This cake recipe originally appeared as a guest post on SprinklePop’s blog. It’s too good not to re-share here, especially because several cake tasters described it by saying it “tastes just like summer.” Enjoy!
Jump to RecipeWhat’s more refreshing than lemonade on a warm summer day? Strawberry lemonade, of course! There’s something about blending the two flavors together that creates summertime magic, and when you incorporate them into cake, it’s just downright delicious! I think this Strawberry Lemonade cake is the perfect summertime treat, whether you’re celebrating with a shindig or just want to whip up something tasty and pretty to look at. I owe all of the inspiration behind creating this recipe to the Pink Lemonade sprinkle mix by SpinklePop, because just one look at them sparked the idea to incorporate refreshing flavor of pink (aka strawberry) lemonade into a cake. And just look at how beautiful the sprinkles make it!
Let’s talk about the strawberry cake underneath all that lemony buttercream. It’s made with real strawberries that have been pureed and then reduced to keep the addition packed with flavor, but not too watered down with juice. I’ll admit, the process of pureeing and reducing strawberries does add an extra step, but it’s so worth it. The texture is moist and fluffy, and the pastel pink color makes it so pretty to look at.
The cake is filled with strawberry buttercream to really enhance the strawberry flavor, then frosted with a lemon buttercream for a perfect tangy compliment. Made with real lemon juice and zest, the lemon buttercream has a tasty zing that can’t be matched with the artificial stuff. To top it all off, I’ve used a little yellow and pink food color gel to create an ombrè buttercream finish, making it resemble a glass of real strawberry lemonade. And it’s a real head turner with SprinklePop’s Pink Lemonade sprinkles as a garnish. Just look at how pretty these colors are!
The best part is, the cake and buttercream recipes are super easy to whip up, and everything can be made ahead of time if that’s your jam. And however you decide to decorate, using SprinklePop sprinkles will take it to the next level. They’re the perfect finishing touch!
Update 2020: I’ve changed the measurements in the recipe below to make exactly enough batter for three 6-inch cake pans or two 9-inch cake pans. I always do triple 6-inch layers when making cakes (I like ‘em tall!), and since I get so many questions on how to convert the original recipe into three 6-inch layers I thought I’d just do the math for you. So same great recipe, with the most requested amount of batter!
Strawberry Lemonade Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Strawberry Cake
- 3/4 lb (12oz) fresh strawberries, pureed and reduced to 1/2 cup
- 3/4 cup (180ml) whole milk, room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups (255g) cake flour, sifted before measuring
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 cups (170g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 2/3 cups (350g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/3 cup (75g) sour cream, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 drops pink food coloring, optional
Strawberry Buttercream Filling
- 1/2 cup (11g) freeze dried strawberries
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 Tbsp (22ml) whole milk, room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups (240g) powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Lemon Buttercream Frosting
- 1 1/2 cups (339g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 5 1/4 cups (630g) powdered sugar
- 2 medium lemons, zested and juiced
- 3 Tbsp whole milk, room temperature
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
Make The Strawberry Cake
- Start by pureeing 3/4 lbs of fresh strawberries with a food processor. Afterwards, you should be left with about 1 cup of puree. Place the strawberry puree into a saucepan over medium-low heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. When you’re done with the reduction, you should have about 1/2 cup (if you have more, keep cooking!). Place the reduced puree into an airtight container and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes, or until it reaches room temperature. Then, whisk it together with the whole milk and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and prepare three 6-inch or two 9-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with cooking spray and fitting the bottoms with wax or parchment paper circles. In a medium sized bowl, place the sifted cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk to combine.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, whip the butter on high for one minute. Scrape down the paddle and bowl, add the granulated sugar, and beat on high for another 2 minutes. Turn the mixer to low and add the eggs one at a time, making sure each one is incorporated before adding the next, then turn the mixer to high and beat for 1 minute.
