Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: The cake itself has a light strawberry flavor but the glaze is where it really packs that strawberry punch!
Texture: The cake is light, fluffy, and soft yet sturdy enough to hold up that ultra-thick glaze.
Ease: Much easier than a layer cake, or even cupcakes!
Pros: Easy, beautiful, crowd-pleasing dessert that’s perfect for any potluck, BBQ, or get-together.
Cons: None!
Would I make this again? Definitely!!
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This Strawberry Bundt Cake is the epitome of summer flavors in cake form!
Sometimes recipe ideas come to me in strange ways. It might be a highly specific component of a recipe or even a very precise ingredient that sparks a new baking creation.
For this recipe, I wanted to use freeze-dried strawberries. I love the powerful punch of strawberry flavor they bring, without using any extracts or artificial ingredients.
Once I had this ingredient in mind, a specific mental picture instantly popped into my head. An ultra luscious and thick (naturally) bright pink strawberry glaze that would set with a beautiful sheen and crackle slightly when sliced. Don’t ask me where these ideas come from, this is just how my mind works and it’s why I’m so grateful that this is actually my job!
At first, I thought I might just make up the glaze and pour it over an existing bundt cake recipe, like my Lemon Bundt Cake or even my Chocolate Bundt Cake. Strawberry Lemonade Cake or Chocolate Strawberry Cake both sound delicious!
I’ll probably still try that (the latter sounds so good!) but for now I wanted to honor the fact that the weather is warming up by staying focused on the strawberries.
So that’s how this Strawberry Bundt Cake was born!
I hope you’ll give this strawberry cake a try for Easter, the 4th of July, or any spring or summertime gathering! I think it’ll be a total crowd-pleaser!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Strawberry Bundt Cake
Where to Find Freeze-Dried Strawberries
Freeze-dried strawberries are available at many supermarkets. I always find them at Trader Joe’s or Target next to the other dried fruits (like raisins), or you can grab them on Amazon here.
Can I Add Pieces of Strawberry to the Cake?
I personally don’t enjoy the texture of pieces of fresh fruit baked into a cake, so I didn’t include any chopped strawberries in the cake batter. However, if you want to amplify the strawberry texture even more, feel free to add 3/4 cup chopped strawberries to the batter in addition to the strawberry puree.
What’s the Best Pan for Bundt Cake?
I recommend using a high-quality Bundt pan like this one for this Strawberry Bundt Cake.
How to Prevent Bundt Cake from Sticking
- Use a quality baking spray like Baker’s Joy spray. While I don’t prefer to use nonstick sprays because they can damage the nonstick coating on baking pans over time, Baker’s Joy does work well. It just may reduce the lifetime of your pan.
- Alternatively, coat the bundt pan with melted shortening and work it into every nook and cranny with a silicone pastry brush.
- Spray or brush your pan right before adding your cake batter. If this is done too early, the grease will slide down the sides of the pan and leave you with an uneven coating.
- Check out my article on How to Prevent Bundt Cake from Sticking for more tips.
How to Store Strawberry Bundt Cake
Store this Strawberry Bundt Cake covered or inside an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, or at room temperature for 2 days.
Can You Freeze Strawberry Bundt Cake?
Freeze unglazed bundt cake wrapped in plastic wrap and place inside an airtight container. Defrost in the fridge overnight before icing with ganache and serving. We have not tried freezing this cake once iced.
More Recipes You’ll Love:
- Chocolate Bundt Cake
- Lemon Bundt Cake
- Butterscotch Bundt Cake
- Cheesecake Filled Chocolate Bundt Cake
- Peppermint Mocha Bundt Cake
Photos by Lauren J. Photography.
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Strawberry Bundt Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 pound (454 grams) fresh strawberries, hulled and chopped
- 2 sticks (226 grams) unsalted butter, at a cool room temperature
- 2 cups (400 grams) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups (318 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (227 grams) sour cream (or full fat Greek yogurt)
For the glaze:
- 1 (1.2 ounce / 34 gram) bag freeze-dried strawberries*
- 3 cups (375 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1/2 cup milk
Instructions
Make the strawberry puree:
- In the bowl of a blender or food processor, puree the strawberries until you get about 1 cup. Transfer the puree to a small saucepan set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has been reduced by half, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely before using in the batter. Mixture can also be made ahead of time, covered, and refrigerated overnight.
Make the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition, until just combined.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a measuring cup, combine the sour cream with the cooled strawberry puree.
- Add the flour mixture to the batter in three parts, alternating with the sour cream strawberry mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Mix on low speed until the batter is lump-free.
- Generously grease a 10 to 12-cup Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. Use a pastry brush to grease every nook and cranny. Pour the batter into the pan, smoothing the top. Tap the pan against the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake for about 50 to 60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a platter and let cool completely. If your cake doesn’t release, run a thin spatula around the inner tube to help.
Make the glaze:
- In the bowl of a blender or food processor, pulverize the freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder.
- In a medium bowl, combine the strawberry powder, powdered sugar, and milk until a thick glaze forms. Pour all over the cooled bundt cake. Allow to set for about 20 minutes, or until the glaze is no longer wet to the touch, before serving.
I’m from the Uk, when using the creaming method I use caster sugar. Granulated is too grainy. Silly question is USA granulated UK caster?
Not a silly question at all! Caster sugar is known as “superfine” sugar in the US. The size of the sugar crystals in superfine sugar is smaller than our granulated sugar, which means it dissolves more quickly in liquid. Because of this, it can increase spread in cookies especially because it melts easily in the oven. We haven’t tested our recipes using superfine sugar, but if you’d like to experiment, feel free to and let us know how it goes! You shouldn’t have to cream the butter/sugar mixture for as long (again because the sugar dissolves more quickly), and though you’ll end up with slightly more caster sugar per cup of granulated sugar, you can typically substitute 1 to 1 (by volume). I hope that helps!
I got too excited and put the glaze on before the cake was completely cooled so it was a drippy mess and not near as pretty as the pictures. The glaze made the cake though – without it, the flavor is a little dull to me.
I made it but the cake completely sink 🙁 the taste was amazing but the texture was like a bread pudding or a very feet flan :’( Any idea what might have happened?
It was pretty and very moist. My friends loved it. I never post pictures of food to Facebook, but I posted my cake.
Looks amazing, Tessa! I can’t wait to make this cake. And I agree with you about not having the bits of soggy fruit in the cake.
What can you use if you cant find freeze dried strawberries? thanks
planning to make this cake in the morning, looks great! Prepped the strawberries tonight and after pureeing them I had about 2c of fruit. Cooked it down to just under 1c, but reading the recipe implies that I should only have about a 1/2 c of fruit after I have cooked it down. So, my question is…how much of the fruit puree should I be adding to the yogurt or sour cream, and why did I have so much fruit in the first place?
I have the same question! How much fruit purée should I use?
Hi Venessa! You should end up with about a half cup of fruit purée, after the mixture has been cooking for about 30 minutes 🙂
Thank you for all your delicious recipes, and all the great information that you share with us. It is greatly appreciated.
gorgeous, perfect party serving! So much fun and nice no stick reminder too, thank you!
How do you get the cake off of the wire rack?
In the Strawberry Bundt Cake recipe, sour cream is one of the ingredients. Could Greek yogurt be substituted? I always have yogurt around but not usually any sour cream.
Yes, full fat Greek yogurt should work!
Could this recipe be used for mini bundt cakes?