Soft, tender, strawberry cake - layered between creamy coconut cream cheese frosting. Topped with shredded coconut and fresh strawberries - this Strawberry Coconut Cake is a beautiful celebration dessert. We have all of the tips and tricks to make this cake perfection.
Why This Recipe Works
For some reason, coconut has been associated with Easter. Does anybody know why? I'm dying to know. Is it because of those super rad coconut Easter bunny cakes my mom used to make? The egg nests? This strawberry coconut cake is comes together easily and produces a fluffy, moist cake. The flavors blend together flawlessly leaving you wanting more and more and more. This strawberry cake is very soft with a large crumb. It seriously melts in your mouth. It carries a sweet, strawberry taste that goes perfectly with the coconut frosting.
About The Ingredients
Baking is a science - while cooking allows some wiggle room. So when it comes to cake making - follow the recipe exactly as directed. You'll end up with the BEST homemade strawberry cake you've ever tasted!
The Cake
- Fresh Strawberries - Use ripe, fresh berries. We are flavoring our cake with these, so make sure they are juicy and flavorful. Strawberries are in season from March-June.
- Freeze Dried Strawberries - This will add a little strawberry umph to the flavor of the cake. Find these near the raisins or dried fruit.
- Buttermilk - this will make your cake super moist and delicious. In a pinch you can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon lemon juice to 2 cups of milk.
A complete list of ingredients can be located in the recipe card below.
Pro Tip - Freeze dried strawberries are readily available at groceries stores. They are found near the raisins and other dried fruit.
The Frosting
- Cream cheese - I like to use the name brand cream cheese. I find it smoother than the store brand.
- Butter - use salted butter for this frosting. It enhances the flavors.
- Coconut extract - this is the magic. Use a quality extract so that you really get that coconut flavor in the frosting.
A complete list of ingredients can be located in the recipe card below.
How To Make Strawberry Coconut Cake
Preparation: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Prep your cake pans. This is a 3 layer cake - so you'll need 3 - 9" cake pans. You can grease and flour your pans, or you can use a non-stick spray specifically for baking.
Step 1: Prepare the strawberry mixture by combining buttermilk, fresh strawberries, and freeze-dried strawberries in a blender.
Step 2: Blend until smooth.
Step 3: For this recipe you need egg whites. So separate your eggs and discard the yolks. Allow the whites to sit at room temp for about 30 minutes.
Pro Tip - How To Separate Eggs: After cracking your egg, open the egg over a bowl. Let the yolk settle in one half of the shell, Carefully pour the yolk back and forth into the other half of the shell, letting the white drip into your bowl. Repeat this until all of the white is removed from the shell. Pour the yolk into a separate bowl.
Step 4: In a medium sized bowl - combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine. Adding salt when baking activates the baking soda. So don't skip the salt!
Step 5: Whip butter using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer for 30 seconds.
Step 6: Add sugar and beat until combined.
Step 7: Stir in vanilla.
Step 8: Add room temperature egg whites.
Step 9: Beat for 3 minutes. You'll have a pale, light batter.
Step 10: Add ⅓ of the strawberry mixture. Add ⅓ of the flour mixture. Beat just until combined. Repeat until you have used the remaining flour and strawberry mixture.
Step 11: Divide the batter between your 3 prepared cake pans. Give them a little shake to even the batter. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Step 12: Let cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes, and then turn over onto a cooling rack and let cook completely.
Pro Tip: You don't want to over-mix the flour, which makes a tough cake.
Step 13: Whip butter and cream cheese together using your paddle attachment of your stand mixer.
Step 14: Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and coconut extract.
Step 15: Beat until smooth.
Step 16: Add about a tablespoon of frosting to your cake plate. This will function as glue and keep the cake from slipping around on the plate.
Step 17: Add one cake round. Smooth a thick layer of frosting on top. Add your second cake and add frosting. Repeat with the 3rd layer.
Step 18: Smooth frosting over the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle the top with shredded coconut and press coconut into the sides of the cake. Top with fresh strawberries. Perfection.
Strawberry Coconut Cake FAQ
This cake can be stored covered at room temperature for 2-3 days, or covered in the fridge for 3-5 days.
Yes, you can omit the extract from the frosting and replaced it with an equal amount of vanilla extract. You can also omit the frosting from the garnish.
Fill your hand with coconut flakes and pat it against the sides. The flakes will adhere to the frosting.
Other Recipes You May Enjoy
If you like this cake, you may also enjoy:
- The Best Carrot Cake - this cake is simple, moist, and the best carrot cake you will ever taste.
- The Ultimate White Cake - looking for an all occasion cake? This white cake is perfection.
- Coconut Pound Cake - this is the best coconut cake recipe. Perfectly moist and tender.
