Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake Cake

This chocolate strawberry cheesecake cake is perfect for chocolate strawberry lovers! This is the best cake for Valentine’s Day and it’s so simple too. Think super moist and soft chocolate cake topped with a delicious strawberry cream cheese frosting. Plus, you can easily make this cake dairy-free!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Diet Low Lactose, Vegetarian

Prep Time 20

Bake 30

Total Time 50

Servings slices

Calories 447

Author Gabby Kislanko

Equipment

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1¼ cup granulated sugar
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 cup water, hot
½ cup canola oil (or sunflower oil)
½ cup dairy free milk of choice (I use unsweetened soy milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Strawberry Jam Layer

1 cup strawberry jam

Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1½-2 cup powdered sugar (icing sugar/confectioner's sugar)
2 Tablespoons cornstarch (only if dairy free, see notes!)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Cream Cheese Frosting

In a medium bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer, add the cream cheese and butter and beat until fully combined. Add salt and vanilla extract.
Add in the cornstarch (if using) and powdered sugar slowly until the desired consistency is reach. Start with the lower amount of powdered sugar and add more as needed.
Cover the bowl of frosting and place it in the fridge to firm up while you make the cake.

Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare one 8 inch square baking pan. Spray the inside with cooking spray, then cut a square piece of parchment paper so that it fits in the bottom of the pan (do not skip the parchment paper lining!)
Whisk flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda together in a large bowl.
Add in the eggs, vanilla, oil, and milk. Pour in the hot water and mix until smooth.
Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then run a butter knife around the outside of the cake to loosen it from the pan and flip upside down onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Assembling the Cake

Once the cake has cooled completely, drop scoops of strawberry jam onto the cake and spread it out evenly.
Scoop spoonfuls of cream cheese frosting over top of the jam layer and use a spoon or offset spatula to spread the frosting around. The jam will be mixed in and you can even add more jam on top to make it pretty! Sliced strawberries also would be great to decorate if desired!

Video

Notes

PLEASE NOTE: I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh your dry ingredients. Metric measurements are found above under the "Metric" tab.

PARCHMENT PAPER LINING: I highly recommend not skipping this step. It is highly likely that the cake may break when you try to remove it from the pan if you do.

COCOA POWDER: I recommend using dutch processed cocoa powder, but you can use natural if that's what you have.

MEASURING FLOUR and COCOA POWDER: Either measure your flour using a kitchen scale or use the proper scoop and level method: fluff the flour in the bag/container with a fork then use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup, then run the back of a knife along the top of the cup to even it out. Do the same for the cocoa powder.

CORNSTARCH: Only needed if you are using dairy free cream cheese. It is still optional, but helps to thicken the frosting a bit.

Storage and Freezing Instructions:

The cake should be stored in the fridge because of the cream cheese frosting, for up to 3 days. It will taste best shortly after it's made because the fridge will dry out the chocolate cake slightly.

Nutrition