Christmas Strawberry Cake

This Christmas Strawberry Cake is the quickest and easiest cake you will ever make. Loaded with 500g/1lb strawberries inside the cake, it's a great way to use up strawberries when they're in season! The yogurt makes the crumb moist, and not too sweet and you'll love the lemon flavor.

Christmas Strawberry Cake

Pink sponge cake with pink frosting made entirely with fresh strawberries without adulteration is a recipe officially developed by 3 years. I am confident that 2020 will be the year I finally get out. It's almost there - and I'm so excited to share it with you. And while it can be done infinitely by any home cook, it's quite the recipe involved.

So for now, here's the cake to make out of all those strawberries - the best easy cake recipe you'll ever make filled with fresh strawberries!

The cake is made with yogurt and an oil-based mixture that keeps the crumbs beautifully moist for days and gives them more structure than fluffy sponge cakes made with creamy butter so they can handle the weight and bulky juices that sweat from the strawberries. Still beautifully soft, these crumbs aren't as delicate as traditional butter and sponge cake. I used it in my Blueberry Cake and Lemon Yogurt Cake if you'd like to read reviews from people who've tried it (spoiler: it's that good!)

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 50 mins

Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 500 g / 1 lb strawberries, hulled (ie tops removed)

WET:

• 1 tbsp grated lemon rind
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (1 large lemon)
• 1 cup sugar, caster/superfine best but granulated ok too
• 1/2 cup oil, canola, or vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, large (~50g/1.75 oz each)
• 1 cup plain yogurt, unsweetened (Greek or just plain)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (or essence)

DRY:

• 4 tsp baking powder (or 1 1/4 tsp baking soda)
• 2 1/4 cups flour, plain/all-purpose
• Pinch of salt

SERVING:

• Icing sugar/ powdered sugar, for dusting
• Whipped cream
• Extra strawberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F (fan 180°C).
2. Grease a 23 cm / 9-inch cake tin with parchment paper/parchment paper (any type of cake pan will work)

Strawberry:

1. Inside the Cake: Cut some strawberries into cubes of about 1.5 cm to make 1 cup (about 1/3 of the strawberries).
2. Decoration: Cut the remaining strawberries in half.

Cake:

1. Place the wet ingredients in a bowl and mix well for 1 minute.
2. Add the dry ingredients then whisk well until it clumps.
3. Pour half of it into the cake pan, smoothing it out. Scatter the sliced strawberries over.
4. Top with the remaining mixture. Smooth surface, then with strawberry semi-finished, cut face down.
5. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. (Note 1) If you need to cook longer, cover them with aluminum foil if they start to get golden.
6. Leave for 15 minutes in the cake tin before placing it on a cooling rack.
7. Refrigerate for 15 minutes + before serving warm or at room temperature. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve with cream or ice cream if served hot!

Recipe notes:

1. Baking time - I know 200°C / 390°F (180°C fans) sounds high for a cake, but it needs a higher temperature. If your oven is weak so it takes longer to bake, it can really affect the baking time of this cake because of the juiciness of the strawberries! At 180°C / 350°F (160°C fans), it took 30 minutes more and got a little moister on the inside (but still wonderfully soft crumbs).
2. Different Measurements in Different Countries - Table spoon and cup sizes vary slightly from country to country. In most recipes, the difference isn't enough to affect the outcome of the recipe, but for baking recipes, you have to be careful.
3. This cake recipe is forgiving enough that the difference in cups doesn't matter - I had her mix American and Australian cups (the biggest size discrepancy) and the result was exactly the same.
4. The cake mix recipe is from my own Lemon Yogurt Cake and Blueberry Cake. The strawberry shortcake version is inspired by many recipes I've seen around including those from Smitten Kitchen and Martha Stewart and Natasha's Kitchen.
5. Storage - keeps well for 5 days, crumbs stay nice and moist thanks to the yogurt and oil. If it's hot and humid where you are, keep it in the refrigerator and bring it to room temperature before serving. If it's cold where you are, there's no need to keep it in the fridge. It also freezes 100% completely.
6. Feeding per slice, assuming 12 slices.

Nutrition

Calories: 271cal (14%)Carbohydrates: 40g (13%)Protein: 4g (8%)Fat: 11g (17%)Saturated Fat: 1g (6%)Cholesterol: 30mg (10%)Sodium: 22mg (1%)Potassium: 304mg (9%)Fiber: 2g (8%)Sugar: 20g (22%)Vitamin A: 65IU (1%)Vitamin C: 27mg (33%)Calcium: 111mg (11%)Iron: 2mg (11%)