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Home » Desserts » Cakes & Cupcakes » Strawberry Sheet Cake

Strawberry Sheet Cake

June 19, 2020 By Maria Leave a Comment

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Strawberry sheet cake is made with fresh strawberries for a flavorful seasonal cake. It’s topped with a fresh strawberry cream cheese frosting for a delicious finish.  Ditch the boxed mix and artificial flavors, and make this strawberry cake that’s perfect for any celebration or gathering.

Fresh strawberry sheet cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting

Strawberry sheet cake is such a flavorful summer cake.  Unlike box mixes or cakes that use artificial strawberry flavors, this sheet cake is made with fresh strawberries for a pure and quality taste.  When summer comes around, strawberries are at their peak and are the perfect seasonal ingredient in this cake recipe.

This strawberry sheet cake is topped with fresh strawberry cream cheese frosting.  Make this cake for your next celebration or gathering, and it’s sure to be a hit.

Before you begin

Take out the following baking equipment.

Digital kitchen scale
9×13-inch baking pan
Parchment paper
2 medium bowls
Sifter
Stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment
Silicone spatula
2 small bowls
Offset spatula
Wire cooling rack

Allow all your ingredients to come to room temperature.
Read the recipe through from start to finish.

Fresh strawberry sheet cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting

Understanding Ingredients

Using a combination of cake flour and all-purpose flour in this recipe will produce a light and tender cake.  Cake flour has less protein than all-purpose flour and will develop less gluten resulting in a cakey texture.  All-purpose is a stronger flour and offers a slightly more dense texture.  Using a combination of the two adds the perfect balance to this strawberry sheet cake.

Milk is the most common binding ingredient in cakes.  Unless otherwise specified, always use whole milk for baking cakes.  The fat helps tenderize your crumb.  Additionally, whole milk creates a moister and finer cake crumb compared to using low fat or skim milk.

Fresh strawberries add a lovely strawberry flavor to this cake.  Before making this recipe, make sure you have prepared the reduced strawberry puree.  Do not use pureed strawberries that haven’t been reduced or else the mixture will become too runny, and the cake will lack a strawberry flavor.

It’s essential to use the right type of cream cheese for your frosting.  This is the time that you don’t want to skimp on fat, so use full-fat block cream cheese.  It will not only produce the most flavorful frosting but using the spread version (which comes in a tub) has a higher concentration of water and creates a runny cream cheese frosting.

Fresh strawberries with stems

How to select the best fresh strawberries

  • Buy local and in-season.  The closer to home that berries are picked, the more likely they are picked when ripe.  When berries have to travel a long way before reaching the consumer, they are picked before ripen and have less flavor.  Once picked, strawberries do not continue to ripen.
  • Choose bright red strawberries.  White skin around the berry stem, or on any portion of the berry, is an indication that it wasn’t picked at peak ripeness.
  • Smell the berries.  Strawberries that have a sweet, rich scent are much more likely to offer a sweet flavor compared to those that do not have any scent.
  • Size does not matter.  The size of a berry does not correlate to its sweetness.  Color is a much more accurate representation of a ripe, sweet strawberry.

Sliced Fresh strawberry sheet cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting

How to make reduced strawberry puree

To make 240 g (1 cup) puree, use 907 g (2 pounds) of fresh strawberries. Wash your fruit and cut the stems off.  Place the berries into a food processor and puree them.  Occasionally, stop the food processor and scrape down the sides of the container with a silicone spatula to ensure everything is evenly pureed.

Pour the strawberry mixture into a medium saucepan and place over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes.  Occasionally stir the mixture so that the bottom doesn’t burn, and everything cooks evenly.  After 30 minutes, you should have about 240 g (1 cup) puree.  Depending on the moisture of your strawberries, it could take a little longer.  Allow the puree to cool completely before adding to your cake batter and cream cheese frosting.

Fresh strawberry cream cheese frosting

With a mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2-3 minutes.  Turn the mixer off and add all of the powdered sugar to the butter mixture.  Turn on the mixer to low speed until the powdered sugar is incorporated.  Slowly add the strawberry puree and mix.  Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes until smooth, creamy, and airy.

