Dark, tender chocolate layers meet a filling of homemade strawberry jam, and hot coffee added to the batter deepens the chocolate without a trace of coffee flavor.
Total time is 4 hours 40 minutes, and 3 hours 20 minutes of that is cooling, so bake the layers a day ahead.
Ingredients
You’ll need everything sorted into three groups before you start: the cake base, the strawberry buttercream that fills and frosts it, and the ganache drip.
For the chocolate cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1⅔ cups granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 cup hot coffee or hot water
For the strawberry buttercream:
- 1½ cups freeze-dried strawberries
- 2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons whole milk, room temperature
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the ganache and finish:
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 6–8 fresh strawberries
- Wilton Tip 1M
No buttermilk on hand? Mix 1 tablespoon white vinegar into 1 cup whole milk and let it rest 15 minutes.
Instructions
- Set the oven to 350°F. Grease and line two 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans. Prepare the chocolate cake batter according to the recipe, divide between the pans, and bake for 32–36 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the layers cool in the pans for about 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the strawberry buttercream by whipping softened butter for about 5 minutes until pale and fluffy. Grind freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder, then add to the butter along with powdered sugar, vanilla, and a splash of milk. Mix for 1 minute until smooth and combined.
- Heat heavy cream until just simmering, pour over chopped chocolate, and let sit for 30 seconds. Stir until smooth, then let the ganache cool for 10–20 minutes until it thickens slightly but remains pourable.
- Level the cooled cake layers with a serrated knife. Place one layer on your serving plate, spread strawberry buttercream on top, and add the second layer. Apply a thin crumb coat of buttercream over the entire cake and chill for 15–20 minutes until firm.
- Frost the cake with the remaining buttercream, smoothing the sides and top. Chill for 10–15 minutes to set the frosting.
- If the ganache has thickened too much, rewarm it in the microwave in 5-second bursts until it flows easily. Drizzle ganache around the top edge of the cake to create drips, then pour the rest over the center. Top with chocolate-dipped strawberries and pipe buttercream swirls.
Total time is 4 hours 40 minutes, including cooling and chilling.
Chocolate Cake Layers
The layers stay moist because hot coffee hits the batter right at the end, thinning it out and deepening the chocolate flavor without leaving any coffee taste behind.
Buttermilk and oil keep the crumb tender, and cocoa powder carries more chocolate punch when it meets hot liquid.
You can bake this in three 6-inch pans, two 8-inch pans, three 8-inch pans, or two 9×2-inch pans. Bake time shifts with pan size: 17–22 minutes for three 8-inch rounds, 32–36 minutes for 6-inch layers, and 35–40 minutes for two 9-inch pans.
A toothpick should come out clean. Smaller, shallower pans bake faster because heat reaches the center sooner.
If you do not have coffee on hand, boiling water works the same way. The liquid has to be hot to bloom the cocoa and loosen the batter enough to pour cleanly into the pans.
Strawberry Filling Options
Jam is the quickest route: spread 1 cup between the layers and you skip the simmering, cooling and waiting. For a weeknight, jam wins, and it fits a cake built around homemade jam anyway.
Freeze-dried berries ground into buttercream give the strongest strawberry flavor and add no water, so the frosting stays firm. You pay for it with a trip to the snack aisle and an extra batch of buttercream.
Fresh berries are juicier: toss 2 cups diced with 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp lemon juice, then wait 15–20 minutes. All that juice is wet, so spoon it over a layer of frosting rather than straight onto the cake.
Simmered strawberry cream, with a splash of balsamic and half a vanilla bean, tastes the most layered. It also has to cool completely before you fold it into whipped cream, so save it for a weekend.
Layering and Frosting
The cake goes together in stacked layers with frosting and filling between each one. You’ll see it done two ways: as a tall three-layer cake or as a simpler two-layer version.
Between the layers, some recipes use strawberry buttercream alone, others add a drizzle of chocolate ganache on top of the buttercream, and a few swap in fresh strawberry jam or whipped cream as the filling.
For the outside, strawberry buttercream is the most common choice, though chocolate frosting, cream cheese frosting, and poured ganache all show up.
Plan on about ½ heaping cup of frosting between each layer so the filling stays visible when you slice.
Once the cake is stacked and frosted, let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before you add any ganache drip or final decorations.
That rest firms up the buttercream so the chocolate sets cleanly and the layers hold their shape when you cut in.
Chocolate and Strawberry Finish
The ganache drip looks best.
