Take chocolate dipped strawberries to the next level with this dreamy Chocolate Strawberry Cake!
Being a blogger is strange sometimes. When I started this blog, I intended it to be a journal of sorts, tied in with whatever I had baked for the week. Somewhere along the way it evolved into covering the recipe of the day and the issues that I ran into when making it. Which isn’t a bad thing – it works – it’s just not exactly what I intended. As such, I don’t often share too much of what’s going on in my personal life unless I’m weeks into being sick or ranting about something or other. Or maybe it’s just that my life isn’t as exciting as I thought it was?
This week, I’m feeling like I really just need to get some things off my chest, and in the spirit of my original vision for this blog, I’d like to use this post to do so. If you’d rather not read my ramblings, feel free to scroll down to the recipe!
The day before I was meant to finish and shoot this cake, I got a call from my mom telling me that my aunt had just months to live. She has been sick since last year and underwent extensive cancer treatment last winter for a very treatable, though late-stage, cancer. She was given the all-clear in early 2016, but seemed to have ongoing issues and doctor appointments. Very recently she had an MRI done for something unrelated. It revealed that the cancer had spread rapidly to her spine, and that there was no cure.
SO. MANY. QUESTIONS.
Why the hell was this not found earlier? What were the doctors even doing for the past year?? They knew there was a chance of it spreading, so why didn’t they find it sooner? Why wasn’t the MRI (or other tests) done months ago??
I am so pissed off.
I’m not going to go into how much the medical system in Canada sucks (it does, don’t believe the hype) and how shitty so many of the doctors are, or how long you have to wait for treatment (months, sometimes years), or how many times my aunt got sent home from emergency last year (before she was diagnosed) with a shrug and no proper tests or treatment.
Realistically, even if they found this new cancer early enough I still don’t think it could have been treated, but at least everyone would have known sooner. There’s a lot of things that could have/should have been done differently, but they weren’t and here we are.
Two days after getting that call, my mom and I were on a plane back to Edmonton to see my aunt (another thing that sucks in Canada? Airfare prices). I still had to finish this cake before we went, but it seemed so trivial with everything going on.
It would be an understatement to say that it was literally the last thing I wanted to do. Not caring about something and being a perfectionist leads to a bit of a conflict, so it’s no surprise that I am not 100% happy with this cake or these pictures, but it is what it is.
Forcing yourself to do something you don’t want to do builds character, right? So I forced myself to finish this cake, knowing it would partly help take my mind off of everything. I packed up some of this cake and next week’s cake and took it to Edmonton for my aunt and cousin. They loved it, and I’m glad I had the chance to have them try some of my baking. I won’t go into the details of the visit, but it was good. As good as it could be under the circumstances. Sigh.
Anyhow, if you’ve gotten through this whole post, thanks for listening to me ramble!
Now, this Chocolate Strawberry Cake… it’s seriously delicious. I made it into a 6 layer cake because, well, I wanted to. You can leave it as a 3 layer cake, but you’ll have some frosting left over. The 6 layers is a great ratio in my opinion! The cake is my usual chocolate cake recipe and the strawberry buttercream is my favorite Swiss meringue with some fresh pureed strawberries thrown in. All topped off with a simple chocolate ganache and fresh strawberries!
Notes & tips for this Chocolate Strawberry Cake:
- Some people have had issues with the frosting curdling once the strawberries are added — this is due to excess water in the berries. You can either strain your chopped berries or press them in a paper towel to remove excess water. Alternatively you can use strawberry jam instead of fresh strawberries or, ideally, freeze-dried strawberry powder.
- You can use any kid of berry you prefer for the frosting.
- To enhance the chocolate flavor of the cake, you can use strong hot coffee instead of hot water.
- For the ganache, I let mine set overnight (with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface). It will be too thick at this point, so I microwave it for 10 secs and stir it until it’s the right consistency.
- The drip technique works best on a chilled cake so that the drips set quickly.
- Be sure to check my Swiss Meringue Buttercream post for tips and troubleshooting.
- To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, see my Flat Top Cakes post.
Chocolate Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder sifted
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 3/4 cup hot strong brewed coffee or hot water
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Strawberry Buttercream:
- 6 large egg whites
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups unsalted butter cubed, room temperature
- 1/2 cup pureed strawberries (about 1 cup whole strawberries – stemmed, hulled, and pureed)
Ganache:
- 2 oz semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped
- 2 oz heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F, grease three 6″ round baking pans and dust with cocoa powder. Line bottoms with parchment.
- Place all dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir to combine.
- In a medium bowl whisk all wet ingredients (pour coffee/water in slowly as not to cook the eggs if very hot).
- Add wet ingredients to dry and mix on medium for 2-3 mins. Batter will be very thin.
