Easy strawberry crunch cake recipe, homemade with cake mix box and simple ingredients. This soft and moist layer cake is filled with buttercream frosting and covered in crunchy topping composed of freeze dried strawberries and vanilla cookies.
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from CakeWhiz
Something about fruit and desserts always makes me happy. I don't know if it is my brain tricking me that it is somehow better for you or if I just like the vibrant colors and naturally sweet flavors. Maybe that's why I also enjoy this Easy Applesauce Cake (With Cake Mix) and Chocolate Raspberry Cake (With Cake Mix). They are all sweet, delicious, and easy.
Jump to:
Key ingredients
- Cake mixes- You will need both yellow and strawberry cake mix for this recipe.
- Freeze dried strawberries- Adds texture, flavor, color, and crunch.
- Butter- I like to use unsalted so that my dessert isn't salty.
- Nilla Wafers- Name brand are the best, but you can use off-brand as well.
- Buttercream Frosting- Classic recipe that goes well with just about any cake.
- Fresh strawberries- Make sure they are high quality for the best flavor.
Variations
- Turn this into a much simpler and easier sheet cake- Just dump the batter into a sheet pan, bake, and decorate the top.
- Play around with other flavors of freeze dried fruits- Like blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries for different flavor profiles.
- Instead of Nilla wafers- You can use any other crispy vanilla flavored tea biscuits or even golden Oreos without the filling.
- Pair this cake with other frosting flavors- My Strawberry Buttercream Frosting with fresh strawberries would be a great option. You can also try Nutella Frosting (Hazelnut Buttercream) or my Best Cream Cheese Frosting (Stable).
- Add more strawberries- Like thinly sliced fresh strawberries, Strawberry Jam, Strawberry Pie Filling, or even macerated strawberries between each cake layer.
- Make a taller cake by stacking more layers of cakes- Be sure to use dowels or bubble tea straws for proper support.
- Make cupcakes- And then use the crunchy mixture as a topping.
How to make easy strawberry crunch cake recipe with cake mix box?
1. Bake, cool and fill three cake layers- Then chill to make it firm.
2. Smooth frosting over entire cake- Use a spatula to do a rustic looking coverage.
3. Prepare crunchy topping- By placing freeze dried strawberries and Nilla Wafers in a food processor.
4. Then pulse until you get fine crumbs- Transfer these to a bowl.
5. Add melted butter to this mixture- Then cover entire cake in the crunchy topping.
6. Decorate as desired- Then chill, slice, serve, and enjoy.
Tips and techniques
- Don't over-bake the cakes- Because this will yield a dry and crumbly cake.
- Be sure cake is completely cooled before frosting it- Because otherwise the frosting will melt and make a sticky mess that isn't pretty.
- Make for special events and holidays- This red color is great for Christmas, birthdays, or Valentine's Day. I especially like making Chocolate Marshmallow Cake (Heart Cake) for the latter.
- Use unsalted butter- To ensure your dessert isn't overly salty.
- Always wash fruit- Before eating and using in baked goods to maintain safe food practices.
- Pat strawberries dry with a paper towel before using- Because you don't want excess moisture ruining the balance of the cake.
Recipe FAQs
It is a cake with a distinct, crunchy shell that is different than most soft and moist cakes. Adds texture to the overall look and taste.
You can spread the mixture on a baking sheet and bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for a few minutes. You can also add in a few more Nilla Wafers to soak up excess moisture.
I highly recommend investing in a food processor, because they are handy for so many recipes! However, if you are in a bind, for this particular recipe you can pulse your blender in small increments to get a similar result. Just don't over-blend.
Storage
- Refrigerate- Place in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Freeze- If you want to freeze this cake I would freeze the cake layers only, then make the frosting and add assemble when you are ready to serve. Otherwise the strawberries will become soggy.
- Room temperature- This cake is best served chilled but can be left out 2-3 hours before placing back in the fridge for freshness.
- Make ahead- This can easily be made up to 3 days in advance if kept in the fridge in a sealed container. In fact, I recommend spreading out the process over a few days for more ease and less stress.
More strawberry desserts
- Strawberry Shortcake Cake (Cake Mix)
- Strawberry Cookies (Fresh Strawberries)
- Strawberries and Cream (No Bake)
- Easy Strawberry Strudel (With Puff Pastry)
- Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes (From Scratch)
Recipe
Easy Strawberry Crunch Cake (With Cake Mix)
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from CakeWhiz
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 box Yellow cake mix Plus ingredients listed on box
- 1 box Strawberry cake mix Plus ingredients listed on box
- 1 cup Strawberries Washed, Patted dry, Thinly sliced, Optional
- 5 cups American buttercream frosting
Strawberry crunch topping
- 1 bag Freeze dried strawberries 1 oz. bag, About 1 cup
- 2.5 cups Nilla wafers Roughly broken up
- ¼ cup Butter Melted, Unsalted
Decoration
- 8 Fresh strawberries Washed and patted dry
Instructions
- Bake the yellow and strawberry cakes in 8x2 inch pans as per the instructions on the boxes. The boxes will yield 2 strawberry cakes and 2 yellow cakes but I only used 1 vanilla cake for my layers and froze the extra one to enjoy later.
- Allow the cakes fully cool to room temperature.
- While the cakes are baking and cooling, prepare the frosting.
- Also prepare the crunchy topping: Add freeze dried strawberries and Nilla wafers in a food processor and pulse until you have fine crumbs.
- Transfer to a large bowl.
- Add melted butter and whisk together until you have a crumbly mixture.
- To assemble, place one strawberry cake on a serving dish.
- Spread buttercream on top evenly with a spatula.
- Place the vanilla cake on top.
- Spread buttercream on top evenly with a spatula.
- Place the final strawberry cake on top.
- Optional: Place thinly sliced strawberries on top of the icing between each layer. Make sure the strawberries have been patted dry with paper towels.
- Chill cake in fridge for 20-30 minutes to make it firm. This keeps the layers from sliding when you ice the entire cake next.
- Use a spatula to frost the entire cake smoothly in buttercream frosting.
- Cover entire cake in crunchy topping.
- To decorate, fill a piping bag with icing and attach a big star tip (Tip 1M).
- Pipe swirls on top of the cake.
- Place a single strawberry on top of each swirl. Enjoy.
Notes
- If you want to make the cakes completely from scratch instead of using a cake mix, this is my Best Vanilla Cake Recipe and this is my Pink Champagne Strawberry Cake.
- If your crunchy topping feels soggy and wet, spread mixture in a lined baking tray and bake for a few minutes at 350 degrees F to dry it out. Another option is that you can mix in additional Nilla wafers to absorb the extra moisture.
- To amplify the strawberry flavor even further, pair with strawberry frosting.
- Instead of adding fresh strawberries between each layer, you can also add a thin of layer of strawberry jam or strawberry pie filling.
- Don't over-bake cakes because that makes them dry and crumbly.
- Do not assemble warm cakes because that will cause the icing to melt and make a sticky mess.
- For the crunch topping, you can replace Nilla wafers with shortbread cookies or crispy sugar cookies or even Golden Oreos. If you are using Oreos, remove the creamy center with a butter knife or spatula.
- There are a lot of components to this cake. It would be wise to spread out your work over a few days to make it more efficient and less stressful. For instance, you can make the frosting one day, the crunchy topping another day, bake cakes on the third day, and assemble on the fourth day.
- Read additional tips and variations above.
- Leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
An automated tool is used to calculate the nutritional information. As such, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information provided for any recipe on this site.
Leave a Reply