type of flour? How did you measure your flour? Did you use cornstarch? Did you use 2 egg whites or whole eggs? Did you overbeat your butter or flour? Did you make any substitutes or changes?
I used regular white flour. I followed the recipe.
If you didn’t make any substitutions and all ingredients were at room temperature, then it’s likely an issue with measuring or technique. Make sure you’re measuring your flour properly by spooning and leveling it into a cup, not overbeating the batter, and your oven is a true 350F using an external oven thermometer.