- Pour evenly into prepared pans. I used a kitchen scale to ensure the batter is evenly distributed.
- Bake until a cake tester comes out mostly clean. A total of 30-35mins.
- Cool 10minutes in the pans then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, cut each layer in half horizontally to get 6 layers.
Strawberry Buttercream:
- Place egg whites and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk until combined.*
- Place bowl over a hot water bath on the stove and whisk constantly until the mixture is no longer grainy to the touch (approx. 3mins).
- Place bowl on your stand mixer and whisk on med-high until the meringue is stiff and cooled (the bowl is no longer warm to the touch (approx. 5-10mins)).
- Switch to paddle attachment. Slowly add cubed butter and mix until smooth.
- Add strawberry puree and whip until smooth.**
Ganache:
- Place chopped chocolate and cream into a microwave safe bowl. Stir to combine. Microwave for 20 seconds, stir. Microwave in 10 second intervals, stirring in between, until ganache is smooth and silky. Set aside to cool completely and thicken slightly before using on cake.
Assembly:
- Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving dish. Top with about 2/3 cup buttercream. Repeat with remaining layers. Frost and smooth the outside with a thin crumb coat. Chill for 20mins.
- Frost the cake. Using a small spoon, place dollops of ganache around the top edges of the cooled cake, allowing some to drip down. Fill in the top of the cake with more ganache and spread evenly with an offset spatula.***
- Top with decorative dollops of frosting (I used Ateco tip 847), whole strawberries, and a pearl border (using Wilton tip 12).
Notes
** The buttercream may look like it’s curdled at some point. Keep mixing until it is completely smooth. Some people have had issues with the frosting curdling once the strawberries are added — this is due to excess water in the berries. You can either strain your chopped berries or press them in a paper towel to remove excess water. Alternatively you can use strawberry jam instead of fresh strawberries.
*** You may have some ganache left over.
Pegah says
Hi Olivia
I made this cake for a birthday and it turned out amazing. Your cake is delicious and holds really well while assembling. Thanks for the recipe.
Olivia says
So happy to hear you liked it Pegah! 🙂
Diana Wardlaw says
Hi Olivia,
How much will I need to adjust the cake recipe to make a 3 layer with 8 in pans?
Olivia says
Hi Diana! I would 1.5x the recipe. Let me know how it turns out!
Lisa says
I mean in the white choc cake.
Lisa says
Hi Olivia
This cakes looks amazing and I was all set to make it for my nieces 13th birthday party …. but she doesn’t want chocolate (go figure). Is there an alternative for the cake part – white chocolate/vanilla?
Thank you
Lisa
Olivia says
Hi Lisa! You should check out my latest recipe, its for a strawberry cake that you could use with the strawberry frosting in this recipe if you prefer.
https://livforcake.com/strawberry-cake-mascarpone-buttercream/
As for white chocolate or vanilla, here are some ideas:
https://livforcake.com/white-chocolate-candy-cane-cake/
https://livforcake.com/vanilla-cake/
All of these recipes will work in three 6″ pans or two 8″ pans. The layers in the 8″ will be a little bit thinner though.
Let me know what you decide and how it turns out!
Lisa says
Awesome! They all look amazing and thanks for the fast reply (As I need to make this on Friday). I will ask her which flavour cake she would prefer – are all of them able to be tiered into 6 layers like the original chocolate recipe? I want to do that as it looks so effective and amazingly tall.
Thank you
Lisa
X
Lisa says
Ok, she’s gone for white choc so can I just leave out the peppermint essence? And is this recipe enough to make this same cake i.e 6 layers?
Thank you
Lisa
Lisa says
Also ….. last question I swear. How come there is no buttermilk in this cake when you seem to add it in most of your other cakes?
Lisa
Olivia says
You can use either, but I think I prefer the texture of the cakes with milk vs buttermilk. I also always have milk on hand and can’t always be bothered trying to make buttermilk for recipes 🙂
Olivia says
Yes to both!
Olivia says
Yes, if you make them in 6″ pans they will be thick enough to cut into 6 layers 🙂
Gabbie says
I did the whole cake with the help of my mother and I’m sorry but it actually turned out horrible. We had to make the frosting twice because it was so runny and we don’t even know what we did wrong. I havent got to taste it yet but it looks funny. The frosting wasn’t pipable at all either and just kinda fell apart. The butter we used definitely wasn’t too soft so it wasn’t that. We used the recipe exactly. I just hope it tastes good.
Olivia says
Hi Gabbie, I’m sorry you had trouble with this one. The frosting will be runny if your meringue doesn’t whip properly due to egg yolk or grease or if you add the butter while the meringue is still too warm. If it’s the latter it can be saved by popping the whole thing in the fridge for 20mins and whipping again.
