A Chocolate and Strawberry Cake made with four layers of moist chocolate cake, strawberry buttercream, fresh strawberries and dark chocolate! It is perfect for birthdays or desserts.
Jump to:
This is one of my go-to ways to decorate cakes. It is very simple, gorgeous, and always goes down well with family and friends. This cake can be made for birthdays, Valentine’s Day, and other special occasions.
If you're searching for another delicious dessert, try my Ferrero Rocher Cake from Scratch, Coconut Raffaello Malibu Rum Cake and Easy Victoria Sponge Cake Recipe.
Why You Should Try This Recipe
- This chocolate and strawberry cake is decadent, sweet and delicious.
- It is a stunning dessert centerpiece.
- It can also be served on Valentine's Day, baby showers, and pink-themed celebrations.
- This delicious cake can be decorated however you please.
Chocolate and Strawberry Cake Ingredients
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
- Unsalted Butter: Use good-quality unsalted butter for the best texture. It should be at room temperature to achieve the desired consistency.
- Caster Sugar: Sift the sugar to remove any excess lumps and dirt.
- Eggs: Ensure the eggs are at room temperature for easy mixing.
- Self-Raising Flour: Sift the flour to remove any lumps.
- Unprocessed Cocoa Powder: Select high-quality cocoa powder for the best flavor, and sift it to remove lumps.
- Baking Powder: Check that the baking powder hasn’t expired to ensure the cake rises.
- Milk: Use full-fat milk at room temperature.
Strawberry Buttercream
- Unsalted butter: Ensure the butter is at room temperature to achieve a smooth consistency.
- Icing sugar: Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps.
- Freeze-dried strawberries
- Salt
- Whipping cream: Or milk to help loosen the consistency of the buttercream.
- Strawberry extract: To intensify the strawberry flavor.
- Pink food coloring: For more color.
Tips and Substitutions
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Ensure that the wet ingredients are at room temperature. This helps to achieve smooth and well-combined textures.
- Don’t Overmix: Do not overmix the batter, as this can result in tough and chewy cakes. Mix just until the ingredients are combined.
- Frosting: Alternatively, swap strawberry buttercream with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting, Best White Chocolate Buttercream or Easy Whipped White Chocolate Ganache.
How to Make Chocolate and Strawberry Cake
Start by baking the chocolate cake. This cake has 4 layers and is 6".
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. Add self-raising flour, unprocessed cocoa powder, and baking powder to a large bowl and whisk until well combined. Set aside for later. Add unsalted butter to a large bowl.
- Whisk for 30 seconds.
- Then, add the caster sugar and whisk for 3-5 minutes
- The mixture should be pale yellow, as shown in image 4.
- Add ¼ of the eggs to the bowl and whisk well or until you can no longer see the eggs. Repeat this process for the rest of the eggs in the bowl.
- Next, add half of the flour mixture to the butter mix and add the milk. Use a large spoon or handheld whisk to mix all of the ingredients.
- Repeat this step with the second half of the flour mixture until you get a silky consistency. Be careful not to over-mix the mix because this will make the cake dense.
- Grab 2 lightly greased 6″ non-stick cake tins and add equal amounts of the cake batter to each tin. Place the tins in the oven on the middle shelf and leave to bake for 25-30 minutes. Stick a skewer in each cake, and if the skewer comes out clean, the cakes are ready. Once the cakes are ready, leave them to cool upside down on a rack for at least 2 hours before decorating. Make sure the cakes are cool before decorating. If not, the buttercream will melt!
How to Decorate the Chocolate and Strawberry Cake
- Start by adding unsalted butter to a bowl.
- Beat for two minutes with a handheld electric whisk.
- Then, add half of the icing sugar.
- Whisk until incorporated.
- Next, add the remaining icing sugar.
- Then, add pink food coloring.
- Add freeze-dried strawberries, a pinch of salt, and whipping cream and whisk for 3-5 minutes or until smooth and fluffy.
- Add the buttercream to a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe it onto each cupcake. Then add dried strawberry powder and top with a strawberry.
Assemble
- Add the buttercream to a piping bag and set aside. To assemble the cake smooth 1 tablespoon of buttercream in the center of a cake board.
- Add the first cake layer to the board and add buttercream. Repeat this step for every layer until the cake is fully assembled.
- Finally, frost the entire cake with pink buttercream and smooth.
- Leave to set in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Add 100 g of dark chocolate to a medium-sized bowl with 2-3 teaspoon of oil. Heat in the microwave for 30-second intervals, stirring in between until it becomes liquid, and leave to cool. Apply a second layer of pink buttercream to the cake
- Add buttercream around the top of the cake. Use a star nozzle to create swirls around the rim of the cake
- Pour chocolate drip around the rim of the cake using a squeezable bottle.
