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French Strawberry Cake

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Welcome! You are in for a treat with this French Strawberry Cake. Mixed in one bowl with the season’s freshest strawberries, this cake bakes up with a custardy middle and crackly, sugary top. This cake has thousands of fans. Read on to see why…

slice of french strawberry cake on plate with whole strawberry and whipped cream

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This French Strawberry Cake will be your new favorite summertime treat. Reminiscent of a classic French Apple Cake it has a crumb that is sweet and custardy with a top that bakes up light and crumbly. This cake is the perfect way to show off those fresh picked strawberries!

overhead view of french strawberry cake in pan

 

I have Southern Cast Iron magazine to thank for the original recipe. I picked up their Spring 2016 issue because the collection of recipes looked so irresistibly delicious. The Strawberry Skillet Cake was the first I chose to make but my cast iron skillet is much bigger than 9-inches in diameter. So I decided to see how this cake fared in a traditional 9-inch cake pan.

overhead view of french strawberry cake slice

After being wowed by the look of it coming out of the oven my family and I were even more impressed with the taste. The cake is moist and custardy in the middle. I looked up the ingredients for a classic French Apple Cake and other than the addition of sour cream this is basically the same cake but with strawberries instead of apples. So I am calling it French Strawberry Cake.

side view of french strawberry cake in pan

 

Watch how to make French Strawberry Cake:

Helpful tips for making French Strawberry Cake:

  • From the comments it is reinforced that oven temperatures vary wildly. My oven bakes this cake in about 40 minutes. For others they’ve left the cake in for much longer. The center of this cake when baked will still have a custard-like texture. Not raw but more moist than other cakes you may be used to.
  • Be sure to dry your strawberries thoroughly before mixing them into the batter.
  • Save a few strawberries (about 1/2 cup) to place on top of the cake before sprinkling it with sugar if you want the cake to look like the photographs.
  • Use full-fat sour cream, not low fat.
  • Full fat, plain Greek yogurt may be used as a substitute for the sour cream.
  • Read the comments below for more helpful information regarding this cake.
  • I bake the cake and serve it straight from the 9-inch baking pan. Find the baking pan I use for this cake here.

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Made in one bowl. So easy but so impressive! #frenchstrawberrycake #cakerecipes

French Strawberry Cake | Foodtastic Mom #frenchstrawberrycake #cakerecipes

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French Strawberry Cake
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4.91 from 113 votes

French Strawberry Cake

French Strawberry Cake makes a stunning presentation straight out of the pan it is baked in - plus it is mixed together in just one bowl. An easy and impressive cake for strawberry season.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 8
Calories 430kcal
Author Jill McOwen

Ingredients

  • 1 stick unsalted butter softened
  • 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar divided
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 16 ounces fresh strawberries sliced

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray and set aside.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip together the butter and 1 cup of the sugar until pale and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes.
  • Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition.
  • Fold in strawberries. Spread the batter in the prepared cake pan.
  • Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar evenly over the top of the cake batter.
  • Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes.
  • Let the cake cool completely in the pan and slice and serve the cake from the pan.

Notes

I used a 9-inch, light silver metal cake pan for this cake. I also used fresh, not frozen strawberries.
The cake is meant to be "custard-like" in the middle. Not under baked but not "crumby" like a traditional cake.
Some people have reported needing to bake the cake longer than the recommended time of 35 - 40 minutes. Color of cake pans, size of strawberries and individual ovens will all factor into the correct baking time.

Nutrition

Calories: 430kcal
French Strawberry Cake

More strawberry recipes:

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gerald says

    5 stars
    I’m so happy with how this recipe turned out! We are celebrating my friend Misty’s birthday today so I stalked her Pinterest to figure out a surprise desert to make. When I saw this pinned I knew it was the recipe! Super easy and delicious! I am pairing it with homemade whipped cream, inspired by the photos above.

