Chocolate Strawberry Cake is the easiest layered chocolate cake I’ve ever made. A very simple chocolate ganache and fresh strawberries are used for the mid layer and the topping. The best combination of chocolate and strawberries ever!
This post was originally published in 2016 and we are updating it today with additional information.
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I used my ultimate chocolate cake recipe here which is really simple and turned it into a wonderful chocolate strawberry cake. What I love about that recipe is everything for the cake is in one bowl. It’s always great to have less mess in the kitchen when baking something, isn’t it? I made a super easy strawberry cake filling that doesn’t require any professional skills. This chocolate cake with strawberry is perfectly fluffy and the chocolate ganache adds a wonderful richness to it. Not to mention the beauty and refreshment added by fresh strawberries.
How to make this chocolate strawberry cake
Start with whisking eggs and sugar as we do in almost all cake recipes. Add in the other wet ingredients. I use vegetable oil and yogurt, but there are different options for this step. You can substitute coconut oil or olive oil for vegetable oil and buttermilk for yogurt.
It’s time to add the dry ingredients now. First, sift in flour and mix until combined and then add in cocoa powder, baking powder and vanilla. Stir until combined using a spatula. Share the batter into two pans and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350F. Let them cool completely before filling and covering with chocolate ganache.
What kind of a pan for this chocolate cake with strawberries?
I used two 6-inch round cake pans for this fresh chocolate strawberry cake to make things easier for me. I feel really hopeless at cutting a large cake into equal halves, so I mostly prefer making two cakes and then combining them to make a two-layered cake just as I did in Banana Turmeric Chocolate Cake. You can definitely choose a larger cake pan if you are good at halving the cake step.
Strawberry cake filling
You need to wait until the cakes completely cool down before combining and layering them. This cake has the easiest filling as the only thing you need to do is slicing the strawberries lengthwise and placing them on top of the first cake after spreading the ganache. I recommend you to wait for 5-10 minutes before placing the strawberries so that you give the ganache some time to set a bit.
Put the second cake right on the strawberry slices and then pour over the rest of the ganache. Again wait for about 10 minutes or more and top your cake with whole strawberries. I’m sure some pretty chocolate curls on this wonderful looking cake would make it look even more impressive, but first I need to learn how to make them and practice a bit.
Chocolate Strawberry Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Cake:
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 and ½ cup plain yogurt
- 2 and ¼ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla powder or extract
Chocolate Ganache:
- 160ml heavy cream
- 160g chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
Filling and topping
- 1 and ½ cups fresh strawberries
- Fresh mint leaves
Instructions
- Lightly oil two 6” round spring form cake pans, line their bottoms with parchment paper and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
- Beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy.
- Add in oil and yogurt. Mix well.
- Gradually sift the flour directly into the mixing bowl and mix just until combined.
- Add in cocoa powder, baking powder and vanilla powder. Stir well. Don’t overmix the batter, just until everything combines.
- Share the batter into two pans and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove them from oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then remove them from pans carefully. Allow them to cool completely on a cooling rack.
- Meanwhile prepare the chocolate ganache.(See the video above).
- Put chocolate chips in a bowl.
- Heat the heavy cream just until it boils and pour it over the chocolate chips. Wait for 2 minutes and stir until smooth.
- Let it reach to room temperature.
- Spread ¼ of your chocolate ganache on the first cake. Wait for about 10 minutes so that the ganache sets a bit.
- Slice ½ cup of strawberries lengthwise and place them on the chocolate ganache you spread on the first cake.
- Carefully place the second cake on the strawberries, gently press on it just to help it set.
- Pour the rest of the ganache over it. Wait about 10 minutes and then place the rest of the strawberries as they are on the top.
- Place a sprig of fresh mint on the very top.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
- Calories: 536
- Sugar: 54.4g
- Sodium: 342mg
- Fat: 29.7g
- Carbohydrates: 79.9g
- Protein: 13.9g
- Cholesterol: 128.3mg
See our other chocolate recipe videos here:
It looks so beautiful! and I’m sure the taste is also delicious! I’m truly salivating now 😍
I made this for hubby’s birthday yesterday and he LOVED it! I just substituted coconut oil for vegetable oil and heavy cream in the recipe. Other than that, everything was easy to follow. Thanks!
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Delicious!!! I have made this last night at my family party. and you know everyone was so happy to have this cake. Thanks for sharing it.
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This cake did not turn out for me… wondering where I went wrong. My cake was SO dense and rubbery as described by others. We ended up throwing it out.
Hello – Would like to make the recipe but I am in the uk – what are the measurements in kg please?
Made this cake and it turned out almost inedible. The cake is extremely dense and rubbery. I followed the recipe exactly and make cakes all the time, and I can’t think of what happened. I haven’t made a cake with this much yogurt before – perhaps the proportions here are off? Mine also was a medium brown, rather than a rich brown, -!: the chocolate taste barely came through on the sponge. All in all, disappointing.
Mine too turned out so dense and dry…such a disappointment. Shud hv followed my regular choc cake recipe
I just made this and I’m wondering how I should store it? Would it be best covered in the fridge or on the counter?? It turned out beautiful! Can’t wait to try it
Hi. I’m just about to make thisure. Was wondering if the sliced strawberries will las over night in the fridge?
You mean sliced strawberries in the cake? They are best on the same day for sure but they are still good on the next day. So don’t worry. If you are planning to top the cake with sliced strawberries too, then I recommend doing so before serving.
I followed your recipe and the cake was barely “beige”. I guess your ratio of cocoa is wrong. Or the picture comes from somewhere else :).
Hi Sylvain, the quality of cocoa powder really makes the difference. I use dark cocoa powder and it always gives the best result in chocolate cakes. I think it would be better if you had just asked why your cake doesn’t look as dark as you expect it to be than blaming me for stealing photos.
I don’t know what happened, my end result was a flat cake, ready really light color..guess I didn’t use the right cocoa powder and very dense…
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Love the story! And the cake looks amazing. I want to make it for a dinner party on Saturday. I have only fresh pineapples. Will that work? Should I use 8 1/2 oz?
This is a decadent looking chocolate cake!!! I love it, especially the glaze, it looks perfect!
Thank you Adina! Much easier than it looks 🙂
This cake looks gorgeous, specially the chocolate drizzle is just amazing!
This looks so gorgeous and impressive, and yet you make it sound so easy. That’s my kind of cake! Pinned for sure. Thanks for sharing.
This cake looks incredible! I just love that chocolate drizzle top especially. Yum.
Wow! This looks incredible! Delicious