- Turn the mixer to low and add the vanilla and sour cream until incorporated. Keeping the mixer on low, add all of the dry ingredients at once until just combined, then add the strawberry milk mixture and pink food coloring (if using) until just combined, about 30 seconds. Give the batter a few stirs by hand to make sure everything is incorporated without over-mixing. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans, about 2/3 full.
- Bake the cakes for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pan for five minutes, after which you can turn them out and continue to cool them on a wire rack or sheet pan for several hours.
Make The Strawberry Buttercream Filling
- With a food processor, grind freeze dried strawberries into a fine powder and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the butter on high until light in color and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add the freeze dried strawberry powder, whole milk, and vanilla, and continue to beat on medium for 1 minute.
- Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time, scraping down the bowl and paddle after each addition. Add the salt and continue to mix on low for another 30 seconds.
Make The Lemon Buttercream Frosting
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the butter on high until creamy and light in color, about 5 minutes. Add the powdered sugar in two additions, mixing thoroughly for a minute and scraping down the bowl and paddle after each addition. Zest the lemons right into the bowl, then add the lemon juice, whole milk and salt and mix on high for 2 minutes.
Assembly
- Torte the strawberry cake layers to desired height. Using a piping bag with about ½ inch opening, pipe a circle with lemon buttercream on the outer edge of the first cake layer and fill the middle with strawberry buttercream. Place the next layer of strawberry cake on top of the first, then repeat the process of piping a lemon buttercream dam and filling the center with strawberry buttercream. Place the third layer of strawberry cake on top, upside down so that the bottom of the cake layer serves as the top of the cake. Crumb coat the cake with lemon buttercream and place in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.
- If you wish to replicate the design I’ve created, you’ll need to color the lemon buttercream three different shades (yellow, pink, and orange). To do this, reserve about 1 ½ cups of lemon buttercream and color it with a few drops of yellow food color gel. Color the remainder of the lemon buttercream with a few drops of pink food color gel, then use a third bowl to mix about ¼ cup of the yellow buttercream with about ¼ cup of the pink buttercream to make the orange shade.
- For the final coat of lemon buttercream, use a spatula to apply the pink buttercream around the bottom of the cake, the orange buttercream around the middle, and the yellow buttercream onto the top third of the cake. Smooth with a bench scraper and angled spatula until you have a pretty buttercream ombrè. Using a piping bag with your favorite piping tip attached (I’ve used Wilton tip 1M), create swirls around the top edge of the cake. Sprinkle generously with SprinklePop Pink Lemonade sprinkles.
If I only have 2 8in cake pans, how much of the recipe should I make?
Hi Sophia! This recipe will work in two 8-inch pans as-is. Just divide the batter evenly between the two pans. I’ll update the recipe to reflect that.
Do you have a recommendation for a cake carrier for your 3-layer 6 inch cakes? I think most online aren’t tall enough!
Hi Jay! I use these cake boxes from Amazon: https://amzn.to/44CFF8z
Am I able to substitute the cake flour with white whole wheat flour?
Hi Amber! You can try it, but cake flour is what makes the crumb of this cake extra soft. White whole wheat flour will result in a denser crumb but it should work.
Made this delicious cake today. The flavor was amazing, however it came out very dense. I reduced the strawberries as the recipe instructed. Only the very edges raised while baking and I had to bake about 10 minutes longer than the recipe suggested.
I also made the orange creamsicle cake and it turned out delicious and raised like it was supposed to.
What do yo think I did wrong?
Hi Natalie! From what you’re describing, it sounds like there was still too much liquid left in the strawberries (sometimes you have to keep reducing for longer to get all the extra liquid out). That would make it take longer to bake, make the crumb dense, and also would cause the middle to sink. That’s what I think happened but here are some other common reasons why cakes sink/turn out dense: https://sugarandsparrow.com/why-cakes-sink/
Hello wondering if you could do a lemon curd to put in the middle of the layers?