    To begin, I followed the recipe to a T……except for the fact that I made it in cupcake form as I thought that would be more fun for her birthday party. I am actually referring to these as ‘French Strawberry Mini-Cakes’ as they are more reminiscent of a miniature cake vs a cupcake or muffin, ie: the top has that wonderful flaky crack and it is not rounded. I read every single review on this page trying to see what I should change/do differently to convert this recipe from a regular cake to mini-cakes but in the end I just decided to go about things by doing a little trial and error of my own. I saw that a few others had asked about doing a ‘cupcake’ versions of this recipe so I wanted to share what worked/didn’t work for me – my apologies for the long review!

    So, yes, I followed the recipe to a T when it came to preparing the batter and everything else. However, instead of a cake pan, I used a 12 cup dark silver muffin tin. I kept the oven at 350* and found that 20 minutes was the perfect amount of bake time. I did broil the tops at 500* for maybe 2 minutes at the end just to give the tops a nice toasted gold color for my personal preference. This recipe yielded 18 mini-cakes for me overall.

    Before I baked my first batch, I tried two tester mini-cakes: For the first one, I used a foil cupcake baking liner and the second one next went straight into the muffin tin which was greased with a light layer of butter. Both worked pretty well! The ‘cupcake’ one was super easy/neat to remove from the muffin tin which was a plus and the actual cake did not stick to the liner. With that said, I actually preferred the other mini-cake better because the sides got a beautiful brown crust to them from touching the baking tray directly. [I love a nice crunch one the outside to contract the custard-like filling!] They were a little harder to remove this way though and I tried several ways to remove them from the muffin tin. In the end, I found that spooning them out of the tin very quickly after they are done baking yielded a better result than letting them cool in the pan.

    Hopefully my review helps others! Please let me know if you have any tips or suggestions. I’d definitely love to find a way to keep the sides of each mini-cake still browned and crunchy while making them a little bit easier to remove from the pan. Not that greasing the pan with butter didn’t work (in fact, it made the sides super delicious) but perhaps I will try another non-stick method next time just to keep them a little more neater.

    Reply

    • foodtasticmom says

      Gerald I think you need to be my official tester from now on 🙂 I love your thorough review – so helpful to me and my readers. I’d been thinking of trying this recipe in cupcake form (I’ve made several different versions, just switching out the fruit, and making one into an “upside down cake” with peaches) but hadn’t gotten to cupcakes/mini cakes yet. Your friend Misty is lucky to have you baking for her. Thanks so much for all these helpful tips!!

      Reply

  2. Mary says

    5 stars
    this cake looks amazing and would love to try it! Is there another ingredient with which to replace the sour cream cause over in Greece where I live we don’t have it. And i am not sure if I can be successful in making sour cream myself, nor do i want to spend the time i think. Any suggestions? Thank you!

    Reply

  3. David says

    I just stumbled upon this recipe today, and I would love to make it. However, I had in mind to make a double layer strawberry cake, and I was wondering if you could let me know if that was a good idea? I was thinking of making double recipe and making some kind of stiff cream filling to put in between. What concerns me is that they are supposed to be kind of a custard-like consistency. Does that mean they are going to be too heavy to stack one on top of another with a cream in between? Please let me know what you would recommend. Thank you.

    Reply

    • foodtasticmom says

      David, I’ve gotten a lot of comments on this recipe and I don’t have time to read through them right now but I feel like another reader did make this into a double layer cake. While the cake is custard like in texture it’s not particularly heavy. I’d make sure to cool the cakes completely before trying to remove them from the pans. That part might be a little tricky – though it may be fine – I’m not sure only because I haven’t tried it. But I think layering two cakes with cream in between could turn out really well. If you try it, let us know!

      Reply

  5. Kriss says

    5 stars
    I made this recipe last week and am making it again today. My family seems to think that fruit is not dessert, that is, until we discovered this recipe. My husband can’t stop talking about it! 5 stars!

    Reply

  6. Merilee S says

    5 stars
    Delicious recipe. I baked mine on 355 for about 43 minutes. My oven is usually a few degrees lower than what’s recommended. It could have used another minute or two and been fine as well! Absolutely delicious.

    Reply

  8. Ginger Anzelone says

    5 stars
    I made this recipe using adjustments for higher altitude. At 5340 feet elevation I added 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour to the amount in
    recipe & decreased the baking powder to 3/4 teaspoon. Baked at 365* for 40 minutes. My adjustments were spot on! This recipe is a keeper.

