Best Homemade Strawberry Cake (Erdbeerboden)

A whole German strawberry cake on a platter with a slice on a cake server in front.

4.60 from 10 votes

Best Homemade Strawberry Cake (Erdbeerboden)

This is the best homemade strawberry cake recipe using juicy, fresh strawberries! The recipe is a German original that I perfected over the last 6 years and it's amazing! it starts with a fluffy, buttery vanilla cake topped with vanilla pudding, fresh strawberries and a fruit glaze. It's the best way to serve a refreshing and easy summer cake and doesn't pack nearly as much sugar as American cake.

Prep Time20

Baking Time20

Total Time40

Course: Baking, Coffee, Dessert, Kaffee

Cuisine: German

Keyword: best homemade strawberry cake recipe, German Strawberry Cake, strawberry baking recipe, strawberry cake recipe

Servings: slices

Calories: 295kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

125 grams butter room temperature
100 grams sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
3 eggs large
200 grams all-purpose flour AP gluten free flour works well
2 teaspoons baking powder
60 milliliters milk cow's milk or dairy free

Pudding Ingredients

1 vanilla bean or 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
500 milliliters milk
70 grams powdered sugar
3 egg yolks large eggs
30 grams cornstarch
1 pinch salt to bring out the flavors

Glaze Ingredients

310 grams strawberries fresh or frozen, stems removed and halved.
3 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Other

500 grams fresh strawberries for topping, you can also use other fruit if you'd like!
fresh mint for garnish, optional
whipped cream to serve, optional

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Vanilla Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prep your German tart pan by rubbing in butter and dusting with flour, so the cake won't stick. You could also use a non-stick baking spray instead and spray your cake pan with it.
In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, vanilla and salt until combined.
Add in one egg at a time, beating on high for about 30 seconds in between.
Sift together flour and baking powder, then alternate with the milk when adding in with the butter-egg mixture.
Using a rubber spatula, evenly spread the batter onto the prepped German tart pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden.
Allow to cool completely, then trim any edges with a serrated knife if necessary. Turn cake pan upside down to release the cake. You're ready to top your cake.

Vanilla Pudding

Add the scraped out vanilla bean or vanilla extract to a small pot with the milk, then bring to a boil.
In the meantime, beat the egg yolk and powdered sugar for 3 minutes until you achieve a thick mixture. When the eggs appear almost white, mix in the cornstarch. This ensures that you won't end up with a bunch of lumps in your pudding.
Add the egg-sugar-cornstarch mixture to the milk while stirring constantly. Return to a boil, then let cool in a bowl until ready to use.

Strawberry Glaze

Combine the water, strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan and put over high heat.
Stir thoroughly while bringing it up to a boil. After the mixture begins to boil, reduce the heat to low, and allow to cook for up to ten minutes, occasionally stirring, so it won't burn.
As the strawberries soften, use a wooden spoon to break them in pieces to release the flavors and juices from the strawberries.
Remove the strawberries from heat. Using a strainer, pour liquid into a bowl ensuring to press as much juice as possible through strainer. Dispose any of the solid strawberries leftover from mixture (or eat with vanilla ice cream!), and return liquid to pan on low heat.
Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl. Then, pour into the simmering pan of strawberry juice.Increase heat to high, and continue to whisk the mixture until it thickens into a glaze (approximately 3-5 minutes).
Remove glaze from heat, and pour into separate bowl to cool down. Once the glaze has reached room temperature, place in refrigerator until it is chilled. Use a pastry brush to generously distribute over the fruit.

Assemble

Spread a good amount of vanilla pudding directly onto the cake.
Prep the fresh strawberries by removing the greens. If they're smaller berries, I like leaving them whole and placing them upside down onto the pudding filling. If they're larger, I like slicing them and layering them going from the outside in.
Finally, brush on the glaze onto the berries. If the glaze is too thick, add a little water.
Garnish with fresh mint (optional) and serve with whipped cream (optional). I promise everyone will LOVE THIS!

Notes

Pudding Filling. You can substitute with store bought vanilla pudding mix or prepared vanilla pudding to save time. If you make it yourself and have any left over, pour over frozen raspberries into individual glasses for a quick and super yummy dessert that even kids love!
Use other fruit. In Germany, Erdbeerboden cakes are so popular, but Obstboden cakes are equally as popular. So instead of using just strawberries to top your cake, you could use a mixture of different kinds of fruit. Whichever fruit you would like to use is great!
Play with the glaze! If you don't have extra berries on hand, simply thicken some juice and glaze the cake that way. Even apple juice works well for a glaze, and it makes a more clear glaze, which let's your fruit shine through more. A pineapple fruit glaze would be amazing if you topped your cake with more tropical fruit. For the quickest glaze ever, simply heat up a little jam in the microwave and whisk in a bit of water to make it more workable. Then brush that over the fruit.
Make Minis! Use this shortcake pan to make 12 mini strawberry cakes using 1 recipe divided up into 12 little holes. Prep your pan just like you would for the large pan. Reduce the baking time by about 6 minutes. After baking, let rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn the pan upside down to release them.

Nutrition