Pour cooled ganache so it runs over the edge, pipe swirls on top with a Wilton 1M tip, and set 6–8 chocolate-dipped strawberries around the rim. It takes a piping bag and a cooling step, so plan on the most effort.
The easiest finish is 1 cup of halved strawberries piled on top with 2 oz of shaved dark chocolate. There is no heating or piping, and the bitter chocolate keeps the cake from tasting too sweet next to the jam.
In between sits a simple drizzle: microwave ⅔ cup chocolate chips with 1–2 tsp coconut oil in 30-second bursts, stirring each time, until smooth. The oil adds shine and keeps it loose enough to spoon over.
For a weeknight, choose the halved berries and shaved chocolate; for a birthday, choose the drip.
Leveling and Crumb Coat
Press each cake level the moment it leaves the oven: lay a dry, clean cloth oven mitt over the top and push down gently. The domes flatten, and you skip trimming with a knife.
Cool the layers completely before frosting, or the frosting soaks into the crumb. A 15-minute stop in the freezer speeds that up.
After you stack the layers with jam, spread a very thin coat of frosting over the top and sides with an offset spatula.
It will look patchy, and that is fine. Its only job is to hold loose crumbs in place.
Chill it 20–30 minutes in the refrigerator, or 10–15 minutes if the coat is truly thin. Then spread the thick final coat, and the crumbs stay trapped underneath.
Homemade Strawberry Jam
Jam gives you a tighter, more concentrated strawberry layer than sliced fruit does. Simmer 1 lb (455 g) fresh strawberries with 1 cup sugar for 20–25 minutes, until the jam reaches 210°F (100°C).
Without a thermometer, spoon a little onto a chilled plate, wait a minute, and push it with your finger. If it wrinkles, it’s done.
Stir in 1 tbsp cold salted butter at the end. Let it cool completely before it touches the cake, and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
For a deeper, more grown-up flavor, simmer the berries with sugar and a vanilla bean, and add a splash of balsamic vinegar if you like.
Raspberries and blackberries follow the same method, and blackberry makes the darkest, least sweet filling against the chocolate.
Gluten-Free Version
This grain-free, gluten-free strawberry filled chocolate cake gets its structure from 2½ cups blanched almond flour and ¾ cup cacao powder, with 4 eggs holding it together.
Sweetness comes from ¾ cup coconut sugar and ½ cup maple syrup. ½ cup almond butter and ¼ cup coconut oil add richness and moisture.
All-purpose flour is not a suitable swap, because the batter is built around almond flour and won’t behave the same way.
Bake in two 9-inch pans for 17–28 minutes, or in three 6-inch pans for 20–25 minutes.
That 9-inch window is wide, so start checking early. Leave the layers in the pans for 15 minutes before turning them out.
To make it dairy-free, use vegan butter and dairy-free chocolate chips.
Make Ahead and Storage
Everything here can be made ahead, so you can spread the work over several days:
- Cake layers keep up to 2 days at room temperature, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, or up to 2 months in the freezer.
- To freeze, wrap each cooled, unfrosted layer in plastic wrap, then foil, and slide them into a zip-top freezer bag. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then let the layers come to room temperature.
- Buttercream and ganache keep up to 2 weeks in airtight containers in the refrigerator.
- Let buttercream warm up, then re-mix it on low speed until smooth.
- Microwave ganache in 10-second bursts, stirring after each, until it’s even and pourable.
- A finished cake holds for a day or so on the counter. After that, cover it and refrigerate it for 5–7 days.
Birthdays and Valentine’s Day
This is a cake for birthdays, Valentine’s Day and any dinner where dessert is supposed to be the main event.
The dark chocolate layers and strawberry filling look romantic without extra decoration, and a chocolate-covered-strawberry style version makes a real showstopper for two.
It also asks for time. One version runs 4 hours 40 minutes start to finish, and 3 hours 20 minutes of that is cooling, so it belongs on a weekend, not a Tuesday.
Bake it a day ahead. That leaves you the party day for dressing it with fresh strawberries, and the cake will look better for it.
A 15-slice cake covers a family birthday with a few seconds to spare. For a bigger crowd, bake a second cake rather than cutting thinner slices.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make a strawberry flavored cake?
Grind 1½ cups of freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder and beat it into the buttercream. This gives the strongest strawberry flavor and adds no water, so the frosting stays firm.
For a faster route, spread 1 cup of homemade strawberry jam between the layers. Fresh berries also work: toss 2 cups diced with 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp lemon juice, wait 15–20 minutes, then spoon them over a layer of frosting.