    Reply

  9. Emily Roelandts says

    5 stars
    Amazing, amazing cake!!! Made this last night with my mother-in-laws garden fresh strawberries! Will make again in a heartbeat but I do have a question:

    All my strawberries sank right to the bottom of the cake pan. Still such a great taste! But how did yours stay so wonderfully mixed throughout the cake? ?? Thanks!!

    Reply

    • foodtasticmom says

      I mixed most of the berries into the batter but I saved a few to scatter over the top before sprinkling with sugar. That seemed to make those at least stay on top. Trade secret 🙂 Garden fresh strawberries sound wonderful. So happy you enjoyed the cake!

      Reply

  10. Joyce in Maine says

    5 stars
    This is lovely! I like fruit desserts. I used coarse-grained sugar over the top for crunch and sparkle. I have only extra large eggs so I baked it 10 minutes longer. I used fresh-picked berries from our garden, they did not sink to the bottom of the pan (bummer for Emily Roelandts).

    I will likely try this later in the summer when wild Maine blueberries are ripe. I am envious of any Southerner with access to REAL peaches to try this.

    Thank you for posting this marvelous recipe, Jill.

    Reply

    • foodtasticmom says

      You are so welcome! Great idea to use a course grain for sprinkling on top. I’ve baked the cake with blueberries too now and it’s delicious. Thank you for the positive feedback.

      Reply

  12. Kelly Ritcey says

    Made this last year and LOVED it…about to make it again this year, after picking a lot of strawberries. Wondering if anyone has ever tried freezing one and if it was still as delicious when thawed?

    Reply

  13. Lisa says

    Oh my word this was DELISH! I was.asked to bring a dessert to a BBQ and found this recipe. I am not a baker my any means, but this turned out fantastic. I melted some dark chocolate in the top and use all of the sugar for the top. It was a hit. My husband immediately said “can you make this again?”. Thank you!

    Reply

  16. Dorothy Edwards says

    4 stars
    Instead of sprinkling regular sugar on top, I used clear sugar sprinkles (since I wanted larger sugar crystals) so it gave a little sweet crunch on top. I did bake this for about 50 minutes and still had the proper custardy texture. I think the timing could vary due to the temperature differences in ovens, the different moisture content of the strawberries and the temperature of the strawberries themselves. My strawberries were fairly cold from just getting pulled from the fridge. I served the cake with a spoonful of lime curd. The tart tang complemented the cake perfectly. If I were going to serve this to guests, I would bake it in a springform pan instead so it could have a prettier initial presentation.

    Reply

  20. Di says

    5 stars
    I made it with Strawberries last week for a dinner party They loved it .. I made it with fresh peaches this time .. Also because I left my round cake pan behind at that party 😩I made the peach one in the square glass pan .. It came out good , but because it will be cut in squares I think the ends will be drier than the middle .. With the round pan you get some custard middle with every slice ..This recipe will be in my kitchen forever ❤️

    Reply

  21. Leona Hotaling says

    5 stars
    I made this two days ago for lunch with my aunt but I used fresh blackberries that my grocery store had for 99 cents. It was amazing with the blackberries. I did not cut them but they were huge. I made this before with the strawberries for Mother’s Day. I love this cake recipe. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

    • foodtasticmom says

      I haven’t tried it with blackberries yet, but I love it when our grocery has them for .99 per container. I will have to try it with blackberries now! Thank you for the positive comment!

      Reply

  22. Susan Gregory says

    5 stars
    This has become my go to cake. I have mixed it up and uses apples and blueberries as well as strawberries. Everyone that tries it loves it.

    Reply

  23. Lynn Gore says

    5 stars
    I tried the strawberry version of this a few weeks ago. Delicious! I haven’t been able to rest until I had a chance (and a nice rainy day) to do a fresh pear version. I can hardly contain myself as it is in the oven now!

    Reply

  24. Kay says

    5 stars
    Hi I did not have a chance to read all the comments so pardon if you’ve already answered. I’m wondering about storage. I want to make this tonight for tomorrow. Does it require refrigerating or can I leave out or do you recommend wrapping in foil.

    Thank you. Looks delicious.

    Reply

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