This strawberry sheet cake recipe is a moist, tender single-layer cake infused with strawberry jam and topped with homemade strawberry cream cheese frosting. Perfect for any spring or summer occasion!
Summer is the season for strawberry recipes, and I have so many, from strawberry cobbler to strawberry pound cake and classic strawberry shortcake. This strawberry sheet cake recipe is moist, tender, and bursting with sweet strawberry flavor. It’s actually inspired by a cake that my mom used to make from a boxed cake mix and strawberry Jell-O. That cake was so soft and delicious and perfectly pink, and I knew I wanted the same for my from-scratch version.
The challenge was to achieve that without artificial flavors. So, instead of Jell-O, this recipe uses seedless strawberry jam to flavor my buttermilk sheet cake and give it a soft, rosy hue. Complete with homemade frosting, this is a cake that I can now make again and again, all year round!
Why This Homemade Strawberry Sheet Cake Recipe Works
- Any season. Originally, I tried using diced fresh strawberries, like in my strawberry cupcakes recipe. However, strawberries are a seasonal fruit, and they aren’t always as sweet as they need to be for baking. Strawberry jam is always in season!
- Sweet strawberry flavor. The strawberry flavor is super concentrated and just sweet enough, without making the cake too dense.
- No stacking, no fuss. I love the ease of sheet cake recipes like a Texas sheet cake or lemon sheet cake. What’s better than a cake you can mix, bake, and then frost? This moist strawberry sheet cake is also great for a crowd. Perfect for parties, potlucks, and gatherings!
Strawberry Cake Ingredients
Scroll to the recipe card for the full ingredients list for this easy strawberry jam cake recipe, including measurements.
- Sugar – Granulated sugar works perfectly here.
- Butter and Vegetable Oil – I like to use both for a balance of flavor (from butter) and soft, tender texture (from oil). You could make this cake with all oil for a lighter textured cake, OR all butter for richer, more dense cake.
- Strawberry Jam – Make sure to use seedless strawberry jam, jelly, or preserves. I add a little vanilla extract to flavor the cake, too.
- Dry Ingredients – These are baking powder, baking soda, salt, and all-purpose flour. Measure the flour using the spoon-and-level method or a kitchen scale so you don’t overmeasure, which leads to a dry cake.
- Buttermilk – If needed, make a homemade buttermilk substitute by combining 1 scant cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice. Mix, and let it sit and curdle for 5 minutes, and it’s ready to use as written in the recipe.
- Eggs – Bring the eggs to room temperature.
- Pink Food Coloring – This is optional and only if you’re after a more vibrant-colored cake.
Tips for the Best Strawberry Sheet Cake
- Use seedless jam. It’s not the end of the world if the strawberry jam isn’t seedless, but this way, you won’t end up with tiny seeds scattered throughout the cake.
- Use room temperature ingredients. Bring the butter, eggs, and buttermilk to room temperature. They’ll blend more smoothly as they come together in the batter.
- Don’t overmix the cake batter. Overmixing causes dense, tough cakes as it deflates the air pockets inthe batter and overdevelops the gluten from the flour. Mix only until the dry ingredients are just combined into the wet batter.
The Best Frosting to Use
I frost this strawberry sheet cake with a tangy cream cheese frosting. Of course, you could always use my strawberry frosting, classic vanilla buttercream, or chocolate frosting, or dust the cake with powdered sugar for more of an old-fashioned look.
Decorating a Sheet Cake
These are some of my favorite ways to decorate this strawberry sheet cake:
- Fresh strawberries. Add fresh whole or sliced strawberries right before serving so they don’t bleed moisture into the frosting.
- Frosting swirls. Make a thicker batch of frosting (with more powdered sugar) so it holds its shape, and pipe into roses and swirls on top of the cake.
- Sprinkles. You can’t go wrong with sprinkles!
- Drizzle. Drizzle the cake with strawberry syrup or white chocolate gananche.
Can I Make This Recipe as a Layer Cake Instead?
Yes! If you’d prefer to make this homemade strawberry sheet cake as a layer cake instead, there are steps you can take to do so.
