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!
Love the combination of chocolate and strawberries? You should see our strawberry and chocolate brownies and chocolate covered strawberries with sprinkles too! If you want a very easy treat, then check out our chocolate tartlets with strawberries!
Okay our all time favorite dessert is walnut baklava, but we love to make cake recipes too! A chocolate cake with strawberries has always a special role in our lives. It is the same for most of you, isn't it?
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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 this 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.
Feeling in the mood for cookies? Try our recipe for chocolate strawberry cookies!
How To Make
First, make the wet ingredients mixture. Start with whisking eggs and sugar as we do in almost all cake recipes. Add in oil, yogurt, milk and vanilla extract. I normally use vegetable oil and homemade yogurt, but after getting some negative feedbacks from some readers I decided to use a combination of milk and Greek yogurt because not everyone makes their own yogurt. And the consistency of homemade yogurt is definitely not same for everyone. Also, there are other options for this step. You can substitute coconut oil or olive oil for vegetable oil and buttermilk for yogurt.
Second, add in the dry ingredients. Start with sifting in flour and mix just until combined and then add in cocoa powder and baking powder. Stir until combined using a spatula. Do not over-mix.
Third, share the batter into two pans and bake for 30-35 minutes at 350F. Let them cool completely before filling and covering them with chocolate ganache.
Pro Tip: The type of cocoa powder you use will affect the color of the batter. Some cocoa powder brands are really dark and even one or two tablespoons will be enough to have a nice chocolate color. So please add the flour and cocoa powder gradually and if you think it is not brown enough add one or two tablespoons more cocoa powder.
Alternative Add-Ins
If you want a bit more chocolate flavor in your cake, add a handful of chocolate chips in the batter. Alternatively, you can soak some raisins into red wine or into rum and add them in the batter, which will take your cake to the next level.
Make sure you make these additions as the last step of the batter, right before pouring it into the pans. And please do not over-stir. Giving it just a few stirs with a spatula gives you the best result. Otherwise, chocolate chips or raisins will sink to the bottom.
What Kind Of A Pan?
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. You can definitely choose a larger cake pan if you are good at halving the cake step. If you bake it in one large pan, you might prefer leaving it as a whole and drizzling the top with ganache and then placing fresh strawberries on the top. Still soooo good!
Easy 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.
More Chocolate Cake Recipes
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Print📖 Recipe
Chocolate Strawberry Cake
The easiest two-layered chocolate strawberry cake topped with chocolate ganache and fresh strawberries.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Cake:
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil or sunflower oil
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- ½ cup milk
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons 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 or a hand whisk until creamy.
- Add in oil, yogurt and milk. Mix well.
- Gradually sift the flour directly into the mixing bowl and mix just until combined. Don't add all of it at one time. Don't over-mix.
- Add in cocoa powder, baking powder and vanilla powder. Stir well. Don’t over-mix the batter, just until everything combines.
- Share the batter into two pans and bake for 30-35 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.
Notes
- If you think it is not brown enough, you can add one or two tablespoons extra cocoa powder.
- This is our ultimate chocolate cake recipe. So instead of sharing the batter in two small cake pans, you can just bake it in one round cake tin or a loaf tin if you are not planning to add the ganache and strawberry layer in between. You can still drizzle the ganache over your cake for sure.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 630
- Sugar: 53.4 g
- Sodium: 172.5 mg
- Fat: 26.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 92.1 g
- Protein: 13.1 g
- Cholesterol: 123.3 mg
Keywords: chocolate strawberry cake, chocolate cake with chocolate ganache
Devora says
Easy to make..yogurt makes it delish
Laura says
Made more then 32 times they like it so much
Sydney says
Just made this cake. Thought it was odd there was so much yogurt. I followed it to a t. 3eggs 1c sugar. 1/2 c oil and 1 1/2 c yogurt. Then the 2 1/2c flour with tsp baking powder and vanilla. Not that hard. Well I ended up with a thick goop like play dough. I'm so mad! How did this cake turn out for anyone?!?!
Sal says
Zerrin, it seems to me after making this recipe step by step, that the amount of baking powder called for should be 1 tbsp (table spoon) as opposed to the 1 tsp (teaspoon) called for (typo?)
1tsp is definitively not enough to make the cake rise in the proportions given. It turned out dense and rubbery like several others commented.
Please look into it and correct the proportion of baking powder if necessary. This is definitely causing frustration as the recipe is quite visible in Google search. It put a damper on my wife's birthday 🎂.
Melissa says
This recipe is terrible, the proportions are definitely off. I followed the recipe word for word, yet from the start I could tell the consistency was weird. It ended up like a rubbery bread. Highly dissapointing, a waste of ingredients and my time. And yes, I am telling you from experience that it tastes awful, save the ganache. Skip the frustration and find a different recipe, PLEASE.
michelle Yen says
omg are u serious?! im going to make this cake next monday for my friends birthday
Arlyn says
I made this cake. It looks gorgeous and taste okay not too sweet which I like. I followed exactly except for the oil as I used olive oil which I have in my kitchen but too disappointed as it turns so dense and rubbery as what others said. Sorry to say this
★★
Nicole Sulser says
I'm going to try it with a boxed devil's food cake