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Summertime is the perfect time to relax with a Strawberry Daiquiri- or in today's case, a big slice of homemade Strawberry Daiquiri Cake!

This moist strawberry cake is enhanced with refreshing lime flavor and a hint of rum for a wonderful and unique dessert that is guaranteed to please.

Strawberry Daiquiri Cake

We did a lot of experimenting with this cake recipe and decided that our favorite version was a soft layer cake flavored with strawberry daiquiri mix, a bit of rum, and lime zest.

There are many great options for fillings and frostings with this recipe as we have several strawberry and lime recipes in our Recipes section, but we decided on a classic cooked strawberry filling and a new Strawberry Daiquiri Cream Cheese Buttercream.- SO good!

How to Make a Strawberry Daiquiri Cake

*You can find the full, printable cake recipe at the bottom of this post, but here is a quick rundown of our steps!

This recipe uses the conventional (rather than reverse creaming) method of mixing, resulting in a moist and fluffy cake!

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease & flour three 8 inch cake pans. I always like to line the pans with a circle of parchment paper too. You could also make two layer 8 inch cake instead, but we prefer to have the additional layer of filling that a three layer cake gives us!

In a medium sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients: cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to blend for 30 seconds and set aside.

In another bowl combine the sour cream, 3/4 cup thawed strawberry daiquiri mix, strawberry extract, oil, lime zest, and rum. Blend and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the butter until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and mix on medium speed 3 to 5 minutes until fluffy and lightened in color.

Next, add the room temperature eggs one at a time mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.

Alternately add the flour mixture and sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (3 additions of dry ingredients, 2 additions of wet ingredients.) If adding a little pink coloring gel, you can do so at this time.

Mix until combined and smooth, do not mix above medium speed or over mix. This recipe makes about 8 cups of batter. Divide between pans and bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.

Strawberry Daiquiri Cake

Filling and Frosting the Cake

For the Strawberry Filling:

Our tried and true cooked strawberry filling simply involves combining two cups of chopped strawberries with white sugar, a little corn starch, and a bit of water.

Combine in a saucepan and mix over heat just until it begins to boil, then reduce the heat as it continues to thicken. Make sure to stir the strawberry mixture constantly to prevent it from burning on the bottom -speaking from experience ;0)

This strawberry filling has BIG flavor- it takes a few extra minutes to chop up two cups of strawberries but it is definitely worth it. You can find the full recipe below.

Frosting the Cake

Our Strawberry Daiquiri Cream Cheese Frosting is a happy medium between buttercream and cream cheese frosting. Our usual cream cheese frosting recipes are on the softer side which limits the amount of liquid that can be added to the recipe for flavoring.

So, today's Strawberry Daiquiri Cream Cheese Frosting behaves more like a classic American buttercream as it contains three sticks of butter, 7 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, and liquids can be easily added without worry, but it also contains a package of cream cheese frosting.

The cream cheese adds a wonderful creaminess to the frosting recipe, and when paired with strawberry flavoring, lime juice, rum, and lime zest, it has fantastic flavor!

Assembling the Strawberry Daiquiri Cake

Place the first cooled or room temperature cake layer onto the cake base or pedestal.

Spread with a layer of frosting (I spread mine fairly thin). Next, pipe a dam of the daiquiri frosting around the edge of the cake, about 1/4 inch from the edge. I piped my dam with a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.

Next, fill with cooled strawberry filling. Do these steps for the first two cake layers and top with the final cake layer. You can fill in any remaining gaps between the cake layers with frosting- I often do this with the same piping bag used to pipe the dam.

Frost the cake with a crumb coat (thin layer of frosting), and chill for about 15 minutes in the freezer (or longer in the refrigerator). This chilling step is optional but I find it easier to add the final coat of frosting to a cake that has been chilled & firmed up a bit.

Add the final coat of frosting and decorate however you like! We are working with 6 cups of Strawberry Daiquiri Cream Cheese Frosting and I used every last bit of it.

For the top of the cake, I created a spiral by spinning the cake on a turntable as I created impressions in the frosting with a small round piping tip. Start in the center of the cake and spiral outward with each rotation.

I also used a small rounded spatula to create texture in the frosting around the base of the cake- and I finished things off with a fat shell border piped with a 2D large star piping tip.

Strawberry Daiquiri Cake

Making a Cake with a Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri Mixer

We have a few other popular strawberry cakes in our Cake Recipes section including our Strawberry Sour Cream Cake and Scratch Strawberry Cake as well as a Strawberry Doctored Cake Mix recipe but today's cake is unique because it includes thawed Bacardi Frozen Daiquiri Mixer as an ingredient.

We decided to use the Daiquiri mix because it is such an easy way to add flavorful and refreshing strawberry and lime flavor to the cake batter. We also added an additional boost of strawberry using a little strawberry extract as well as the zest of one lime and a splash or rum.

Using Rum as an ingredient in Strawberry Daiquiri Cake

You'll notice just a hint of rum in this cake recipe from the 1/3 cup that is in the cake batter as well as the tablespoons of rum in the frosting.

This is a great flavor addition to our Strawberry Daiquiri Cake as we wanted it to taste like a Strawberry Daiquiri! The rum flavor in the cake is more faint than the rum flavor in the frosting. Feel free to play around with the amount of rum in the recipe- if you like a bit more rum, and your frosting isn't too soft, add a little more!

