This strawberry swirl cake is the sheet cake of your dreams! This easy cake recipe has a gluten-free, vanilla base swirled with fresh strawberry sauce – topped with whipped buttercream and more strawberry sauce for that signature swirly frosting.

The best part about a sheet cake is the easy baking process: no need for stacking, leveling and decorating. It’s like making a pan of brownies!

Recipe Inspo

I love making birthday cakes, but the process can be time consuming. This past fall, someone made a pumpkin sheet pan cake and I realized how much easier that was to bake, serve and store. Since it’s finally summertime, it’s BERRY season, and I wanted to make a light and easy cake with jammy swirls of strawberry sauce!

I don’t normally make gluten free cakes, but I used gluten free flour for a celiac friend. It actually produced an incredibly light and moist cake, so I decided to keep it that way! However, you can certainly use all purpose flour for this strawberry swirl cake.

If you’ve never made buttercream before, it is so good and simple. Sometimes I laugh when people ask what’s in it because I just tell them, “well…butter!” and some sugar. And that’s buttercream. It’s the best frosting ever.

This strawberry swirl cake is great to bring to dinner parties, backyard barbecues or a birthday party of course. Stick a bunch of candles in it and call it a day!

What equipment you need to make strawberry swirl cake

A 9×13 pan – I used a metal one from Williams Sonoma, here.
A stand mixer – like a KitchenAid. Or you can use a hand mixer.
A frosting spatula – or a really good butterknife!
Small saucepan – to make our strawberry jam! Le Creuset makes great ones.
Parchment paper – to line our pan and make the cake easier to slice.

What kind of flour should I use?

I don’t normally opt to make my confections without gluten, but this cake was incredibly moist and light with gluten free flour! I used Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten free baking flour, which is important to note. Coconut or almond flour is not the same thing, and you may produce a drier cake if you opt for one of those.

Of course, you can also use all purpose flour and it will still bake fine – just watch it in the oven and remove it when the center no longer looks wiggly.

Ingredients

unsalted butter – melted butter for the cake, room temperature for the frosting
sour cream – makes every cake light and rich!
gluten free cake flour – or regular all purpose flour
eggs – room temperature
granulated sugar
almond milk – or milk of your preference (dairy, coconut)
baking soda
baking powder
salt
vanilla extract
strawberries – sliced. You can use other berries if you want
honey – my favorite way to sweeten up a berry sauce. You can use granulated sugar instead if you need.
water – just a splash for the strawberry sauce
heavy whipping cream – the best way to make a fluffy, white buttercream is to add a splash of cream!
powdered sugar – to sweeten the buttercream

Directions

Step 1

Make the strawberry jam: In a saucepan or pot, add the sliced strawberries, honey and a splash of water. Turn on the heat to medium. Stirring occasionally, watch the strawberries as they melt and begin to form a liquid sauce, about 5-6 minutes. Mash the berries with a fork as they soften. Once the sauce is runny and very red, remove from the heat and let the sauce completely cool, at least 10 minutes.

The key is to wait for some of the moisture in the sauce to evaporate, so you’ll notice that the sauce is starting to thicken. Once the moisture has reduced by a third, remove it from the heat and let the strawberry sauce COOL. The cooling process will make the sauce thicken a lot more.

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 350°F and put a rack in the center. Line your pan with parchment paper.

Step 3

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter on medium until light and whipped, about 1 minute. Add in the sugar and beat until well combined, another 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Step 4

Add the sour cream, eggs and vanilla and mix on low until just combined.

Step 5

Dump in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix until just combined, and then slowly pour in the almond milk. Mix until the batter is homogenous.

Step 6

Bake it in the oven for 30 – 35 minutes, or until the center of the cake is no longer wiggly. Remove and let cool completely.

Step 7

Let’s make the buttercream! In a stand mixer, beat the unsalted butter for 1-2 minutes, until it is whipped and airy. Add the powdered sugar and the vanilla, and continue beating for another minute. Then add the heavy whipping cream, and beat on high until the frosting turns white and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Don’t OVER whip it, as it will become a bit too thick.

Step 8

Once the cake is cool, dump all of the frosting onto the center of the cake.

Then with a spatula or knife, gently push the frosting out until it reaches all four corners. This will give you a nice fluffy base to work with.

Dollop the strawberry sauce all over the cake, in tablespoon size drops. Do not just dump all of the sauce in one spot – that will make that part of the cake VERY red and the rest of the cake pretty white.

Carefully use a spatula or knife to gently swirl the areas together to get the red sauce mixed in. Don’t over do it, or else the cake ends up pink and blurry.

Step 9

Slice and enjoy your strawberry swirl cake!

Can I make this strawberry swirl cake with other fruit?

Yes! If you don’t want strawberries, you can swap in raspberries or blueberries easily. Blackberries would be delicious too, but your sauce will have more seeds.

Other recipes to try

If you liked this strawberry swirl cake, check out the following recipes:

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