Hi Danielle! A lemon curd filling would be amazing. I wish I had a recipe to share with you but I haven’t quite mastered lemon curd from scratch yet! Use your favorite recipe or store bought and be sure to use the “soft fillings” instructions on this blog post for how to fill a cake: https://sugarandsparrow.com/fill-and-stack-cake-layers/ since lemon curd is much less sturdy than buttercream filling
Hi! How long would you bake three 8 inch cakes for with batter that was 1.5x the recipe?
Thanks!!
Hi Kate! If the pans are 2 inches tall I would bake for 30-35 minutes. Just be sure to fill them no more than 2/3 full.
Hi! I was wondering how many cupcakes one batch might make? I have a request to use your recipe for a wedding cake and cupcakes. Thinking x3 to get 3 layers for 9 in and 3 layers for 6 in for the two tier cake and then I need to make 8 dozen cupcakes so trying to figure out how many batches to do??
Hi June! This recipe makes about 36 cupcakes. The math seems correct for the tiered cake, then you’ll need 2.5 or 3 batches to get 8 dozen cupcakes. Hope that helps!
Hi! I made your strawberry lemonade cake for the first time, and the components are delicious! I look forward to learning how to make awesome cakes by following your blog! I’d love to share a photo!
Yay, Kevin! That makes me so happy and I am cheering you on in your caking! Feel free to tag me on Instagram @sugarandsparrowco to show me a photo or email it to sugarandsparrow@gmail.com 🙂
I made this cake at weekend for a friends birthday. I was a little disappointed as the cake was very heavy and dense. Buttercream flavors were amazing but the denseness of the cake was disappointing. Not sure if there was too much liquid with the puree strawberries or not, However I did reduce it until i had the correct amount in recipe. It wasnt over mixed or anything like that either.
I’ve never had an issue with any of the other cakes, they have all been fabulous!
I maybe need to try this one again!
I’m sorry this one wasn’t a hit, Emma! I wonder why it ended up so dense. I intentionally reduced the amount of milk in the batter to account for the additional liquid from the strawberry puree, so I don’t think it could be that but I hope you do give it another go with success!
This cake looks amazing!! I would love to try it for my daughter’s upcoming birthday but we’ll be traveling and I don’t know how much time I’ll have to make it the same day. If the whole cake is made in advance how would you recommend storing it and for how long? Would it hold up for two days in the fridge?
Hi Lea! If you make and decorate the cake 2-3 days ahead and store it in the refrigerator, it should be totally fresh by the time you serve it. Just take it out of the refrigerator a few hours before serving so it’s room temperature by that time. Hope that helps!
The cake look so pretty. I am thinking of baking this for my son birthday party. What would the measurement be if I am thinking of making 4x6inch or 3x 8 inch cake. Thanking you in advance!
Hi Angelynn! This version of the same recipe (written for SprinklePop’s blog) has the correct measurements for 4 6-inch layers or 3 8-inch layers: https://sprinklepop.shop/blogs/news/strawberry-lemonade-cake. It was one of my very first recipes ever, and it made a lot of batter even though I only used 3 6-inch layers in the recipe, so that’s why it’s scaled down on my blog and not on theirs. Enjoy!
Outstanding cake! Everything is wonderful and it DOES taste like strawberry lemonade. Really the cake is good but it is a vehicle for the outstanding buttercream frostings. Mine was not as pretty but I don’t have much experience decorating. I WILL make this again!!!
Yay, Josie!! I’m so happy to hear you loved this cake recipe as much as I do!
Hi! I was just wondering how many slices the cake would make as made in the recipe (three 6 in. layers)? The cake looks beautiful by the way!
Thanks! 🙂
Hi Nia! This cake makes 12-15 slices depending on how large your slices are. Enjoy!
Hi whitney! Im really excited to try this recipe but here in Brazil we don’t find sour cream too easily. Is there a good substitute? Thanks!! 🙂
Hi Mariane! The best sub for sour cream is plain yogurt. Hopefully you can find that in Brazil! It’s what makes this cake extra moist!
Thank you very much! ❤️ I’ll try and come back here to tell your the results!