Aunt Kate's Strawberry Cake

I had fun playing with this, seeing if I could improve upon some issues of concern. First, I thought it unusual that baking soda was in the ingredients list, but not baking powder, especially since there wasn’t anything particularly acidic in the ingredients like lemon juice or buttermilk that would necessitate that. I also noticed the flour to sugar ratio was off, with not enough sugar. The submitter herself states the cake is not very sweet. And, while there aren’t many reviews of Aunt Kate’s cake, even some mentioned it was heavy and dense. Since the submitter also mentioned the cake was from the early 1900’s, I thought maybe baking powder wasn’t on the market yet. Nope, it was introduced in the mid 1800s. Still, I thought some baking powder was needed to give the cake some lift, making it lighter and fluffier. Knowing baking soda is four times as powerful as baking powder, I used 1/4 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. of baking powder and just 1/4 tsp. salt. One cup of strawberries seemed a lot to me for this little cake, which I thought might be “dragging” the cake down – I reduced it from 1 c. to 3/4 c. and added 1/2 tsp. of natural strawberry extract to compensate. Finally, I wanted the cake a little sweeter so I added 2 T. more sugar. I baked this as cupcakes and the changes did prove to result in a light and fluffy, nicely sweet cake. This is just slightly strawberry flavored, but once covered with the frosting (I added 1/2 tsp. strawberry extract) it was just right.

This was really good!! My 3-year old ate every bite. I found my cake took 35 minutes to cook through (I used a 9" round cake pan). Had to add the photo, it's a real showstopper! Thanks for sharing!

My son wanted a Neapolitan cake for his birthday. I used this for the strawberry layer. I didn't make the frosting. This cake has great flavor, the strawberry flavor was perfect. It was actually really good. I did sub butter for the shortening. My only complaint is that it was a little dense and just a tad bit dry. Will definitely be making this again. I love that you use real strawberries and the cake is made from scratch. Thanks for the recipe!

"Grease a cake pan." What size cake pan? Judging from the amount of flour, I surmised an 8"-9" round pan, or an 8"X8" square. I backed the soda off to 1/4 tsp and added a tsp of baking powder, since the consensus appeared to be that the cake as written was dense and muffin-like. Also added a bit more sugar (3 Tb,) since many have stated the cake is not sweet enough. 25 minutes was about perfect. I added half of a block of cream cheese to the frosting, and it was delicious. The cake itself doesn't have a lot of strawberry flavor, but when the strawberries are pureed and added to the frosting, that revs up the flavor significantly. Pureeing gave the frosting a consistent, non-chunky pinkness. All in all, as written, the recipe has flaws, hence the 3 stars. But, happily, it was salvageable after the changes delineated above. With those modifications, it's pretty good, 4-1/2 stars.

I made this for my dad's birthday. He is always crazy about strawberry cake, and I wanted to find the perfect recipe. This is it. BUT, it does need some modifications. Here is what I changed: 1) I used 1 1/2 cup sugar instead of just 1 cup. 2) Since I modified the sugar amount, I had to use a little extra shortening. (about 1/4 cup extra). 3) I ran my strawberries through the food processor. That really did the trick. You can save some of your strawberries to slice and place on the top of the frosted cake. 4) I used about 3/4 teaspoon baking soda instead of a half teaspoon. 5) There was too much flour. I used about 1 1/2 cup altogether. 6) This fit nicely in a 9x13 pan. 7) This cake is VERY heavy and moist, but that's how we like it. 8) FOR THE FROSTING: I added 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and replaced the butter with shortening. With these modifications (yes, there is a lot of them) this cake was a hit, and just what I was looking for. Don't succumb to using a cake mix!!!

I can't wait to make this cake again! I wasn't able to frost it b/c it was too moist & fell apart. That was my fault, though. I only had one egg so substituted strawberry applesauce for the other egg. I also think I put in too many strawberries! Honestly though, the taste was still fanstastic & can't wait to try it w/frosting. Thanks for this recipe!! :)

I made this following the recipe exactly except, after reading the reviews, I added one teaspoon of baking powder to give it a little lift. It is true that this is a rather dense cake, and it is not very sweet...however, I was expecting this and found it to be a good thing. I would eat the cake on its own, truth be told, but I went ahead and made the frosting. Now THAT is sweet!!! The cake and frosting complement each other beautifully, although I could actually do with a little less frosting (that is just me though). Overall, I really enjoyed this- different than the chocolate and vanilla cakes I normally make, and a great way to enjoy fresh, ripe strawberries :)

I doubled the recipe to make a 9x13 cake, and it's just too dense & not sweet enough for cake. This would make a great strawberry muffin recipe, though. Sorry, it just wasn't a hit in my house.

This is a very heavy cake. It is really thick, so if you crave a light, fluffy cake, this is not the one. The cake itself is not very sweet. The frosting, however, is TDF! It is sweet and a perfect pairing with the cake. I doubled this and stacked the heavy layers. The icing was running over it and it looked as great as it tasted.