- Prepare the cake pans. Prepare the strawberry cake batter as usual. Then, grease two 9-inch round pans or three 8-inch pans with cooking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Bake. Divide the batter evenly between the pans. The baking times will vary depending on the size of the pans, but start at 30 minutes at 350ºF and bake until a toothpick comes out of the cake.
- Frost and assemble the cake. Cool the cakes in the pans for 10 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack. Cool the cakes completely before you frost them. You’ll need to double the frosting recipe for a layer cake.
How to Store
- Refrigerate. Due to the frosting, this strawberry sheet cake needs to stay refrigerated. Cover it airtight and it’ll last for up to 4 days. The unfrosted cake is fine to store airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Freeze. You can freeze the frosted or unfrosted cake for up to 2 months. Thaw the cake in the fridge before serving.
More Strawberry Dessert Recipes
Strawberry Sheet Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: serves 12 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
This strawberry sheet cake is a sweet, moist cake infused with strawberry jam and topped with strawberry cream cheese frosting. Easy to make and perfect for summer!
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup seedless strawberry jam
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- Optional: Pink food coloring
For the Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 4– ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/4 cup seedless strawberry jam
- 3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9×13 baking dish with baking spray. You can also line the baking dish with parchment paper and coat with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the butter and sugar together for 2 minutes on medium speed, until as combined as possible, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add in the vegetable oil and mix for 1 minute until creamy, and then the strawberry jam until combined.
- Add in the eggs, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until smooth.
- Turn the mixer to low and add in the flour and buttermilk in alternating portions, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix until just combined. If desired add a few drop of pink food coloring to amp up the pink color.
- Spread the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan completely.
- Frosting: In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the butter and cream cheese together on medium speed until smooth. Add in the jam and mix until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Turn the mixer to low and add in the powdered sugar. Once it’s combined, turn the mixer up to medium and beat until creamy and smooth. Spread the frosting on your cooled cake and garnish with fresh strawberries if desired.
Notes
- Store airtight in the refrigerator (due to the cream cheese frosting) for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 677
- Sugar: 72.5 g
- Sodium: 210.2 mg
- Fat: 27.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 103.2 g
- Protein: 6.2 g
- Cholesterol: 106.7 mg
I did not enjoy this cake. I followed the recipe and it didn’t taste like strawberry at all or much of anything.
I added a few drops of Strawberry Extract to give it more flavor to both the batter and frosting.
Hi if I want to bake 2 8 inch cakes how much would I reduce the recipe by?
Wonderful – I need a strawberry cake for my daughter’s birthday tomorrow. I’ve made strawberry cake with a reduced puree before. I liked it but a lot of work and a lot of dishes to clean. Your recipe will be a lifesaver – can’t wait to make it!
Hello. Can I substitute granulated sugar with powdered sugar for the recipe? Let me know
I wouldn’t recommend that, sorry!
I was thinking of beating the egg whites
and at the end folding them into the
batter. Would that make the cake
lighter? I’m making the cake for
Mother’s Day and I’m more than
positive that it will be delicious.
Beating the whites separately and folding them in certainly would work and could possibly make the texture slightly lighter. But since I’ve never tried it with this recipe I couldn’t speak to the exact results. If you do try it, please report back!
Sooo I made the perfect vanilla cake then added the strawberry jam, a hybrid cake! Yum and perfect for my hubby’s navy retirement!
That sounds amazing!
As much as I love strawberry jam I have to say I love raspberry jam a bit more. I don’t think I would mind a few seeds in the cake and am thinking this would be good with raspberry as well!
That would be great!!
You should be able to get seedless raspberry jam, too!
I can’t wait to try this one. So I don’t have to refrigerate it I’d do a chocolate buttercream frosting.
That would be delicious!
Strawberry is my favorite! I can’t wait to make this. Can preserves be used in place of jam? I prefer preserves over jam but in this case I’m not sure because of the chunks of strawberry that are in the preserves vs the pulp that’s in jam.
In the cake it would work, but in the frosting, It might separate a little bit with the pieces of fruit!