How to Make a Strawberry Vanilla Cake

Do you like strawberries? Want a mouthwatering dessert that would be perfect for a spring or Easter lunch or a summer dinner? I’m going to show you how to make a delicious strawberry vanilla cake.

Like peaches, strawberries are an iconic spring and summer fruit. The luscious berries are so delicious eaten out of hand. Their sweetness is a natural feature of this pretty fruit.

In this cake, strawberries shine. I feel certain you will like to learn how to make a strawberry vanilla cake.

Beginning in the spring and continuing in the summer, at the height of the strawberry season, the flavor of the berries comes through.

Even if you are not a baker, this strawberry vanilla cake is easy to make. It’s so pretty you will want to serve it to friends and family. It would be the centerpiece of your Easter dinner.

If your favorite flavor in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is strawberry, you will especially love this delicious cake.

I wanted to remind you that today is the last day of the Annual Spring Home Tour Blog Hop. The complete list of all the participants is at the end of the post.

How to Make a Delicious Strawberry Vanilla Cake

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Here is my bowl of strawberries. Our Central Market offers extra sweet strawberries, and that is what we buy. I clean and core them with my handy dandy strawberry huller. Sweet Shark thought I was crazy buying it, but now he loves it, too.

Then I half them and store them in one of my plastic refrigerator storage containers.

Let’s Make Cake!

This Strawberry Vanilla Cake comes from my favorite dessert cookbook. Sweet Chic by Rachel Schifter Thebault is my go-to cookbook for cakes, cupcakes, and cookie recipes.

I also knew that I would have two helpers. My granddaughters were visiting when I made this cake. They both love to help bake. When I told them we were going to make a cake with strawberries, they loved the idea.

This Strawberry Vanilla Cake is moist, tender, and full of vanilla and strawberry flavor. It’s the perfect cake when strawberries are in season. This picture was my inspiration.

This cake starts with a traditional yellow cake. This homemade version packs a ton of buttery vanilla flavor. A yellow cake is the perfect base for a variety of bolder flavor additions/variations and frostings.

Making the Vanilla Cake

As always, for any recipe, start with your mise en place – gathering all your ingredients. Meet my assistant, Lilah.

This vanilla cake recipe follows the standard cake procedure. Lilah demonstrates how to properly measure flour: overfill your measuring cup and then use a small cake spatula to level off the excess flour.

Place your room-temperature butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. I have had my Kitchen Aid mixer for years and it’s the best.

With the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Then add the sugar. Beat just until the sugar is incorporated into the butter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Add your eggs one at a time, briefly beating on low until incorporated. Then add half flour and beat to combine.

Next add the vanilla and buttermilk and mix until combined, about 15 seconds, beating on low until thoroughly mixed. Add the second half of the flour. Then scrape down the sides of the bowl.

At this point Annabelle joined the fun. The girls used butter wrappers to add the softened butter to the pans.

TIP: When you remove butter from the wrappers, fold the wrappers in forths, and keep them in a zip-lock bag in the freezer. When you need to butter a pan, remove them from the freezer and allow to come to room temp.

While Lilah and I added buttermilk and vanilla to the cake batter, Annabelle measured and cut out parchment paper to line the cake pans. She did a great job.

Here’s how to easily make round paper cake rounds from scratch.

When the vanilla cake batter is ready, we poured the batter into the greased and papered cake pans. Each pan held 1.7 ounces of batter.

TIP: Using parchment paper ensures that your cakes will come out of the pan without sticking.

TIP: Use a scale to weigh each pan (Culinary school tip) to measure the exact amount of batter.

Since I used 9-inch cake pans, there was less batter in each pan. I set the timer for 35 minutes and the cakes were perfectly done. After 5 – 10 minutes, remove the cakes from the pans and allow them to completely cool on racks.

TIP: When you remove the cakes from the pan, brush on or squeeze on simple syrup for extra flavor and moistness (culinary school tip.)

Yummy Vanilla Icing

While the cakes are baking and cooling, you can make the icing. This icing is so smooth with a definite butter and vanilla flavor.

With your paddle attachment, beat your butter to a light and smooth consistency, Add your confectioners’ sugar on low speed.

TIP: Make sure that your sugar doesn’t have lumps. You can use a fine mesh strainer or a flour sifter.

Assembling and Icing the Strawberry Vanilla Cake

A few weeks ago, I found the prettiest pink (between blush and bashful) cake stand. Here is another similar pink cake stand. I knew it would be perfect for this cake.

I placed 3 strips of parchment paper on the cake stand in a triangle. This makes it easier to ice your cake and keep the cake stand clean.

Assemble the cake:

• place the first cake layer on the cake stand
• spread the strawberry jam* on the cake. The recipe calls for a 1/2 cup total, but I used 1/2 cup between each layer.
• use an ice cream scoop to place icing on the cake
• spread the icing with an offset spatula

NOTE: I used strawberry preserves because I had plenty on hand.

Repeat with the second and third layers, pressing each layer down. With your last layer, use a cake spatula to cover the top and sides with more icing. The girls each took a turn at icing the cake.

Garnishing the Cake with Strawberries

I have to give all the credit for the strawberry garnish to Annabelle. While Lilah took her turn icing the cake, Annabelle found one of my small heart-shaped cookie cutters. She made heart-shaped strawberries. They were perfect for the cake.

Then she decided that the center strawberry needed a little mint garnish. She sent Lilah outside to get some fresh mint leaves.

Now our Strawberry Vanilla Cake was ready for display. Little girl fingers did get some preserves on the cake stand and icing on the strawberries.

We placed the cake on the breakfast room table with plates for serving.

The girls were begging for a piece of cake. Cici wanted a piece, too.

Everyone agreed that the cake was absolutely delicious. It was moist, tender and the strawberry and vanilla flavors were just sweet enough. The girls said that learning how to make a Strawberry Vanilla Cake was so much fun.

NOTE: Because strawberries are perishable, this cake needs to be refrigerated.

Here’s the recipe for you to print out.

I hope you loved how to make a Strawberry Vanilla cake. You can use the same recipe to make cupcakes.

We made the cake on a Thursday. Between the girls, Sweet Shark, Jennifer, and me, the cake was gone by Sunday.

Be sure to PIN this Strawberry Vanilla Cake recipe for your future dessert needs.

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