This was delicious! However, I would double it and make two round cake pans, this didn't indicate what type of cake pan to use, it only makes one round fyi!

This recipe as written was just ok to me. The flavor was decent, but it was too dense for my liking.

This cake was delicious! I was just looking for an easy strawberry cake to make for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. It was only going to be eaten by our little family. So, I wasn’t looking for anything fancy. I used mostly frozen strawberries (pulsed them in the blender) and just added a few fresh because I wanted to save them for the top. That was the only thing I didn’t follow in the recipe for the cake, though. I made a simple cream cheese frosting. I was beyond impressed when I tasted it. So moist and flavorful. I will definitely make this again.

Very quick to make. And tastes delicious :)

didn't like, to thick, icing was to runny..can't see making this again.

Thank you for the delicious recipe! I was going to add baking powder as other reviewers suggested, then found that I didn't have any left. It came out perfect as is, though. I did let the strawberries and baking soda sit for a couple of minutes to allow the reaction to start... maybe the other reviewers who had a heavy cake forgot this step?

This sounded so good, but I made it and it was very heavy and dry. The cake did not rise. I went exactly by the recipe.

These ended up being pretty tasty, but they were dense and a bit dry. I did add a little baking powder as was recommended by several other reviewers. There isn't too much strawberry flavor until you add the icing and then the flavor really shines! All-in-all, I would make these again!

Almost stayed true to the ingredients but I used butter (lightly melted). I prepped it way differently than what was directed only because I wanted to bake for 3 so I used 3 ramekins. I decided to use my small food processor starting with chopped strawberries with sugar and pulsed it 4-5 times, following butter, vanilla, eggs, pulsed then added the rest until combined. Baked it for 20 minutes or less. It came out cakey and not densed like others mentioned. Definitely better than the jello powder mix.

My mom loves strawberry cake, but can’t have it too sweet or she doesn’t finish her plate. She had three helpings! I’ve never seen this before. It was amazing!

This cake was a hit with my family! Just like the other reviewers have noted...it is not a light fluffy cake. So don't freak out if it doesn't rise alot. I used my 9 inch round springform cake pan and the cake was about 1 inch high. so if you want to layer this cake, just make 2 of them. This is a dense, moist, yummy old-fashioned piece of heaven topped with the most awesome tasting frosting! I will for sure keep this recipe and make it again! Thanks for sharing it!

Way too heavy for my liking, but tasted good. Fantastic frosting.

Good recipe. I added 1/4 tsp baking powder and used cake flour instead of all purpose to try and lighten up the cake. It still turned out pretty dense but it wasn't super dense like some other butter-based cakes I've made (and I used butter instead of shortening). For the frosting I let the mashed berries sit in a strainer while I baked the cake to remove most of the liquid. This really helped improve the texture of the frosting. Not runny at all. Overall it turned out great. My 3-year-old loved it.

the cake has a very subtle flavour and came out dense even though i added 1 tsp of baking powder. I also substituted the shortening for butter and didnt have any strawberries left for the frosting. on the whole a nice change from the usual chocolate or artificial flavours. I'll try again with some changes to make it fluffier next time.

I've made this cake many times. I love this recipe - it's easy, moist and tastes good.

I've made this cake many times. I love this recipe - it's easy, moist and tastes good.

Found cake to be dry. Frosting was also gummy. Won't make again.

to dry and didn't have a strawberry taste.

I agree with most reviews I read, that this cake is not really like a cake. Its very dense and much more like a banana cake/bread or a muffin. Also, the frosting is SUPER sweet. I had to add 4 oz of cream cheese just to make it palatable. One of my kids liked it, but the other hated it.

Delicious as is. Firm enough to cut up and move around. Very strawberry-y. Made day before and stored in fridge.

This cake was SUPER moist and delicious. I wanted a strawberry cake that used real strawberries and not a Jello mix, and this recipe fits the bill and is really tasty. I agree with the writer of this recipe: the balance of cake and frosting is perfect!

Dry and dense, even with 1tsp b powder - we did not care for the cake portion at all. The frosting is nice and once added to the cupcakes, made them edible, but I would definitely not make this cake again.

I didn't add anything to the recipe, because all the complaints were that it was too dense and that didn't bother me. It is very bread-like, but the flavor was quite good. Not super strong flavors, which to me is a positive since you can add frosting without making it too sweet. The one thing about the cake itself is that it has a bit of a weird color. You might be able to add food coloring to help, but I haven't tried so no idea. The frosting was ok, but not great. As a filling, I used the extra mashed strawberries I had and cooked them with some cornstarch. I felt like this gave a more strawberry flavor to the overall cake.

Perfect! I made it a layer cake with a layer of icing in between as well as on the top. My family loved it! Big hit! The strawberries make the icing a natural pink. No food coloring needed! But I did add food coloring to the batter to give it more of a pink color. About 8 drops of red should do it!