Strawberry Cake, traditional German
This is probably the most made Strawberry Cake in Germany. Everyone is in love with it because it is easy and fast to make and it just taste like fresh from Heaven. Strawberry Cake is a very German tradition during Summer.
- 75 g Margarine or Butter
- 75 g Sugar
- 2 tsp. Vanilla Sugar or some extract
- 1 pinch Salt
- 2 Eggs
- 125 g All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1 Tbsp. Milk
- 1 pouch Vanilla Pudding, small
- 1-1/2 cup milk or 1/3 less than the package instructions
- 4 Tbsp. Corn Starch or Potatoe Starch
- 500 ml juice or water or both mixed
- 2-4 Tbsp. Sugar (as needed)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C.
- Mix the Margarine with the Sugar and Vanilla.
- Add one Egg, mix, then add the second Egg and mix. Each egg needs to be mixed for about 1/2 minute.
- In a separate bow, mix the Flour with the tsp. Baking Powder and the pinch of Salt.
- Add some of the Flour to the first bowl and mix for a short time, then add some more flour, mix and add the milk, then add the remaining flour und mix just long enough so everything is mixed well.
- Grease the Baking Pan and fill the cake batter into the pan.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, then take it off the oven and let cool in the pan. When the cake has cooled, carefulle remove the cake from the pan.
- Use 1/3 less of the milk than the package is asking for, then follow the instructions on the pudding package.
- Spread the pudding on top of the cake.
- Wash, clean and cut the strawberries in halves, then arrange them on the cake on top of the pudding layer.
- Mix the Starch and the Sugar, then add a little bit of the liquid you are using and stir until smooth.
- In a small sauce pan, bring the remaining liquid to a boil.
- Add the starch mixture and stir. When the liquid starts to thicken, take it off the stove, stirr a little longer to let it cool slightly.
- Spread the glaze all over the Strawberries - you can either do it with a spoon or use a brush.
- Let the Glaze cool, then optionally decorate with some whipping cream. Keep the cake in the fridge until it is served.
When we have friends coming over in the afternoon, this cake is often on the table to welcome them. Germans have the tradition to invite friends for “Kaffee und Kuchen” – “Coffee and Cake” where one is sitting together, chatting and eating cake with a freshly brewed cup of coffee.
About the Cake Base
Most people just buy the base cake at the grocery. I did that, too, while we lived in Germany and I often felt like the cake base is a little dry.
So, when we moved to Texas and I had to bake it from scratch, I suddenly realized that I had missed out on the most amazing, moist and delicious original! Man, what a difference!
A year later, I found this cake base ready baked in our grocery and bought it, just to understand that there is no way back to storebought cake bases. Now, I don’t have the right baking pan for the original shape but I just found it on Amazon and I think I can’t live without it.
It’s still a round cake but with this pan I will have a rim around the base, which makes it easier to fill it with pudding, strawberries, and glaze. Click the picture to get it on Amazon. Now, due to the mentioned dryness of the storebought cake base, people tend to even it out with lots of freshly whipped cream and that tastes wonderful.
But I have to have an eye on my waistline and that’s why I usually opt for the version with less fat, which is putting some vanilla pudding underneath the strawberries. But with my strawberry cake base recipe you actually don’t need any of it, because as I said: My cake base is very moist.
However, we got used to have it with pudding and a little cream and the combination is so amazing that I can’t opt out of it. My kids absolutely love this cake and compared with big, high cakes with buttercream and what not, this is quite low on calories and if you make it without the pudding or cream, it is even low on fat.
The freshness of the strawberries will totally make up for it! And it doesn’t have to be strawberries.
You can make this cake with a lot of other fruits or combine several different fruits: peaches, apricots, banana slices, kiwi, grapes, …
The Cake Glaze
In the video, I show you two pouches for the glaze.
There is red glaze and white glaze. I guess you don’t have that in your pantry so I showed you how to make it in few little steps from scratch, too.
But in the video I was a little short on glaze, that’s why I doubled the amount here in the recipe block. Have fun baking this cake – it’s really easy and quickly done!
