This strawberry pink lady cake, or strawberry sheet cake, is a vintage recipe straight from the pages of my grandmother’s church cookbook. Delicious, pink cake that is great for holidays, parties, or just a simple dessert.

Years ago my dad passed down a stack of my grandmother’s old church cookbooks, you know the ones filled with family favorites, handwritten notes, and recipes shared by the congregation. I love sitting down and looking through these books on occasion and recently one that caught my eye was this “Pink Lady Cake”.

After a few different trial runs and tweaks, I am so excited to share this delicious, simple strawberry cake recipe with you. It’s soft and bursting with strawberry flavor. The kind of cake that would be perfect for a baby shower, holiday, or as a family dessert.

If you are wanting more old fashioned cakes be sure to try this apricot nectar cake, do nothing cake, and punch bowl cake.

Why you’ll love this cake

• Pretty pink color. The strawberry gelatin helps to give this pink cake its beautiful color making it great for occasions like baby showers, Easter, birthdays, and more.
• Classic old fashioned dessert. A cake recipe that has been around for years that never goes out of style.
• Simple to make. This is an easy strawberry sheet cake to assemble.

Ingredients

• White cake mix – Use your favorite white cake mix for this recipe.
• Eggs – You will need 4 large eggs to be the binder for the batter.
• Water – Helps add moisture to the cake batter.
• Strawberry JELL-O – A small box of instant strawberry Jell-O gives this cake its pink color and strawberry flavor.
• Vegetable oil – I like using vegetable oil but you can substitute with canola oil.
• Strawberries – I use a bag of 14 ounce frozen strawberries that are thawed and then chopped.
• Powdered sugar – This is used to make the strawberry icing.
• Butter – Melted butter is used to make the strawberry cake icing.

How to make pink lady cake

I am using a 9 x 11 sheet pan to bake this pink lady cake. It would also work in a 9 x 13 pan. Make sure to use parchment paper that is sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or greased and dusted with flour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Step one: Place the cake mix, JELL-O, eggs, vegetable oil, water, and chopped strawberries in a mixer bowl. Mix until combined, about 3 minutes.

Step two: Spread the cake batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Step three: Let the cake cool.

Heather’s recipe tips

• Grease the pan. Make sure to either line the sheet pan with parchment paper and then spray with non-stick cooking spray or grease and flour the pan.
• Chop the strawberries. I like dicing the strawberries into smaller pieces.
• Spread the cake batter out evenly. Try and spread the cake batter into an even layer in the baking pan.
• Let the cake cool before adding the icing. I like to make sure the cake is cooled before spreading the icing on the cake.

Storage

Store: This cake can be stored covered at room temperature for 2 days or refrigerated for 3-4 days.

Freeze: Wrap the cake in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.

Frequently asked questions

More easy strawberry recipes

• Strawberry bars with cake mix
• Strawberry spinach salad
• Strawberry cake mix cookies
• Strawberry dip
• Strawberry blossoms recipe