While much of the alcohol will bake out of the recipe, some of it will remain. This, as well as the rum added directly to the Strawberry Daiquiri Frosting, makes this cake more suitable for adults.

Substituting Rum Extract

Finally, while I haven't yet tried rum extract in this particular recipe, I've used it with other recipes (like our Pina Colada Cake) with good results. If this is what you prefer, I would use one or two teaspoons in the cake batter as well as the frosting. (You can adjust amounts to your liking). Grocery stores often keep rum extract in stock on the baking aisle.

More "Boozy" Cake Recipes to Try!

We've made several delicious boozy or cocktail- inspired cake recipes over the years. If you haven't tried these yet, we highly recommend them! Not only are they delicious, but they make for fun and festive cake flavors for entertaining!

Check out our Roundup of Boozy Cake Recipes which includes everything from Margarita Cake to Pink Champagne Cake, Black Forest Cake, and so many more!

Ingredients

For the Strawberry Daiquiri Cake

1 1/2 sticks (170g) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups (300g) sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups (342g) cake flour - if you do not have cake flour see Notes below
2 teaspoons ( 8g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3g) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
1 cup (227g) sour cream
3/4 cup Bacardi Strawberry Daiquiri Frozen Mix, thawed
1/4 cup (54g) vegetable oil ( I use canola oil)
2 teaspoons (8g) strawberry extract (We used McCormick Brand)
zest of one lime
1/3 cup Rum (we used white rum)
*Pink Coloring Gel- Optional- we used a small amount of pink coloring gel

For the Cooked Strawberry Filling

2 cups chopped strawberry (fresh or frozen — chop in rather small pieces)
1/4 cup (50g) sugar
2 Tablespoons (18g) cornstarch (cornflour in the UK)
1 Tablespoon (9g) water

For the Strawberry Daiquiri Cream Cheese Buttercream

3 Sticks (339 g) Unsalted Butter
1 (8 oz) Block of Cream Cheese (not reduced fat)
7 1/2 Cups (863g) Confectioners/Powdered Sugar
3 Tablespoons Lime Juice (Use fresh if you'd like, we used Nellie & Joes brand Key West Lime Juice)
1 Teaspoon (4g) Strawberry Extract
2 Tablespoons Rum
zest of one lime
A small amount of pink coloring gel (optional)

Instructions

For the Strawberry Daiquiri Cake Layers

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour three 8 inch x 2 inch round cake pans. You can use two 9 inch pans, just lengthen the baking time a bit.

In a medium sized bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to blend for 30 seconds. Set aside.

In another bowl combine the sour cream, 3/4 cup thawed strawberry daiquiri mix, strawberry extract, oil, lime zest, and rum. Blend and set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer blend the butter until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and mix on medium speed 3 to 5 minutes until fluffy and lightened in color.

Add the eggs 1 at a time mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.

Add the flour mixture and the sour cream mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (3 additions of dry ingredients, 2 additions of wet ingredients.) If adding a little pink coloring gel, you can do so at this time.

Mix until combined and smooth, do not mix above medium speed or over mix. Makes about 8 cups of batter. Divide between the prepared pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let cool 5 to 10 minutes, then turn out.

For the Strawberry Filling

Add all ingredients to a small saucepan. On medium/high heat allow mixture to come to a boil.

Stir as the sugar begins to melt and the strawberries soften. When the mixture begins to boil, lower the heat and stir constantly until the mixture begins to thicken.

You can press some of the strawberries against the side of the pan as they soften. Pour into a heat proof bowl to cool. It can be refrigerated in an air-tight bowl until ready to use. Use within 5 days. This makes enough filling for a 3 layer cake.

For the Strawberry Daiquiri Frosting

Put the softened butter in the bowl of your mixer and mix until smooth.

Add the pieces of softened cream cheese to the mixing bowl. The cream cheese should be soft enough that it combines easily into the butter/powdered sugar mixture. Beat on low/medium speed about 1 minute or until the cream cheese is blended in.

Add the powdered sugar and then lime juice, lime zest, and rum. Add a touch of pink coloring gel if you'd like. Beat on Medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes (a bit longer if using a hand mixer). Scrape the bowl mid way through. Do not over beat.

This frosting should be refrigerated.

Makes 6 cups

Assembly of Cake

Place the first cake layer on the pedestal or cake base. Spread with a layer of frosting (mine was fairly thin). Pipe a dam of frosting around the edge of the cake layer (about 1/4 inch from the edge) using a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.

Fill inside of the dam with a layer of strawberry filling. Place the next layer on top and repeat. Then top with the third cake layer are frost.

I created a spiral pattern on top of the frosted cake using a small rounded spatula, starting from the top center of the cake, creating an impression as I rotated on the turntable. I created more impressions using the small spatula around the base of the frosting and finished things off with a shell border using a 2D piping tip.

Notes

Substitution for cake flour: Using all purpose flour (plain in the UK) for each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend.

My Cake School Cake Recipes and Online Cake Tutorials

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you try our Strawberry Daiquiri Cake, please make sure to leave a comment and photo below!

Also, don't miss the rest of our favorite cake and frosting recipes as featured in our Cake Recipes section! There is always something new to try.

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