Nakia Smith says
I just made this cake, it was an epic fail for me. I didn’t like the taste of the cake and the icing turned out to be more like butter, I don’t know what I did wrong, either I should have lowered the butter content and the strawberry puree. I am going to try again, but I am sad right now.
Olivia says
Noooo, I’m so sorry to hear that Nakia! Let me see if I can help. What didn’t you like about the flavour of the cake? You can try using hot water instead of coffee and decreasing salt to 1/2 tsp.
As for the buttercream — it is definitely more buttery than typical American buttercreams, but it should not taste like you’re eating a stick of butter. Was your meringue nice and stiff before you added the butter? If not, that’s likely the culprit. You can certainly decrease the butter amount too if you like, to 1 1/2 cups or even 1 cup, though then you’ll have less frosting to work with.
I hope the next attempt works out better for you. Let me know how it goes!
Elisa says
Hi,
I’m making the frosting nog but it totally curdled up…
I tried fixing it by adding:
– powder sugar
– yoghurt
– cream cheese
– cream
… it got better and tastes great…
But it doesn’t have the right consistenty
Please help x
Olivia says
Hi Elisa! I mention in the notes that the buttercream will look curdled at some point, so you just have to keep whipping it. I would not recommend adding any of those things as it won’t fix it. You just need to whip it until it reaches the right consistency.
Caroline says
I just made this cake for my mom’s birthday! She was very excited about the frosting and the coffee infused chocolate cake. It took me about 2 1/2 hours in total, and the cake turned out great! The chocolate cake has so much flavor and it was very moist. The frosting was a nice addition, however the consistency was a little bit off, even after passing the curdled stage. Overall I would defidently recommend this cake recipe, my family loved it and so did I.
Olivia says
Hi Caroline! So glad you guys liked it!! What was off with the consistency??
Paulina says
How big the baking pan must be??
Olivia says
Hi Paulina! You can make this cake in three 6″ pans or two 8″ pans.
Natalia says
Any strawberry filling that you will recommend to go in one of the layers ?
Olivia says
Hi Natalia! You could use a strawberry jam or compote as a filling.
Scal says
I’m sorry about your aunt.
I’m actually planning on baking this cake for a friend that is throwing herself a party after beating breast cancer. She requested a chocolate cake with pink strawberry frosting. Does this frosting come out a nice pink in real life? It looks pretty on my phone/but thought I would double check before making a big batch of frosting. Thanks!
Olivia says
Thank you <3 The frosting is a very very light pink after adding the strawberries. I added a bit of fuschia color gel to make it a bit bolder. Let me know how it turns out!
Signe Gro Jensen says
Hi Olivia
This cake looks amazing! Would you say that the cake would still be delicious if it is made 1 day in advance? I would like to do the cake for an upcoming party but for practical reasons it would be convenient to do the day before. Also, I find that some layered cakes almost becomes better from settling a little in the fridge before eating but 1 full day may be too much?
Thank you 🙂
Olivia says
Hi Signe! The cake will be totally fine after a day 🙂 Just make sure to refrigerate it and then bring it to room temperature before serving (which takes about 2-3 hours). Let me know how it goes!
Lisa says
Hi Oliva, This cake looks amazing. I’m going to make it for my son’s 21st birthday. Wish me luck. The combination of chocolate and strawberries will be so good. So sorry to hear about your aunt. well wishes to all.
Olivia says
Hi Lisa! Thank you for your kind words. Good luck and I hope you guys like this cake!!
Patricia says
Hi Olivia!
This cake looks absolutely beautiful! I’m looking at maybe making it for my boyfriend’s 21st birthday – do you think it would be able to be covered with a fondant or white buttercream so i could *hopefully* do some decorating? I’m not sure how much he’ll love the pink strawberry frosting 😂
Any suggestions/ help would be much appreciated – Thankyou ☺️
Olivia says
Hi Patricia! Yep, you could totally cover the cake in fondant or use a white buttercream instead. Just be sure to chill the cake so that the frosting is firm before covering with fondant. I hope that helps!
Patricia Fallon says
I ended up making it, as is and it turned out pretty well!!
Had a little bit of a scary moment with the buttercream, but managed to save it! It was so delicious, i’m not much of a cake girl, but I get cravings for this all the time – So i’m going to make it again on Friday for my 21st cake!! 😍
I added slices of fresh strawberries between the layers last time, and this was such a nice touch, the tartiness of the fresh strawberries went so well with the sweet and rich cake!!
Thankyou for such a good recipe!!
Olivia says
Yay! I’m so glad you liked it 🙂 I love the addition of the fresh strawberries between the layers, I’ll have to try that next time!
