Strawberry Breakfast Cake

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Strawberry Breakfast Cake with fresh strawberries tucked in a moist sour cream batter.

Not overly sweet, our Strawberry Breakfast Cake is terrific served for breakfast, brunch or as a light dessert.

Breakfast cakes are seriously growing in popularity, and for good reason. Treats like this strawberry breakfast cake is a great way to showcase seasonally fresh fruits in a simple and delicious all-purpose cake. We’ve shared many breakfast cakes over the past few years, and all have been a big hit with our family and yours. This strawberry breakfast cake is one of our favorites.

Our Raspberry Ricotta Breakfast Cake is made with frozen berries, making it a good choice all year round. The ricotta gives it a wonderful texture and moist crumb and the tart raspberries really pop.

One of the most popular recipes on SRFD is our Blueberry Breakfast Cake. It’s a luscious cake bursting with juicy ripe blueberries and a hint of lemon. Another popular favorite is our Lemon Crumble Breakfast Cake with plenty of lemon flavor and a sweet crumble top. For the holidays we love to share this Cranberry Almond Breakfast Cake made with almond paste and almond extract, so delightful!

Our Strawberry Breakfast Cake is made easily by hand, no mixer required.

For this recipe you’ll need:

• all-purpose flour
• baking powder
• baking soda
• salt
• granulated sugar
• sour cream
• vanilla
• butter
• eggs
• strawberries
• coarse sugar for topping

How to make strawberry breakfast cake:

First, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Next, in a separate bowl combine the sour cream, vanilla, melted butter and eggs. Fold the two batters together, then gently add the strawberries. Top the cake with additional sliced strawberries and an extra helping of coarse sugar. Bake and serve!

The cake batter is nice and thick to hold up all the juicy fruit but it’s not dense or dry once baked. Toss the chopped strawberries in a portion of the flour to help them stay in place in the batter.

As with most fruit-centric recipes, the better the fruit, the better the end result.

Use firm, ripe strawberries in this breakfast cake for best results. I picked these from our favorite local farm on a nice rainy day. I’m going to miss strawberry season!

Tips for picking the best strawberries:

• Look for strawberries with light colored seeds. If the seeds on the outside are dark brown and dried up, the strawberry probably is too.
• Buy local strawberries if at all possible. Less time traveling to your kitchen will yield fresher strawberries, thus better flavor. If you’re buying strawberries from another country they may have been picked before they were fully ripe so they’ll survive the long distance commute.
• Look for strawberries that are red all the way to the top. If the top is white, the middle of the strawberry will be too. White strawberry tops yield less flavor.
• Visit your local farmers market during peak season for the best strawberries.
• Finally, if you can pick your own strawberries at a local farm – go for it!

Feel free to bake this cake in a round cake pan, square or spring-form pan.

Watch the baking time if using a dark colored or glass baker. If you want to dress it up a bit, add a dollop of sweet whipped cream and sliced berries on top. That would be a nice play on strawberry shortcake, yum!

We add a little sprinkle of coarse sugar on top for a nice sweet crust. Refrigerate leftovers if you have any and enjoy!

Can you freeze Strawberry Breakfast Cake?

Absolutely, yes! Seal in an airtight container and thaw overnight in the refrigerator. However, you won’t get the little crispy top that comes with a fresh baked cake, but it’s still terrific. This breakfast cake also travels well making it great for gifting.

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4.75 from 4 votes

Strawberry Breakfast Cake

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 45 mins

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins

Yield: 9

Course: Breakfast

Author: Tricia

PRINT RECIPE

Not overly sweet, this cake is terrific served for breakfast, brunch or as a light dessert.

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, divided
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup sour cream (8-ounces)
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled (113g or 8T)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup quartered strawberries, plus ½ cup halved strawberries for top
• 2 teaspoons coarse sugar for garnish

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a 9x9-inch pan with vegetable cooking spray, then line with a piece of parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides.
• In a large mixing bowl whisk together 2 cups of the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and ¾ cup of granulated sugar. Make a well in the center and set aside.
• In a small bowl combine 1 cup of the chopped, quartered strawberries with the remaining ¼ cup of flour. Toss to coat.
• In a separate small mixing bowl, combine the sour cream, melted cooled butter, vanilla and the lightly beaten eggs. Fold together with a rubber spatula until blended. Add the sour cream mixture to the flour and sugar. Fold together until the dry ingredients are moistened. Gently fold in the 1-cup of chopped strawberries. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Allow the cake batter to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes before baking.
• Scatter the remaining ½ cup of sliced strawberries on top of the cake batter, then sprinkle with coarse or granulated sugar. Bake at 350°F for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with no wet batter. The top should be light golden brown.
• Cool slightly before serving either warm or at room temperature. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Recipe Notes

This recipe has not been tested with frozen strawberries.

Strawberries are one of our favorite fruits. We love them plain, baked into cakes, layered in our Mixed Berry Trifle, scooped into a fantastic Strawberry Dutch Baby Pancake, or on our Strawberry Mascarpone Cake.  Homemade Strawberry Jam is one of the greatest things on earth – yum!

Did you know that it’s super easy to dry Strawberries? Check out this post for How to Dry Strawberries from The View from Great Island. Mary from Barefeet in the Kitchen knocked it out of the park with this wonderful Strawberry Rhubarb Crunch recipe. We love baked fruit desserts too!

Have you ever tried strawberries on a pizza? Kristen from A Mind Full Mom shared a gorgeous recipe for Strawberry and Arugula Pizza that’s both sweet and savory. Finally, here’s another must-try cooking method for Roasted Strawberry Sauce from She Wears Many Hats – perfect on everything from waffles to cake, or a bowl of yogurt.