To make a stiffer cream cheese frosting, you can either reduce the amount of strawberry puree you add or add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.  Reducing the amount of strawberry puree will decrease the strawberry flavor.

Sliced Fresh strawberry sheet cake with strawberry cream cheese frostingSlice of fresh strawberry sheet cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting in a dish

Tips and takeaways

  • If fresh strawberries are not available, you can use frozen berries to make the puree.  Make sure to thaw completely before pureeing.  Even when thawed, using frozen strawberries will take longer to reduce than fresh berries.

Love strawberries?  Try these other recipes…

  • Strawberry shortcake biscuits
  • Roasted strawberry ice cream
  • Strawberry cupcakes
  • Strawberry cheesecake mousse

Make sure to tag me @thesweetoccasion on Instagram and leave me a review below if you make this Strawberry Sheet Cake recipe. I’d love to see your creations and read your feedback.  And if you would like to make this recipe later, be sure to pin this recipe using the button on any of these images. Let’s make every occasion a sweet occasion!

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Fresh strawberry sheet cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting

Strawberry Sheet Cake


  • Author: Maria
  • Prep Time: 55 minutes
  • Cook Time: 35 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Yield: 9x13-inch cake 1x
Print Recipe
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Description

Strawberry sheet cake is made with fresh strawberries for a flavorful seasonal cake.  It’s topped with a fresh strawberry cream cheese frosting for a delicious finish.  Ditch the boxed mix and artificial flavors, and make this strawberry cake that’s perfect for any celebration or gathering.


Ingredients

Scale

For the strawberry cake

  • 195 g (1 1/2 cups) cake flour
  • 140 g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
  • 6.8 g (2 teaspoons) baking powder
  • 3.2 g (1/2 teaspoon) baking soda
  • 2.8 g (1/2 teaspoon) salt
  • 170 g (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 385 g (1 3/4 cups) granulated sugar
  • 150 g (3 large) eggs
  • 3.5 g (1 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract
  • 180 g (3/4 cup) whole milk, at room temperature
  • 180 g (3/4 cup) reduced strawberry puree*

For the strawberry cream cheese frosting

  • 224 g (8 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 113 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 480 g (1 pound) powdered sugar
  • 7 g (2 teaspoons) pure vanilla extract
  • 60 g (1/4 cup) reduced strawberry puree*

Instructions

For the strawberry cake

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F/177°C.  Grease and line a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper.  Set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, sift together both flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together softened butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, 4-5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in vanilla until mixed well. With the mixer on low speed and in three parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Beat until just combined.  Fold in the strawberry puree.
  4. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and spread evenly with an offset spatula.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  5. Set the pan on a wire cooling rack and allow the cake to cool completely in the pan before frosting.

For the strawberry cream cheese frosting

  1. In a mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, 2-3 minutes.  Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until completely incorporated.  Add the strawberry puree and combine.  Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes.
  2. For a thicker frosting, add another cup of powdered sugar.
  3. Using an offset spatula, spread the frosting on your completely cooled cake.  Enjoy.

Notes

  1. *Reduced Strawberry Puree: Cut the stems off of 907 g (2 pounds) fresh strawberries.  Puree them in a food processor and pour the mixture into a small saucepan.  Simmer over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes, until there is about 240 g (1 cup) pureed strawberries.  Allow the puree to cool completely before adding to the cake batter and cream cheese frosting
  2. Make-Ahead: Make cake up to 1 day in advance.  Cover in an airtight container at room temperature.  Strawberry cream cheese frosting can be made up to 1 week in advance and stored covered in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  When ready to use bring the frosting to room temperature and re-whip for 5 minutes using mixer.
  3. Freezing:  Freeze cake frosted or unfrosted for up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to sit for 30 minutes at room temperature before serving.
  • Category: Cake

Keywords: strawberry cake, strawberry frosting, summer cake

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