Mini Strawberry Bundt Cakes with Strawberry Icing

These mini strawberry bundt cakes began with a craving for a strawberry dessert but also reluctance (I was having a lazy day!) to turn on my stand mixer. Sometimes you want a simple dessert you can whip up in a mixing bowl, and that is exactly what we have here. These small cakes are full of flavor and require no electric or hand mixer. And if the ease of making them doesn't sell you, the beautiful pink color of the cream cheese icing might do the trick. Freeze dried strawberry powder gives them their pretty hue and extra punch of strawberry flavor.

Jump to:

• Ingredients in this Mini Cake Recipe
• Recipe Shortcuts
• What is a Bundt cake?
• Prepping your Mini Bundt Pan so Cake Doesn't Stick!
• Cooking Strawberries
• How to Make this Mixer-Free Recipe
• Making the Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing
• Storage Instructions for these Mini Strawberry Cakes
• More Strawberry Desserts
• Mini Strawberry Bundt Cakes with Strawberry Icing

Ingredients in this Mini Cake Recipe

I love a good strawberry cake mix, but I wanted to be able to make a strawberry cake with ingredients I already had instead of running to the store for such a specific purchase. Below are some of the key items you need to make these mini cakes, with the full details in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

• Strawberries - Cooking fresh strawberries on the stovetop intensifies their flavor in the best way. As they heat, their natural sugars give off a sweeter and richer taste, while they soften and release juices. The end result is a slightly jam-like or compote-like consistency that you'll puree to add to your cake batter.
• Canola oil – Along with the fruit juices, canola oil also helps keep this cake moist. Because there is no butter to cream in this recipe, it's super easy to whip up in a large bowl.
• Freeze-dried strawberries – This ingredient may not be one you already have on hand, but once you start using freeze-dried fruits, I promise you'll love them and want to have some on reserve in your pantry. Freeze dried strawberries have a concentrated, more intense flavor than fresh or even dried fruits. They work well in the icing here because they don’t add any excess moisture. Be sure to grind them into a fine powder before incorporating them into your cream cheese glaze.
• Pink food gel extract – Without a few drops of food gel, your mini bundt cakes will still be pink but just more muted. I recommend adding 3-4 to your batter for a soft pink hue.

What is a Bundt cake?

A Bundt cake is a bit of a misnomer. The name refers to the ring-shaped pan, known as a Bundt pan, that holds your cake.

Oftentimes there is a middle section that's a central tube or "chimney." This feature helps the cake cook evenly and promotes uniform baking so that the cake's edges bake at a similar rate as its middle.

Bundt pans are great for making cakes because they already have a decorative aspect to them. They come in a wide variety of beautiful shapes, sizes, and intricate designs. With a little glaze, dusting of powdered sugar, or icing you can dress them up very easily.

Prepping your Mini Bundt Pan so Cake Doesn't Stick!

All the pretty grooves of a Bundt pan need to be properly coated so that it releases your baked goods once they've baked.

Use a pastry brush or a piece of paper towel to evenly coat the interior of the Bundt pan with a layer of melted butter, vegetable oil, or shortening. Make sure to get into all the nooks and crannies of the fluted design.

After greasing, dust it with a light coating of flour, which creates an additional barrier between the cake batter and the pan, making it less likely for the cake to stick.

After dusting with flour, tap the pan over the sink or garbage can to remove any excess flour. This ensures that only a thin, even layer remains to prevent sticking.

If you have a high-quality pan that you flour and grease well, you should not have any issues. You can also spray your pan with Baker’s Joy or a homemade equivalent of baker’s release spray. This helps ensure your cakes come easily and cleanly out of your pan once they’ve baked and cooled.

If you’re properly preparing your pan but still having issues, it could be that you need a new pan. As cake pans age, they can lose their ability to conduct heat as well as they once did.

Cooking Strawberries

Add fresh or frozen strawberries to a pot, along with sugar, and splash of fresh or bottled lemon juice.

Cook down berries over medium heat until they're reduced and much of the liquid is cooked out (about 5 minutes for fresh strawberries and 10-15 minutes for frozen).

Run through a blender or food processor to make puree and set aside to cool.

How to Make this Mixer-Free Recipe

After you’ve cooked your strawberries and prepped your 6-cavity mini Bundt pan, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and start measuring out all your ingredients.

To a large mixing bowl, add and whisk together your sugar, canola oil, vanilla and almond extracts, and eggs.

Add your flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to another bowl just for these dry ingredients.

Pour and mix your room temperature strawberry puree (and pink gel extract, if using) into the wet batter. 

Add flour mixture to the bowl of wet ingredients, alternating with buttermilk and ending with the flour mixture before dividing and pouring batter evenly into your Bundt pan.

Bake for 20-22 minutes or until you insert a toothpick into your cake and it comes out cleanly.

Let cake cool in pan about 15 minutes. Then, flip the pan upside down onto a wire rack for the individual mini strawberry Bundt cakes to cool completely.

Making the Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing

As your cake cools, gently warm your cream cheese. In a medium-sized bowl in the microwave, heat it in 10-second bursts. Use a low power and warm until it’s runny enough to whisk. Should take 30-45 seconds in total.   

Add your milk, vanilla extract, freeze-dried fruit powder, pinch of salt, and powdered sugar to the bowl. Whisk until the mixture is slightly thickened but still liquid-y.

Add more liquid to loosen it, depending on how runny you'd like it to be. I liked mine thick!

Drizzle or pour strawberry cream cheese glaze onto the 6 mini Bundts. Dust with strawberry slices or more freeze-dried powder.

Storage Instructions for these Mini Strawberry Cakes

Due to the dairy in the cream cheese icing, I recommend keeping these cakes in the refrigerator between serving them.

They'll still taste great up to 4 days after baking and are most delish served at room temperature. Bring them out of the refrigerator about an hour before you'd like to share them.

So long as you keep your cakes in airtight containers and seal them well before they enter your freezer, you may also freeze these cakes for up to 3 months.

Let cakes thaw for a few hours at room temperature before serving.

More Strawberry Desserts

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