French Strawberry Cake
Soft as a cloud and studded with fresh berries, this French Strawberry Cake deserves a spot at your dessert table. With a moist custard center and a crackled sugary top, this rustic cake is a must-make for strawberry season.
When I die, I hope it’s in the morning so I don’t go to work for no reason. Words of wisdom from a friend who works in a toilet paper factory, but as soon as she said them, I thought: Same, girl, same. And while my employer doesn’t produce anything flushable, the fruits of my labor are often swirling in a metaphorical toilet. Lately, it’s been a steady stream of one project after another going down the drain, so if I’m going to kick the bucket, please, Lord, let it be before my shift starts.
Don’t get me wrong, I still like paydays, lunchbreaks and leaving but at the end of the day (and the start of the day and the middle of the day and every minute in between) work keeps getting in the way of me living my best life. And it’s giving me anger issues. Apparently, my rage sighing has not gone unnoticed because HR enrolled me in a training session for Workplace Violence. I’m not sure if they’re trying to cure me of my tendencies or teach me a few new tips, but I’m holding out hope for the fun one.
Frankly, I’d be a much calmer person from 9 to 5 if we were fully staffed. But until pigs fly and we are, I spend my off-hours practicing self-coping mechanisms like creaming, mixing, folding and frosting. Basically, anything and everything to do with baking. Making cakes is controlled and predictable, which works better than a bottle of Xanax at keeping me calm. Basically, scratch-made cake is the only thing standing between me and a life sentence in prison. And let me just take a moment to be thankful that I’m not locked away because it would be criminal to keep me from French Strawberry Cake.
What is French Strawberry Cake? It’s a tasty berry twist on French Apple Cake. Famous for its simplicity and texture, this strawberry dessert is part-custard / part-cake and completely something you’ll fall in love with from the first dreamy bite. It’s the kind of cake that keeps you coming back for more–and keeps you employed because you’re going to want a steady income to stock up on ingredients and make this on repeat.
Before sharing the French Strawberry Cake recipe, here are a few baking tips to help you out:
Cake Ingredient Tips
Fresh strawberries are a must for this recipe, be sure to wash and thoroughly pat dry with a paper towel before adding to the batter. Any excess moisture will give the cake a wet consistency, which is why frozen strawberries are not recommended.
Use full-fat sour cream for this recipe for flavor and moisture. Plain Greek Yogurt can be used as a substitute for sour cream.
Cake Preparation Tips
If you do not have a 9-inch springform pan, this cake can be baked in a 9-inch metal baking pan or a 9-inch cast iron pan. Avoid glass baking pans since glass tends to bake unevenly.
This recipe works great with fruits other than strawberries so feel free to substitute raspberries, blueberries or even apples and peaches.
How to Store French Strawberry Cake
This strawberry cake tastes best the day it is made but leftovers can be covered and stored at room temperature for 1 day or refrigerated up to 3 days.
I hope you enjoy this recipe for French Strawberry Cake. Please leave a rating and review below once you try it out! And, while you’re at it, sign up for my Recipe Newsletter so you never miss a tempting recipe.
Finally, if you like baking with strawberries then you’ll love this recipe for Strawberry Banana Bread. Packed with mashed bananas and roasted strawberries, this loaf gets a piping of pink frosting for an extra punch of strawberry flavor.
French Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour unbleached
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt fine
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup full fat sour cream room temperature
- 16 ounces fresh strawberries hull, slice and pat dry with a paper towel
- 1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside
- Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Whisk to combine then set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until incorporated.
- Beat in vanilla.
- Reduce mixer speed to low then add 1/2 cup of flour mixture. Beat until combined.
- Add sour cream and continue beating on low until incorporated.
- Add remaining flour, beating on low until just combined. Avoid overmixing or cake will be dry.
- Using a rubber spatula, gently fold 1 1/2 cups of sliced strawberries into the batter.
- Spread cake batter into greased springform pan then smooth top with a spatula.
- Arrange remaining sliced strawberries onto top of batter.
- Sprinkle cake batter with 1 1/2 Tablespoons of granulated sugar.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Avoid overbaking.
- Place pan on a baking rack and allow cake to cool completely.
- To remove springform pan ring, wet a butter knife with hot water then carefully glide it around the outer side of the cake to separate it from the pan. Next, unlatch springform pan and remove the rim.
- Slice and serve cake.
- Cake is best the day it is made but it can be loosely covered and stored at room temperature for 1 day or refrigerated up to 3 days.
I only had raspberries in the refrigerator but they worked great in this recipe! Can’t wait to try it with strawberries next.
Hi Debby, I like how you improvised with raspberries! Thanks for dropping a note to help out other bakers.
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