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 (in the recipe card 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?)

Because this cake is steamed, the texture is a bit different than a traditional oven-baked cake. It’s dense, spongy and just melts-in-your-mouth.

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!

What is the cake setting on the Instant Pot? Some of the newer models of Instant Pot (like the Lux 6qt or Ultra 6qt) actually have a cake setting! But, I’m working with two models that don’t have a dedicated cake setting – as I’m imagining most readers are, too. For a standard Instant Pot, just use the Manual Pressure Cooking setting for cakes.

Can you use Pyrex in Instant Pot? Anything you put in the oven, you can put in your Instant Pot! If you are cooking with Pyrex, you may need to adjust your cooking time slightly.

What cake pan is best in the Instant Pot? You can actually purchase an Instant Pot cake pan with handle, which would make removing this cake so much easier. However, as long as your cake pan can fit in your Instant Pot – you can use it! If using a springform pan, make sure you wrap it tightly with foil to avoid additional moisture from getting into the cake.

If you typically cook savoury dishes in your Instant Pot, you may want to look at purchasing some extra sealing rings to ensure that your cake doesn’t take on a savoury flavor from your other recipes.

This cake recipe also works in the oven, you just need to increase the baking time.

You can also use a boxed cake mix for this recipe and just add in the strawberries.

Check out our quick recipe video for how to make an Instant Pot Strawberry Cake – and then don’t forget to scroll down to grab your free printable recipe card:

Looking for more Instant Pot Recipes? Check out our full collection here!

Ingredients for Instant Pot Strawberry Cake

• All purpose flour
• White granulated sugar
• Baking powder
• Milk
• Butter, softened
• Vanilla extract or paste
• Strawberries, chopped

This recipe serves 4.

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.

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

To double this recipe, see note in the recipe card.

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

• Instant Pot
• 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. There is also a Instant Pot cake pan with handle
• Trivet that came with your IP
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Sharp kitchen knife
• Extra sealing rings <– highly recommended if you cook with a lot of garlic or seasonings in your Instant Pot normally

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 18-23 minutes. Natural release.

NOTE: This recipe previously called for a cook time of 12 minutes. However, with testing it, I found that 1/3 times this was not enough of a cook time. I think this has to do with the water level of your strawberries and also how small you chop them.

If you make the “half batch” the cook time will be 18 minutes, if you cook the full batch, it will be 23 minutes.

We left our cake plain but you can top it with some fresh whipped cream and more strawberries or a delicious homemade frosting.

Pin this easy Instant Pot Cake recipe with Strawberries:

Grab your free printable recipe card for our Instant Pot Strawberry Cake:

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.

Check out these other Instant Pot cakes:

• Instant Pot Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake from In the Kids Kitchen
• Instant Pot Lemon Cake from One Happy Housewife
• Instant Pot Confetti Birthday Cake from The Food Network

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