Strawberry Coconut Cake
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
Strawberry Cake
- 2 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 1 cup fresh strawberries rinsed and hulled
- 2 ounces freeze-dried strawberries
- 6 egg whites
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup butter softened
- 2 ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2-3 drop pink food coloring optional
Coconut Cream Cheese Icing
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 32 ounces powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- 2-3 cup coconut flakes for garnish
- fresh strawberries for garnish
Instructions
Cake
- Preparation: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Prep your cake pans. This is a 3 layer cake - so you'll need 3 - 9" cake pans. You can grease and flour your pans, or you can use a non-stick spray specifically for baking.
- Prepare the strawberry mixture by combining buttermilk, fresh strawberries, and freeze-dried strawberries in a blender.
- Blend until smooth. Set aside.
- For this recipe you need egg whites. So separate your eggs and discard the yolks. Allow the whites to sit at room temp for about 30 minutes. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl - combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir to combine. Adding salt when baking activates the baking soda. So don't skip the salt! Set aside.
- Whip butter using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer for 30 seconds.
- Add sugar and beat until combined.
- Stir in vanilla.
- Add room temperature egg whites. Beat for 3 minutes. You'll have a pale, light batter.
- Add ⅓ of the blended strawberry mixture. Add ⅓ of the flour mixture. Beat just until combined. Repeat until you have used the remaining flour and strawberry mixture.
- Divide the batter between your 3 prepared cake pans. Give them a little shake to even the batter. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes, and then turn over onto a cooling rack and let cook completely.
Frosting
- Whip butter and cream cheese together using your paddle attachment of your stand mixer.
- Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and coconut extract.
- Beat until smooth.
- Add about a tablespoon of frosting to your cake plate. This will function as glue and keep the cake from slipping around on the plate.
- Add one cake round. Smooth a thick layer of frosting on top. Add your second cake and add frosting. Repeat with the 3rd layer.
- Smooth frosting over the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle the top with shredded coconut and press coconut into the sides of the cake. Top with fresh strawberries. Perfection.
Mun says
Hello,
Can I use fresh stawberries instead of freeze dried stawberries?
Kadee says
The fresh will make the batter have more liquid, so I wouldn’t recommend subbing fresh in this recipe. I would garnish with fresh, but use the freeze dried in the batter.
Donna Rubinstein-Oliver says
EXCELLENT Cake !! Turned out great ; everyone loved it .
Thank You .
Nuala says
Called for baking powder in recipe but you didn’t mention when to add it. Also the same with salt in the icing ingredients. Someone following this recipe to a T would easily forget to add it in. I did add them butI have not tasted it I hope it tastes OK
Kadee says
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I'll adjust the recipe card.
Jay says
Made this cake for my wife’s birthday.. amazing! I was a bit short on freeze dryer strawberries only had one pouch of 2 oZ so I added a few more fresh.. I also added a good squirt of hot pink food coloring I had from a different strawberry cake.. this one turned out better and had more strawberry flavor.
Tori says
The directions on the bottom are incredibly wrong and out of order. Our cake totally failed! Lucky, we had a back up cake that we were forced to use.
Kadee says
Hi Tori, I'm so sorry your cake failed. This is an old recipe, and our site has gone thru many changes since this recipe was created. I've edited the card to reflect the correct instructions. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Gina says
I really wanted to love this recipe but the cake tasted like playdough. I ended up throwing the entire thing away.
Maria says
I made this for daughter’s birthday. Everyone loved it!
Jerri Hatch says
I made this yesterday for my husbands birthday. Couple of things to note. Firstly the layers do not seem to rise like typical cake layers so don’t be alarmed. Second CUT THE SUGAR! I used a little less than 2 cups for the cake and about 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar for the icing ...and I made extra icing. This is cake is moist and super delicious, worth the effort and every calorie. You won’t miss all that added sugar I promise. I almost think the amount of powdered sugar it calls for must be a typo. I wish I could attach a photo of my cake!
Piper says
Forgot to put the rating in my other comment! 5 stars for sure!!
PiPer says
Delicious! Just made this & it was delightful! The strawberry flavor works great with the coconut. I added a little less powdered sugar in the frosting - I only did around 5 cups instead of the 32oz (7.89 cups) because I thought it was sweet enough. I also only had 3 oz of freeze dried strawberries (2 packages) so I compensated with a few extra fresh strawberries & it worked perfect! I only had 8in cake pans, so I used those, and they turned out totally fine. Finally, I leveled the cakes before stacking them so they’d be easier to frost. Overall, great recipe & my family loved it!!!
Sheila says
I made this last night and it is SO GOOD! It's super moist and has great fresh strawberry flavor. The coconut frosting is perfect with the cake. My teens don't like strawberries but they loved this cake and my husband said it's his new favorite. I will definitely make this again and again!
Grant D. says
I can't get over how good this cake looks.
Mariaelena says
This looks delicious! I love coconut! And I Love the pretty pink color!
Michelle R says
This looks heavenly! Going to try it out!