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Strawberry Shortcake Sheet Cake. Sweet, simple, and delicious, this strawberry cake will quickly become a favorite. Light and fluffy strawberry cake with both strawberry jam and dried strawberries for double the strawberry flavor. The light pink berry-filled cake is generously frosted with a sweet cream cheese strawberry frosting. Then dusted with strawberry “crunch” crumbs, made with brown rice crisp cereal. This cake is nothing short of delicious. Layered with fresh berries, sweet vanilla cake, and the yummiest crunch topping, this is the perfect berry-filled cake for any and all occasions.
Cake for the weekend! Isn’t this a delicious and fun cake? Now that we’re well into the month of April, I’ve already started thinking about Mother’s Day recipes and even a few early summer recipes too. I think everyone is certainly excited for warmer days. You can never plan too early for Mother’s Day!
Ingredients
- Freeze dried strawberries
- Melted coconut oil
- Plain greek yogurt or sour cream
- Large eggs
- Granulated sugar
- High-quality strawberry jam
- Vanilla extract
- All purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Milk
Frosting
- Cream cheese
- Salted butter
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Warm milk
- Strawberry jam
- Brown rice crispies
The funny thing is that my mom would not choose this cake. If she eats dessert, it’s certainly going to be chocolate. However, she can appreciate the beauty of a well-made strawberry cake. When I showed her this recipe, she said right away, “Oh, that will be a great Mother’s Day cake!”
This cake was inspired by one of my favorite childhood snack bar sweets: strawberry shortcake ice cream bars.
A few summers ago, I recreated that strawberry shortcake ice cream bar. Now, we have the strawberry shortcake sheet cake with the same delicious crunchy strawberry topping.
Here are the details
Step 1: crush the dried strawberries
I ended up using a combination of strawberry jam and freeze-dried strawberries to create the perfect cake. The first step is to blend the dried strawberries into a fine powder. You can do this in a food processor or a blender. You’ll use the strawberry powder for both the cake and the frosting.
Step 2: make the cake batter
To make the batter, mix the wet with the dry. I love using coconut, yogurt, eggs, and sugar to sweeten.
Now, mix in high-quality strawberry jam. The jam has real chunks of strawberries and adds most of the sweet berry flavor. Using jam gives the most concentrated delicious strawberry flavor. Plus, store-bought jam is easy – almost no prep work is involved.
Next, add in all the dry ingredients…the flour, strawberry powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Then bake!
Step 3: the frosting
You’ll need cream cheese, butter, sugar, and a splash of both vanilla and milk. Beat everything together, and you’ll have one of my favorite cake frostings.
Of course, the splash of vanilla and use of cream cheese makes this frosting truly delicious.
Step 4: the strawberry “cookie” crumbs
Once you’ve frosted the cake, smash the brown rice crisp cereal into crumbs and mix it with the remaining crushed strawberries. Sprinkle the strawberry “cookie” crumbs all over the top of the cake!
It’s so fun and certainly turns out pretty too. You can decorate with fresh berries or edible flowers! I especially love using micro mums!
Looking for other spring strawberry recipes? Here are some favorites:
Homemade Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Bars
Strawberry Chamomile Naked Cake
Lemon Strawberry Dutch Baby with Ricotta Cream
Lastly, if you make this Strawberry Shortcake Sheet Cake, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Strawberry Shortcake Sheet Cake
Servings: 18
Calories Per Serving: 373 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 cups freeze dried strawberries
- 1 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt or sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup high-quality strawberry jam
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup milk
Frosting
- 6 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- 2 sticks salted butter at room temperature
- 2 1/2-3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup warm milk
- 1/3 cup strawberry jam
- 1 cup brown rice crispies
Instructions
- 1. In a blender or food processor, process 3 cups freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder.2. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with parchment paper.3. In a large bowl, beat together the coconut oil, yogurt, eggs, sugar, strawberry jam, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add about 2/3 of the strawberry powder (save the remainder for the frosting). Mix until just combined, then slowly beat in the milk until fully combined.4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top is just set and no longer wiggly in the center. Remove and let cool.5. To make the frosting: In a stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese until whipped. Add the butter and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, then slowly stream in the milk until your desired consistency is reached, you may not use it all.6. Frost the cake all over. Swirl the jam into the frosting, not fully mixing it in. Add the rice crispies to a blender or ziplock bag. Crush into fine crumbs, then mix in the remaining strawberry powder (about 3 tablespoons). Sprinkle the crumbs over the cake. Slice, eat and enjoy!
This post was originally published on April 12, 2024
Used Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour to try and make a dessert one of my coworkers can eat. The cake came out really dense, more like a bread. Do you think the flour could have done that? Or something else? I read some comments saying the coconut oil was a bit heavy and could cause the cake to be dense. Guess I’ll have to try again another time. This cake is too dense to share haha.
Hi Liz! Yes, the GF flour definitely could’ve made the difference in making the bread a little more dense! Thanks for trying out the recipe! xT
Does this hold up if made the day before? Or is it a make and eat right away thing?
Hey Patti,
You could definitely make this the day before. I think I would wait to add the frosting and rice crispies until the day you want to serve. I hope this helps! xx
Hi Tieghan! My daughter asked for a strawberry cake for her birthday so I’m thinking I’ll make this! I’m wondering though if this would be about the right amount of batter if I did 2 8” round cake pans instead of a 9×13 for a more classic birthday cake? Should I adjust the bake time?
Hi Shelby,
So sorry, I would not recommend making this as a layer cake, the icing is just too soft for that. You might like these options instead:
https://fett-weg.today/raspberry-white-chocolate-layer-cake/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> https://fett-weg.today/strawberry-coconut-carrot-cake-with-mascarpone-buttercream/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> https://fett-weg.today/strawberry-chamomile-naked-cake/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> Happy Birthday to your daughter! xx
I’m dying to make this and I know a lot of bakers say the cake some out pretty dense. Do you think if I used cake flour instead of regular flour, it could help with that? Thanks for any advice!
Hi Amber,
Sure, I haven’t tried that, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for you! I hope you love this recipe, let me know how it turns out for you! xx