- Add fresh strawberries to the rim and crush dark chocolate to the center of the cake.
25. Serve this decadent chocolate and strawberry cake for dessert!
Recipe FAQs
This cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
More Delicious Strawberry Recipes
Chocolate and Strawberry Cake
Equipment
- Oven
- 1 Electric Whisk
- Cake tins
Ingredients
Chocolate cake
- 265 g of self-raising flour sifted
- 350 g of caster sugar sifted
- 85 g of unprocessed cocoa powder sifted
- 1 ½ teaspoon of baking powder sifted
- 350 g of unsalted butter room temperature
- 350 g of eggs room temperature
- 3 tablespoon of milk room temperature
Strawberry Buttercream
- 400 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 600 g icing sugar sifted
- 30 g freeze-dried strawberries
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ tsp of strawberry extract
- 2 tablespoon of double cream
- ¼ tsp or a few drops of pink food colouring
Chocolate drip
- 200 g dark chocolate
- 2 tsp of oil
Additional Ingredients
- 1 handful of Fresh Strawberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. Add self-raising flour, unprocessed cocoa powder, and baking powder to a large bowl and whisk until well combined. Set aside for later.
- Add unsalted butter to a large bowl and whisk for 30 seconds. Then, add caster sugar to the bowl and whisk for 3-5 minutes or until the mixture is nearly white in colour.
- Add ¼ of the eggs to the bowl and whisk well or until you can no longer see the eggs. Repeat this process for the rest of the eggs in the bowl.
- Next, add half of the flour mixture to the butter mix and add the milk. Use a large spoon or hand held whisk to mix all of the ingredients together. Repeat this step with the second half of the flour mixture until you get a silky consistency. Be careful not to over mix the mixture because this will make the cake dense.
- Grab 2 lightly greased 6″ non-stick cake tins and add equal amounts of the cake batter to each tin. Place the tins in the oven on the middle shelf and leave to bake for 25-30 minutes. Stick a skewer in each cake and if the skewer comes out clean then the cakes are ready.
- Once the cakes are ready leave them to cool upside down on a rack for at least 2 hours before decorating.
Strawberry Buttercream
- Whisk unsalted butter in a large bowl for 1 minute.
- Add half of the icing sugar to the butter and whisk for 2-3 minutes. Then, add the remaining icing sugar, strawberry extract, double cream, freeze-dried strawberries, salt, a few drops of pink food coloring and whisk for another 3-5 minutes.
How to Assemble the Chocolate Strawberry Cake
- Add the buttercream to a piping bag and set aside. To assemble the cake smooth 1 tablespoon of buttercream in the center of a cake board. Add the first cake layer to the board and add buttercream. Repeat this step for every layer until the cake is fully assembled. Finally, frost the entire cake with the pink buttercream and leave to set in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, add 100 g of dark chocolate to a medium sized bowl with 2-3 teaspoon of oil. Heat in the microwave for 30 second intervals stirring in between until it becomes liquid and leave to cool.
- Apply a second layer of pink buttercream to the cake and drip chocolate sauce around the rim of the cake using a or squeezable bottle.
- Use a star nozzle to create swirls around the rim of the cake, add fresh strawberries to the rim, and crushed dark chocolate to the center of the cake.
Notes
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Make sure your wet ingredients are at room temperature. This ensures a smooth and well-blended texture.
- Don’t Overmix: Avoid overmixing the batter to prevent tough and chewy cakes. Mix just until everything is combined.
- Frosting: You can replace strawberry buttercream with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting, Best White Chocolate Buttercream, or Easy Whipped White Chocolate Ganache.
monika
What if we don't have 265 g of self-raising flour. How much regular flour? How much baking powder? Thanks.
admin
Hi Monika, If you do not have self-raising flour then you can combine 265 g of plain flour with 1 1/4 tsp of baking powder instead. Let me know how it goes. Best, Jen 🙂
admin
Hi Clarisse, You're welcome. I am glad you enjoyed the post 🙂
admin
Hi Rebeca, You're welcome! I am glad you found the post helpful. 🙂
Olivia
HI, I did not have the Self Rising flour so I just looked up a recipe and it was delicious! The butter cream I could not you red food die cause my dad is allergic but I used strawberrry jucie instead and it tasted amazing! I would just recomend that you could put a recipe for the self rising flour for people who dont have it, but other than that it was amazing!