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–+ servings
Slices of strawberry crumb cake with fresh strawberries on top on a wire rack.
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5 from 51 votes

Strawberry Crumb Cake

This strawberry crumb cake is the best recipe ever! Featuring three layers of moist vanilla cake, fresh strawberries, and buttery crumb topping, it's a perfect dessert that looks so fancy but is so easy to make!

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Crumb

For the Strawberries

  • 3 ¼ cups chopped fresh strawberries
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice

For the Cake

  • 1 ½ cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour *See notes below for measuring*
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 large whole eggs room temperature, whisked together
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup buttermilk room temperature
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Lightly butter a metal 8x8 baking pan and line it with parchment paper on all sides. Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.
  • Mix the melted butter, flour, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla paste. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.
  • Toss the chopped strawberries, sugar, flour, and lemon juice until well coated. Set aside.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
  • In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
  • Scrape down the bowl. Slowly stream in the whisked eggs and vanilla, mixing very well and scraping down the bowl frequently.
  • Add in half of the dry ingredients and mix on low until mostly combined. Then mix in the buttermilk, followed by the remainder of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
  • Spread the vanilla cake batter evenly into the prepared baking pan, then spread the strawberries evenly over the top. Break up the crumb topping and sprinkle it evenly across the strawberries. Bake in the preheated oven for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  • Let the pan cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then remove it from the pan and let it cool completely before cutting. Dust with powdered sugar if desired and enjoy!

Video

Notes

*Measure your dry ingredients properly. This is my #1 baking tip! Do not ever scoop a measuring cup into your flour as this always leads to using too much flour. Instead, use the spoon-level method. This means fluffing the flour first, then spooning it into your measuring cup/spoon. For the BEST results, use a kitchen scale!*
Strawberries: This recipe is best with fresh strawberries and not frozen. I found when testing that the frozen berries can make the cake more soggy.
Room temperature ingredients: For the eggs and butter to emulsify properly, they must be at room temperature! If you forget, set the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10-15 minutes before using them.
Storage: Store leftover crumb cake in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Freezing: Store the cake sliced or as a whole in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 1 month.