The Best Strawberry Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This Strawberry Layer Cake is soft, fluffy, and packed with real strawberry flavor thanks to roasting the berries and a generous dose of their freeze-dried form. It’s a beautiful make-ahead cake that feels special without being overly complicated. Serve it for birthdays, showers, or cozy spring weekends alongside my iced matcha latte.

A good strawberry cake should taste like actual strawberries, and this one delivers. Roasting the berries first concentrates their flavor, while freeze-dried strawberries give the frosting a bright, punchy finish. It’s the kind of cake I’d put on a bakery menu, right next to my creamsicle cake and lemon layer cake. The layers bake ahead beautifully, making this an easy choice for spring and summer gatherings when you don’t want to be scrambling day-of.

Got leftover strawberries? My strawberry biscuits are calling your name.

Ingredients You’ll Need for Strawberry Layer Cake

1. Fresh strawberries – Roasting fresh strawberries deepens their sweetness and removes excess moisture, giving the cake a stronger berry flavor without making the batter watery.
2. Unsalted butter – Butter gives the cake richness and helps create a soft, tender crumb.
3. Egg whites – Egg whites keep the layers light in color and texture while helping the cake bake up fluffy and structured.
4. Cream cheese – Adds tang and balances the sweetness of the frosting. It also gives the frosting a smooth, creamy texture.
5. Freeze-dried strawberries – These add concentrated strawberry flavor to the frosting without thinning it out the way fresh berries can.

For the rest of the ingredients, please refer to the recipe index card below!

Kitchen Tools for Easy Assembly

Stand-Up Mixer: This recipe is easiest to make with a stand-up mixer since it helps properly cream the butter and sugar for a light, fluffy cake. If you don’t have one, an electric hand mixer will work just fine.

Kitchen Scale: I love using a kitchen scale for baking because it gives the most accurate measurements and consistent results every time.

Offset Spatula: Helpful for spreading the cake batter evenly into the baking pans and smoothing frosting between layers and around the cake.

Silicone Spatula: A handy tool for scraping every bit of batter from the bowl and folding or smoothing frosting as needed.

Bench Scraper: I prefer a flexible bench scraper for frosting cakes. It makes it much easier to smooth the sides and create clean edges.

Revolving Cake Stand: If you make cakes often, this is worth having. The rotating base makes frosting faster, easier, and much neater.

How to Make Strawberry Layer Cake

1. Roast the strawberries. Toss sliced strawberries with sugar and salt, then roast until juicy and fragrant.

2. Blend until smooth and measure out 1/2 cup puree.

3. Mix the batter. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Whisk together the milk, egg whites, and strawberry puree, then alternate adding wet and dry ingredients to form a smooth batter.

4. Bake the cakes. Divide the batter among the greased cake pans and bake at 350℉ for 22 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

5. Blitz the freeze-dried strawberries in the food processor.

6. Make the frosting. Beat the cream cheese until smooth, then add butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and strawberry powder until fluffy and spreadable.

7. Assemble and decorate. Stack the cake layers with frosting between each, apply a crumb coat, and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

8. Finish with the final layer of frosting and decorate as desired.

9. Slice it up and serve.