easiest strawberry jello cake

This strawberry jello cake recipe is particularly easy, with a dump-and-stir method (no poking the cake or pouring anything over it—just regular-old mixing!). And the frosting is just cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar.

It’s so easy, it once saved me from the brink of recipe developing despair. Continue on to read more about that ordeal, or jump to the recipe to start baking!

Why from-scratch strawberry cakes are the worst

A few years ago, I set out to make a simple strawberry rose cake. Just something pink & white & pretty. How hard could it be? (*cue ominous music*)

Turns out, very.

Every time I folded fresh strawberries into the batter, the cake would emerge from the oven a shade of purple. On its best day, it would turn out a sad, pasty pink. And the flavor? If it tasted like anything, it was soggy berries.

I pivoted to powdered strawberries, which delivered on color—a neon pink so intense, it felt like a cry for help. But they offered zero flavor. So I tried a purée. Then I tried a reduced purée. Then jam. Then roasting. I tried food coloring.

I tried it all.

Why strawberry jello cake is simply the best

After two years of testing every strawberry cake recipe I could find, adapt, or Frankenstein into existence, I finally had to admit defeat. All roads lead to the same conclusion: nothing beats good old-fashioned strawberry jello cake. You know the kind—a cake that’s unapologetically made with box mix and a packet of jello.

It’s the pinkest. It’s the strawberriest. And it doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not. And at this point, you could not pay me to make strawberry cake any other way.

Optional ways to upgrade your strawberry jello cake

A little floral flair

I finally learned to appreciate the appeal of box-mix when I learned about my friend Abeer’s fabulous rose cardamom tres leches, which starts with box mix. The little bit of rosewater she adds to the milk soak turns ho-hum cake mix into something completely new.

Her recipe inspired me to try box mix with rosewater, and I’m so glad I did. It’s totally optional, but really takes strawberry jello cake to the next level.

All sorts of sprinkles

You can also sprinkle on some dried rose petals for the easiest-ever decoration. Pink sprinkles would do the trick too!

Suggested decorating instructions

Feel free to decorate the cake however you’d like (including just dumping the frosting on and swirling away!), or recreate this look, inspired by Zoë François’ pavlova. Patty Pinner’s fabulous strawberry cake in Sweets: Soul Food Desserts and Memories was a major inspiration for this recipe as well:

1. Use a rotating turntable and offset spatula to evenly frost the cake. Smooth out the top with your offset spatula while rotating the turntable.
2. Once the top is smoothed out, use your offset spatula to make sweeps up the side, rotating as you go and allowing the sweeps to overlap a little.
   • To make the sweeps, point the flat side of the offset spatula so it’s facing the side of the cake, and place the spatula so it’s oriented horizontally.
   • In one swift motion, sweep up while placing a small amount of pressure on the cake (don’t put too much pressure, or you will scrape off the frosting, which is not what you want to do).
   • Allow the end of the sweep to sort of fall toward the center of the cake (kind of trail off toward the center as your spatula leaves the cake, but don’t scrape the top).

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