Fresh Strawberry Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Name: Fresh Strawberry Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients: 170 grams unsalted Butter; 190 grams All-Purpose Flour; 200 grams White Sugar ((divided)); 1 tsp Baking Powder; 1/2 tsp Baking Soda; 1/4 tsp Salt; 3 large Eggs; 1/8 tsp cream of tartar; 250 ml fresh strawberry puree ((just pulsed in the food processor)); 1 tbsp lemon juice; 60 ml Sour Cream; 1/2 tsp Strawberry extract; 1 tsp Vanilla extract; 2 drops Pink Gel food color; 4 cups Swiss Meringue Buttercream; 60 ml Simple Syrup; 1/4 tsp strawberry extract; 1/4 cup strawberry puree (optional)

A fresh strawberry cake is the most refreshing summer cake you can make when strawberries are in season. This butter-based cake is very simple and easy to make, takes 10 minutes to mix and 25 minutes to bake. Light and airy with a soft delicate crumb can be eaten on its own, served with strawberries and fresh cream or layered with my ultimate strawberry filling and Swiss meringue buttercream for an indulgent affair.

This fresh strawberry cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting is made with fresh strawberry puree and perfect to serve as a light and refreshing dessert.

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It’s the strawberry season and that means all my cake orders will now start being the fresh strawberry cake. Amazing how popular this cake has become with my customers and my kids. My Aadi loves this cake so much and it eats it without any frosting. No matter how many times I make this cake, I have to make a small one just so he can enjoy it. He loves it warm fresh out of the oven. I love a warm cake too.

Do you like warm cakes? Not many people like warm cakes but I grew up with mom making cakes and so one of my absolute treats when a cake was baked use to be the mini test cakes that mom used to bake first to check for quality control. Absolute heaven.

Well, like I said last week, I had a wedding cake order and this one had three cakes. My orange cake, lemon cake, and this fresh strawberry cake. All with Swiss meringue buttercream. Of course orange cake with orange buttercream, lemon cake with lemon buttercream and this Strawberry cake with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream.

Honestly, I would have loved to fill this cake with my ultimate strawberry filling but since the wedding was to travel an hour by road the weather is HOT in the month of June we thought best to keep the soft fillings on hold for another time.

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About this cake

This cake is very rich, light and yet still firm. It is quite stable and can be used in a tiered cake, as well as covered with fondant.
It’s a butter-based cake and can be used to carve as well; however, the strawberries in the recipe make the cake more delicate and crumbly. Freezing the cake in the fridge for an hour or two will make carving easy and create fewer crumbs.
In terms of flavor – This is a very versatile cake and can be paired with many variations. The light texture of this cake is especially delicious with soft meringues buttercreams filled with strawberry jam or mousse.
If you like the combination of strawberry and chocolate you may like to try it with strawberry flavored chocolate ganache.

For the color – Ideally, it is not necessary to use pink food color in this cake. However, fresh strawberries do not give that intense pink color we associate with strawberry cakes, so you may not get a pink cake with just the strawberries in this recipe. I like to use a tiny dab of pink color, so when the customer cuts the cake there is no confusion about the flavor. It is a personal choice and while I highly recommend you use a drop of pink; feel free to omit the color. The color does not affect the taste or texture of this cake.

Let’s talk ingredients and substitutes (Save/Pin)

Butter – I prefer to use unsalted butter so I can control the quantity of sugar in my recipe but if salted butter is all you gave go ahead and use it. Just omit salt in the recipe.
Eggs – Always use large size eggs when baking unless specified. The size of eggs varies significantly these days so as a guide on large eggs weighs between 50 to 60 grams
All-purpose flour – yes, regular plain flour (maida) is all you need for this cake. Do not use any self-raising as those contain more leavening.
Lemon juice – unlike other fruits lemon can be strong so a little goes a long way. Unless you like a strong lemon taste do not add more than the recommended amount mentioned in the recipe.
Sour Cream – gives the cake a soft crumb. If you don’t get sour cream where you are you can make sour cream at home. Here’s how to make sour cream at home for baking. If you must you can also use milk or buttermilk. Buttermilk can also be made at home in just 5 minutes – here’s my tutorial for homemade buttermilk.
Vanilla Extract – always use a good quality vanilla extract. I know it’s expensive which is why I make my own vanilla extract, vanilla bean paste as well as vanilla sugar.
Zest – works best to add a particular flavor because it has the essence of the fruit itself. However, you must be careful when zesting fruit and take only the colored part of the peel not the white. The white can be bitter and if added to the cake can make the cake bitter.

