Easy Gluten Free Strawberry Cake (2024)

This gluten free strawberry cake is the perfect easy, no-fuss bake. It’s soft, moist and tender, and it’s packed full of lemon zest and juicy, jammy strawberries. You can whip it up in about 20 to 30 minutes and then let it do its thing in the oven. The flavour is INCREDIBLE and once you’ve tasted it, you’ll be making it all summer long.

My fridge is overflowing with strawberries at the moment, and this gluten free strawberry cake is 100% to blame. This is the kind of cake where the moment the last piece is gone, you’re already grabbing a bowl and a whisk to make it again. I’ve “tested” it three times just in the last two weeks… even though it was absolutely perfect on the first try. If you can’t tell, I’m absolutely OBSESSED with it.

It’s a really simple cake. There’s no decorating, no fuss and no frills. Just a soft, plush cake packed with lemon zest and juicy, jammy strawberries.

In fact, there’s 500g or 1lb of strawberries in the cake!! If you want to make the most of the strawberry season, this is the recipe for you. And even though it’s really straightforward to make, it’s guaranteed to impress with its incredible flavour and strawberry-studded appearance.

And it’s SO EASY to make!! You can whip it up in about 20 to 30 minutes and then pop it in the oven while you get on with other things. You don’t need any special equipment: no stand or hand mixer or anything like that – just a bowl, a whisk and a 9-inch cake tin (a springform pan works best).

(This cake was loosely inspired by the strawberry cakes from the brilliant Recipe Tin Eats and Natasha’s Kitchen.)

Before we get to the bits and bobs of making this amazing strawberry cake – if you like what you’re seeing, subscribe to my newsletter to keep up to date on the latest recipes and tips!

Note: the whole recipe, including the ingredient quantities, can be found at the bottom of this page – just scroll down to the bottom, or click the ‘Jump to Recipe’ button at the top of this post.

Here’s why you’ll love this strawberry cake

• The soft, moist (gluten free!!) lemon sponge with a plush crumb. This is actually a scaled-up version of the sponge from my gluten free lemon curd cake – it uses buttermilk, which gives it a super soft, fluffy crumb as well as a slight tanginess that pairs PERFECTLY with the lemon zest and the sweet, juicy strawberries.
• It’s packed full of strawberries – there’s 500g or 1lb of strawberries in this cake!! I really wanted to make sure that you get a big piece of a sweet, jammy strawberry in every single bite. That’s why some of the strawberries are chopped up and layered with the batter inside the cake, and the rest are halved and arranged on top of the cake before baking. While strawberries do release some moisture during baking, they won’t make the cake too dense or soggy in any way. Instead, they make it perfectly moist and super delicious.
• Super easy, no-fuss recipe. There’s honestly nothing complicated about this recipe. You just need to whisk together the wet and the dry ingredients into a smooth batter (no special equipment needed, just a bowl and a whisk), layer it with strawberries and then bake. That’s it! And you don’t have to decorate it either – the halved strawberries on top make it look absolutely beautiful, and it only needs a light dusting of powdered/icing sugar before serving.
• Quick to make. You can whip it up in about 20-30 minutes and then let it do its thing in the oven. It’s honestly the perfect everyday bake.
• You’d never know that it’s gluten free! The cake has the perfect soft, fluffy, moist texture and even non-gluten-free folks will love it (and come back for seconds… and possibly thirds).

How to make this easy gluten free strawberry cake

Making this strawberry cake is incredibly straightforward, you can whip it up in about 20-30 minutes and then let it do its thing in the oven. There’s no creaming required or anything like that: you just whisk together the wet and the dry ingredients separately, and then combine them into a smooth cake batter.

When it comes to assembling the cake, you need to pour about half of the batter into a lined 9-inch (23cm) springform pan and evenly scatter ⅓ of the strawberries (chopped into about ½-inch or 1-1.5cm pieces) over the batter.

Then, pour the remaining batter over the strawberries (try to cover the chopped strawberries as much as possible) and smooth out the top. Finally, slice the remaining strawberries in half and arrange them on top of the batter: make sure to pack them as close together as possible. You can arrange them cut side up or down, either way works, I usually do a mix of both for more visual interest. And then: bake!

Top tips for making gluten free strawberry cake

Use unwaxed (ideally organic) lemons. Because you’ll be using lots of lemon zest, I recommend using organic unwaxed lemons – that will give you the best flavour and you’ll also avoid any pesticides or fungicides that the “regular” lemons are treated with.

Rub the lemon zest into the sugar. This helps to release the maximum amount of essential oils from the lemon zest, which will make your cake extra fragrant.

Use fresh (not frozen) strawberries. You definitely need to use fresh strawberries in this cake – frozen ones will release too much moisture, which can make the cake dense and almost soggy. Fresh strawberries will also retain some of their texture even after baking, whereas frozen strawberries can quickly turn into mush.

Use room temperature ingredients. Whenever you’re making any type of butter-containing cake batter, it’s important to use room temperature ingredients (eggs and buttermilk in this case, in addition to melted butter that’s been cooled until warm). This preserves the emulsion of the butter in the batter, and it results in a lovely, soft cake crumb. Using cold eggs or buttermilk, on the other hand, will result in a split, curdled looking batter and that can negatively affect the texture of the final, baked bake.

For best results, weigh your ingredients, especially the flour. If you’re using cups/volume measurements, it’s very easy to over-measure your flour (especially because different brands of gluten free flour blends can vary A LOT in terms of density). Too much flour can make the cake too dense and dry – so, to get the best possible texture, I recommend using a digital food scale.

Add only ⅓ of the strawberries inside the cake, the rest go on top. You don’t want to add too many strawberries to the actual cake batter, as they will release moisture during baking – and too much moisture can result in a dense, soggy cake with a very long bake time. Instead, most of the strawberries are halved and arranged on top of the cake batter before baking.

Pack the strawberry halves close to each other on top of the cake. You want the strawberry halves to be snuggled very close to each other on top of the cake, so that you see only small patches of batter peaking through. This might seem like a lot, but the batter will partially rise around the strawberries as the cake bakes, and the result will be a gorgeous, strawberry-studded cake.

And there you have it – this covers everything you need to know about this AMAZING strawberry cake. I like to serve it with a dollop of lightly sweetened vanilla whipped cream and a few extra strawberries… though I’ve been known to eat it still warm, straight off the pan, standing over the counter in my more impatient moments. And you know what? Those pieces always taste the best.

Happy baking!

More strawberry dessert recipes

If you can’t get enough of strawberry-packed deliciousness, you’re definitely in the right place!

• The Best Baked Strawberry Cheesecake
• Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Gluten Free Strawberry Shortcake
• Strawberry Lemonade Cake
• Small Batch Strawberry Cream Cake

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