Pink Strawberry Lemonade Cake (Printer version)

Moist layer cake with fresh strawberries, tangy lemon, and pink frosting for festive occasions.

# What You'll Need:

→ Cake

01 - 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
02 - 2 teaspoons baking powder
03 - 0.5 teaspoon baking soda
04 - 0.5 teaspoon fine salt
05 - 1.25 cups granulated sugar
06 - 0.5 cup unsalted butter, softened
07 - 0.5 cup vegetable oil
08 - 4 large eggs, room temperature
09 - 0.5 cup buttermilk, room temperature
10 - 0.5 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
11 - 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
12 - 0.5 cup strawberry purée
13 - Pink or red food coloring, optional

→ Strawberry Lemonade Frosting

14 - 0.75 cup unsalted butter, softened
15 - 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
16 - 0.33 cup strawberry purée
17 - 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
18 - 1 teaspoon lemon zest
19 - Pinch of salt
20 - Pink food coloring, optional

→ Decoration

21 - Fresh strawberries, sliced
22 - Lemon slices or zest
23 - Edible flowers or sprinkles

# Directions:

01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line two 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
02 - In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
03 - In a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together sugar, butter, and oil until light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.
04 - Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
05 - Mix in buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon zest until combined.
06 - Gently fold in strawberry purée. Add food coloring drops for enhanced pink hue if desired.
07 - Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in two batches, mixing just until combined. Avoid overmixing.
08 - Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and smooth the tops.
09 - Bake for 28 to 32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
10 - Let cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
11 - Beat butter until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, strawberry purée, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt. Beat until fluffy and tint with pink food coloring if desired.
12 - Place one cooled cake layer on serving plate. Spread generous frosting layer on top. Add second cake layer and frost top and sides.
13 - Decorate with fresh strawberries, lemon slices, and sprinkles as desired.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • The pink frosting looks absolutely stunning but requires no complicated techniques, just confidence and a good offset spatula.
  • Real strawberry and lemon flavors shine through without tasting overly sweet or artificial, which honestly surprises people every single time.
  • It's forgiving enough for a baker still figuring things out, yet impressive enough to make you feel like you've done something genuinely difficult.
02 -
  • Room temperature ingredients are not optional; they mix together smoothly and incorporate air properly, which directly affects how tender your finished cake turns out.
  • The moment your frosting breaks or looks grainy is usually because the butter wasn't quite soft enough or you added something too cold, so if this happens, let it sit for a few minutes then try again.
  • Overmixing the batter after adding dry ingredients is the number one reason cakes become dense instead of tender, so mix just until you don't see streaks of flour anymore.
03 -
  • Measure your lemon juice and use fresh-squeezed whenever possible because bottled tastes flat and won't give you that bright pop that makes people ask what you did differently.
  • If your frosting looks slightly curdled after adding the strawberry purée, it just means the temperature contrast was too extreme; let it sit for a few minutes then beat it again until it comes together.
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