Sharing is caring!

A fun instant pot recipe for the whole family, this Instant Pot Strawberry Cake is the simplest cake recipe you will ever make – and you don’t even need to heat up the house to bake it! A delicious summer dessert using fresh strawberries.

Instant Pot Cake Recipe

If you’re reading this post, chances are you’re already an Instant Pot convert.

I love mine, especially when life gets a bit busy and I forget to thaw out ingredients for supper, or have a million things to do and literally need a magical pot to throw ingredients in, ignore it, and then pull out a delicious meal minutes later.

But recently, I’ve been having fun experimenting with developing my own Instant Pot dessert recipes!

While I’ve done a few cheesecakes, my daughter isn’t a huge fan, so I started exploring what else my Instant Pot might be able to do well. It had to be a recipe that benefited from the moisture in the pressure cooker, which excludes a lot of recipes!

After a few failed attempts, I came up with what I think is the best Instant Pot cake recipe, and then because it’s summer and I have like 5 cartons of strawberries in my fridge at all times, I thought I’d toss in some fresh strawberries.

(Frozen would work well, too! Or use your favorite mix-in fruit.)

My Instant Pot is a 4L/4 quart size and this recipe resulted in a small cake with approximately 4 servings. I’ve also given the measurements to double this recipe (below) in case you have a bigger Instant Pot or are serving a bigger crowd.

This recipe is super simple in that you don’t need to follow any ingredient order and you don’t even need to break out an electric mixer. Just whip all ingredients together, fold into your “baking” dish and put in the IP.

And when you finish dinner and go to grab your Instant Pot cake from the IP? You’ll find that the fruit gets soft and sweet, similar to a stewed or caramelized fruit, while the cake is spongy and soft with a simple vanilla flavor. You can adjust this cake with different extracts or mix-in ingredients to make this the perfect cake for you. (Chocolate chips and mint extract? Almond extract and cut up apples?)

I hope your family loves this recipe and I look forward to seeing what creative variations you come up with! Be sure to tag me on social media if you make this Instant Pot Cake – whatever flavor you choose!

Ingredients for Instant Pot Strawberry Cake

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cups milk
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
• 1 cup strawberries, chopped

This recipe serves 4.

Tip: switch out the fruit or extracts to make this cake your own. 

To double this recipe:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon  baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
• 2 cups strawberries, chopped

Makes 8 servings.

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

• Instant Pot
• Ceramic baking dish that fits inside IP (I used a Corelle ramekin) – you can also do small individual ones, but that seemed like too much work
• Trivet that came with your IP
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Sharp kitchen knife

How to Make Instant Pot Vanilla Cake

Grease a ramekin or baking dish and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and baking powder.

Add the milk, butter and vanilla extract. Mix well, then fold in the strawberries.

Place the trivet in the IP and add 1 cup of water.

Place the ramekin/baking dish on the trivet and secure the lid.

Select High Pressure for 12 minutes. Natural release.

NOTE: 12 minutes worked for me and will work for metal containers. However, Pyrex apparently needs additional time. If your container is Pyrex or seems thicker, opt for 20 minutes.

Pin this easy Instant Pot Cake recipe with Strawberries:

Grab your free printable for our Instant Pot Strawberry Cake:

Instant Pot Strawberry Cake

Print

Prep Time 3 minutes

Total Time 3 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cups milk
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
• 1 cup strawberries, chopped

Instructions

1. Grease a ramekin or baking dish and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and baking powder.
3. Add the milk, butter and vanilla extract. Mix well, then fold in the strawberries.
4. Place the trivet in the IP and add 1 cup of water.
5. Place the ramekin/baking dish on the trivet and secure the lid.
6. Select High Pressure for 12 minutes. Natural release.

Notes

NOTE: 12 minutes worked for me and will work for metal containers. However, Pyrex apparently needs additional time. If your container is Pyrex or seems thicker, opt for 20 minutes.

This Instant Pot strawberry cake recipe is super simple and easy to make. It’s perfect to whip up when you just want something sweet but don’t have a ton of time or energy to make something more complicated.

For more delicious Instant Pot recipes, check out our Instant Pot Hawaiian Pot Roast or our Instant Pot Taco Pasta.