This strawberry summer cake is everything you want it to be: light, fluffy, and bursting with fresh berries. Super easy and ready in under an hour, it’s perfect for warm days, picnics, or just because.

I welcome any excuse to have my house smelling like a strawberry patch. Now that summer’s at its peak, strawberries are here, bringing back old summer memories, preparing us for new ones.

I’ve always loved the ease and simplicity of summertime. This Strawberry Summer Cake evokes those exact feelings: it’s very unfussy, just an easy way to use an abundance of strawberries when they’re in season. This cake is not meant to be a source of stress over trying to get everything perfect. I know baking can be intimidating to a lot of people, with all those measuring cups and creaming methods to deal with, but think of it as a galette: it’s supposed to be rustic and simple.

some baking tips

One of the golden rules of cake baking is ensuring there’s minimal mixing, as gluten development is undesirable. Gluten is what gives baked goods structure. It’s a protein complex naturally found in wheat and when mixed with a liquid the proteins bond together. So as soon as you add milk to the dry ingredients, gluten starts to form. The longer you work the dough, the more you develop the gluten, which is exactly what you want to do when making bread. But when making cake you want the opposite of that. You want your cake to be light and tender. Overmixing your batter leads to dense, gummy cake.

So when making your strawberry summer cake, start by whisking the dry ingredients together in a bowl, so that way you can evenly distribute the baking powder and baking soda. If you want to reduce mixing time even further, sifting the dry ingredients both removes the lumps and helps blend the ingredients more easily. I usually just skip it, it’s not really necessary.

If possible, also make sure all ingredients are at room temperature before they are combined. Ingredients that are too cold may cause the batter to separate. The butter, specially, must be room temperature. Since we’re using the creaming method, if the butter is too cold it won’t be as creamy and smooth as we want it to be. You can make this cake entirely by hand, just using a whisk. In that case, room temperature butter is imperative. It’ll just make things so much easier.

For this cake I used an 8-inch springform pan, and it’s the perfect size – feel free to use any type of pie pan. I like serving it with softly whipped cream, honoring the classic strawberries + whipped cream combo. Just a couple summer essentials.

Tips & Variations

If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own! Just add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 1 cup of milk, give it a stir, then let sit for 5 minutes. But you can also just use milk.

You can swap the strawberries for virtually any other berries; you can also try peaches or plums or any other stone fruit. For a zesty, bright cake, add lemon zest to the batter when adding the wet ingredients.

To highlight the almond part of the cake, I like adding toasted slivered almonds, either stirred in with the flour or sprinkled on to or both.

As I’ve already suggested, this strawberry summer cake is best served with a dollop of whipped cream, but in this summer heat a scoop of vanilla ice cream wouldn’t be such a terrible idea. I think we would all agree that no matter how you go about it, this cake is better eaten outside, on a porch swing, hearing the birds sing, with your feet bare, your fork ready, and zero plans to be anywhere else.

If you make this Strawberry Summer Cake please be sure to leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you and I love responding to every comment. And don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram. I’d love to see your photos!