Tracy says
I have made this cake twice now, first time for valentine’s day and the second time for my daughter’s first birthday. It is so good! I love the icing so much better then regular buttercream. Thank you for a great recipe 🍰
Olivia says
Hi Tracy! I love meringue buttercreams. They are a bit more work, but I think worth the effort 🙂 I’m happy to hear you liked this one!
Kristin says
Hi! I noticed most of your recipes call for buttermilk. Can you replace that with whole milk or would it mess up the cake?
Olivia says
Hi Kristin! I haven’t tried using whole milk in place of buttermilk in my chocolate cake recipes, but I have in my white/vanilla cakes. For the white/vanilla ones it should work fine. I would stick with buttermilk for the chocolate ones since the baking soda needs the acid to activate properly. If you use regular cocoa instead of Dutch-processed (Dutch has has acid stripped from it) it might work ok with whole milk, but I can’t guarantee the results. Let me know if you try it!
DeeDee Bryans says
Gorgeous cake! Can’t wait to make this for my sisters birthday. Once again, I will need a larger cake. If I doubled this recipe, would you use 8 or 9 inch pans? I still want some height. Thinking 3-8″ ??? Thank you so much!
Olivia says
Hi DeeDee! Yep, double the recipe for three 8″ pans and you’ll be good. 9″ pans would yield thinner layers. Let me know how you like it! 🙂
DeeDee says
Thank so much!
DeeDee Bryans says
Yea! It turned out awesome! Even making a few adjustments due to our altitude couldn’t stop this cake from being a hit! It was a huge cake but you can never have too much cake! That’s 2 for2. They are officially in our favorites! Thanks Olivia!
Olivia says
Yay! So glad to hear it 😀 I can’t wait to hear what you try next!
Melissa says
Hi all the way from Australia. I stumbled across your blog, website & amazing cakes a few weeks ago & spent a good few hours drooling over the amazing looking cakes. I have chosen three of your cakes to make for my Grandmothers 80th birthday which is in a few weeks & I am trailing this particular cake today for Easter as desert tonight, can’t wait to put it all together. xx
Olivia says
Hi Melissa! I love Australia. My sister lives in Sydney so I visit as often as I can :). Which other ones are you planning to make?? Good luck, I hope you like them 🙂
Emma says
I’d love to make this but I need an 8 inch cake. How much batter do you think I’d need for a 4 layer 8 inch cake?
Olivia says
Hi Emma! Do you mean 4 layers after each layer has been cut in half or before? If you double the current recipe it will work for three 8″ cakes (to be cut into 6 layers total). Otherwise you can try using the recipe as is in two 8″ cake rounds and cut them into 4 layers. I hope that helps!
Emma says
It does, thank you so much! I’m excited to make it!
Olivia says
Let me know how you like it! 😀
Anna says
Hello,
How can I convert this to a 3 layer 8-9 inch cake?
It looks wonderfu!
Thank you
Olivia says
Hi Anna! If you double the recipe it will work as a 3-layer 8″ cake. It would also work as a 9″ but the layers would be a bit thinner. Let me know how you like it!
Ellen says
Hi Olivia – I’m in the middle of making this beautiful cake. I just made the frosting, which seems a little runny. I’ve put it in the refrigerator to thicken and harden. Or, should I be whipping it more until it thickens enough to frost?
Thanks for your help!
Ellen
P.S. I think I also used a little more of the strawberry puree than called for so that might be the problem.
Olivia says
Hi Ellen! Hmm, it should not be runny :\ Sometimes it curdles once adding the butter but you just need to keep whipping it at that point. Was the meringue quite stiff before you added the butter? If so then it could be the extra puree. You could try to keep whipping it (maybe for 5 mins) but if it’s still runny then sticking it in the fridge should help! You may want to rewhip it a bit once you take it out. Let me know how it goes!
Ellen says
Thanks so much for your quick reply! Yes, the meringue was quite stiff when I added the butter, which was very, very soft. It got firm enough for me to frost the cake but was softening quickly while I was working with it. It’s back in the frig now. I’m hoping that it’ll harden again. Now I’m debating about whether or not to add the ganache. I’m afraid that the frosting won’t hold up against it.
Ellen
Olivia says
Ahh it sounds like maybe the butter was a bit too soft when you added it in. Regarding the ganache, I would chill the frosted cake for 30mins or so before adding the ganache — I do that anyhow, it helps the ganache set. The frosting should be pretty firm at that point. 😊
Ellen Wu says
Thanks Olivia! It’s definitely likely that the butter was too soft. Sadly, I didn’t have time to chill the cake and make the ganache before I had to head off for the party. But, my friend made roses from strawberries which we used to decorate the cake. It was beautiful and everyone loved the cake! (It was for my boyfriend’s niece’s 18th birthday.)
Thanks again for all of the help!
Ellen
Olivia says
No problem! Glad it still tasted delicious 🙂