Vintage Strawberry Cake Recipe (2024)

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Vintage Strawberry Cake is rich, dense, and packed full of fresh strawberries from top to bottom. However, the strawberry cream cheese icing steals the show!

What's Special About This Recipe?

Old fashioned cakes are truly some of the best desserts out there, and for good reason. Our mothers and grandmothers created cakes that stood the test of time.

Vintage Strawberry Cake will take you back to the days when Granny was baking in the kitchen and the smell of strawberries filled the air!

If you've made Old Fashioned Chocolate Sheet Cake, you'll recognize the method behind this dessert. The addition of buttermilk makes it as moist as it can be.

Throwing in several cups of fresh strawberries doesn't hurt either. Together, the combination will make you click your heels and take you back to simpler days...when Granny was cooking up a storm.

How To Make Vintage Strawberry Cake

Start by stirring together 2 cups of self-rising flour with 2 cups of sugar. Pour into a mixing bowl and set aside.

Mash up 2 cups of strawberries with a potato masher or whatever you have on hand. Leave the strawberries a little chunky and set aside.

Melt a stick of butter in a saucepan, then add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of vegetable oil. Bring to a boil for 1 minute. Pour into dry ingredients in mixer. Blend on medium speed for 1 minute.

Beat 2 eggs and ½ cup buttermilk together. Pour into dry ingredients. Mix batter on medium speed for 1 additional minute.

Drain the strawberries really well with a cheesecloth, then fold them into the mixture. If you don't want to use fresh berries, freeze-dried strawberries (ad) work great. There's less moisture involved and you don't have to squeeze the water out of them!

Mix for another minute on low speed. The batter will turn a beautiful shade of light pink.

Pour the batter into a 13 x 9 inch greased and floured pan. (ad) Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Let the cake cool and pour on the icing!

How to Make Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing

The texture of the cake is dense in this recipe, but the cream cheese icing steals the show. Maybe it's because there are real specks of fresh strawberries in every bite. Or, it could have something to do with the fact that everyone loves cream cheese icing.

Place 1 block of cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat until fluffy. Slice a stick of butter into chunks and add to the cream cheese gradually, beating until smooth.

Add 4 cups of powdered sugar to the mixture in the bowl, along with a teaspoon of vanilla. Gradually fold in 1 cup of mashed strawberries (that have been drained well) and beat until icing turns pink.

Again, you can use freeze-dried (ad) or dehydrated strawberries to avoid having to drain the berries. I have found that the freeze-dried berries work nicely.

If the icing is too thin due to the moisture in the strawberries, add more powdered sugar until it thickens enough to spread easily. Pour over cooled cake and spread evenly with a knife or spatula.

Garnish With a Strawberry Star

There's really no right or wrong way to decorate a cake, but I was extremely proud of this one, so I topped it with a star!

If you'd like to top your cake with a star too, start by making a circle in the middle of the cake with sliced strawberries facing up. Then, fill in the middle of the circle with more strawberries facing the same way.

Once a star pattern is filled in, layer more sliced strawberries on top by staggering them face down. This gives the design a little dimension and variation in color.

Of course, you can make any design on your cake that you wish, or cover the entire cake with strawberries if that's your style. Heck, you can serve this one plain and nobody will even notice. They'll scarf it down before you can say 'Did you see my Strawberry Star?'

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Old Fashioned Strawberry Cake is totally homemade. There are no artificial ingredients. This easy sheet cake tastes like you bought it at a bakery!

It's made with real butter, real buttermilk, and real strawberries. Did I mention it's topped with strawberry cream cheese icing? It's definitely a keeper!

More Cake Recipes to Love

Loaded Carrot Cake
Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
Double Chocolate Chip Cake
Beryl's Chocolate Sheet Cake
Pumpkin Spice Flip Cake

Recipe Card

Vintage Strawberry Cake

Vintage Strawberry Cake will take you back to the days when Granny was baking in the kitchen and the smell of strawberries filled the air!

5 from 11 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Ingredients

CAKE

▢ 2 cups sugar
▢ 2 cups self-rising flour
▢ 1 stick butter
▢ 1 cup vegetable oil
▢ ½ cup water
▢ 2 eggs
▢ ½ cup buttermilk
▢ 2 cups mashed strawberries drained well (or use 1 cup freeze-dried berries)

ICING

▢ 1 8 oz block cream cheese, softened
▢ 1 stick butter sliced in chunks, softened
▢ 4 cups powdered sugar may need more if icing is thin
▢ 1 tsp. vanilla
▢ 1 cup mashed strawberries drained well (or use ½ cup freeze-dried berries)

Instructions

CAKE

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir flour with sugar in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
Melt butter in a saucepan, then add oil and water. Bring to a boil for 1 minute.
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Blend with a mixer on medium speed for 1 minute.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and buttermilk together. Pour into contents in mixing bowl.
Add drained strawberries and mix batter for 1 minute on medium speed until combined. Batter will turn pink.
Pour batter into a 13 x 9 inch greased and floured pan. (ad)
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes until cake springs bake in the center. Remove from oven and cool.

ICING

Place cream cheese in a mixer and blend until smooth. Add slices of butter gradually and continue to blend until creamy.
Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and mix until thickened. Mix in vanilla.
Drain strawberries well and add to mixture. Or, use freeze dried berries. (ad)
Blend until icing turns pink.
If icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar to thicken.
Pour icing on top of cooled cake and spread with a knife or spatula.
Top cake with additional strawberries if desired.

Notes

Make sure strawberries are drained well each time they are used. Use a paper towel or cheesecloth to squeeze out all the excess moisture. If you want to avoid this step, use freeze-dried(ad) strawberries instead. They work better in my opinion.
You may need more powdered sugar if the icing is too thin.
If you can't find self-rising flour, add 3 teaspoons of baking powder and ½ teaspoon salt to 2 cups of all-purpose flour.

Nutrition

Nutrition info is an auto generated estimate.

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