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Recipe – Fresh Strawberry Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream (Save/Pin)

Useful Tips and Tools

If you bake often, it would be a good idea to invest in a cake mixer. Because often we try to mix by hand and then we are too tired to give it enough creaming or mixing. So, if you are making this cake go ahead and remove that K-Mix or Kitchen Aid from your kitchen cabinet.You don’t have to buy an expensive stand mixer, a simple hand mixer works great too.
Having said that, a simple Bowl, whisk and Spatula with a little extra effort will do the trick too.
Personally, I believe in weighing ingredients by weight, which makes my kitchen scaleone of the most valuable items when baking.
The same goes for mymeasuring cups and measuring spoons. It’s always a good idea to have these handy and use them when baking rather than trying to guess measurements.
I think one set of baking pans is a must for anyone a home baker. Personally, I like to bake three layers rather than torte my cakes and it bakes faster too. For most of my layer cake recipes on this blog I use 3 x 6-inch round pans or 2 x 8-inch round pans.
Once baked always invert your cakes on a cooling rack. This encourages air circulation and prevents the steam from pooling at the bottom of the pan.
Every oven works differently. So the baking times are just guidelines. In the case of cakes, a skewer inserted in the center is a great indication. If the cake bakes too quick or too slow compared to the time given it might be a good idea to check if your oven needs calibration. An oven thermometer is a great little gadget to help keep the oven temperature in check. All you need to do then is adjust the temperature accordingly

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Ingredients

For the Cake

170 grams unsalted Butter (3/4 cup)
190 grams All-Purpose Flour (1 1/2 cup)
200 grams White Sugar (divided) (1 cup)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
3 large Eggs
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
250 ml fresh strawberry puree (1 cup) (just pulsed in the food processor)
1 tbsp lemon juice
60 ml Sour Cream (1/4 cup)
1/2 tsp Strawberry extract
1 tsp Vanilla extract
2 drops Pink Gel food color

For the Filling and Frosting

4 cups Swiss Meringue Buttercream
6o ml Simple Syrup
1/4 tsp strawberry extract
1/4 cup strawberry puree (optional)

Method

Prepare

Preheat the oven at 160 °C / 320 °F.
Grease and line two 6-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
Sift together – flour, baking powder, baking soda, zest, and salt.

Whip eggs

Break eggs in a mixer, add cream of tartar – start whipping on medium-low speed
Gradually add about ½ cup sugar (use approx. measure for sugar).
Once all sugar is in – whip until light and foamy – ribbon stage.
Remove egg and Set aside.

Cream the batter

Working quickly – using the same mixer bowl (no need to wash)
Cream butter and remaining sugar until light and fluffy.
Add sour cream, vanilla, strawberry puree, lemon juice, and strawberry extract
Next, add the flour. The mixture will be dense at this stage.
Combine 1/3 of the whipped egg mixture vigorously so it loosens the batter.
FOLD the rest of the egg mixture with a spatula by hand.
Add pink food gel color

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Bake

Divide batter equally into the baking pans.
I prefer to use baking strips to avoid a dome.
Bake on the middle rack for 20 to 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes clean
Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes invert onto a cooling rack.

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Decorate

Prepare Swiss meringue buttercream as shown in this recipe and video
Add strawberry extract to the buttercream – combine well
Once cooled – cut off any dome on the cake to level them
Torte/cut each layer of cake into two horizontally so you have four layers.

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Spread buttercream and sandwich the three layers
Stack the layers

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Crumb coats or spread a little buttercream around the cake. (this helps seal the crumbs)
Chill the cake if necessary for 10 to 15 minutes so the layers won’t move.
Add pink gel food color to the half of the remaining buttercream
Put both colors of buttercream in a piping bag with a star piping tip nozzle
Pipe swirls around the cake. These swirls are exactly what you would do on a cupcake just smaller and on the side and top of the cake.

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Storage

The cake will stay fresh for up to four days at cool room temperature, longer if kept in the fridge.
It can be frozen for a month or more.

Don’t forget to save this recipe on Pinterest for later.
You can find a collection of my tutorials and recipes here on Pinterest.

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