Strawberry extract substitutes

Whole strawberries with all the water removed, ground to a fine powder.

Best for

buttercream and frosting, cake batter, macaron shells, strawberry milk, shortbread

This is better than the extract, not merely an alternative, and it is the answer most recipes should be using. It gives concentrated real strawberry flavour, a genuine soft pink colour, and none of the water that ruins strawberry bakes. In buttercream it also absorbs a little moisture and stiffens the frosting slightly, so add a teaspoon of milk or cream to bring it back to spreadable. Blitz the freeze-dried berries in a spice grinder and sift out the seeds if you want a smooth frosting.

Cooked strawberries already concentrated with sugar, in every fridge door.

Best for

buttercream, cake fillings, swirls in cheesecake, quick breads, milkshakes

The most convenient real-fruit option. The flavour is jammy and cooked rather than fresh and bright, which is lovely in a filling and slightly nostalgic in a frosting. Because it brings sugar, pectin and water, cut the recipe's sugar by about two tablespoons and expect a slightly denser, moister crumb in a cake. Warm and sieve it first if you want a smooth buttercream, since the seeds are noticeable.

Fresh or frozen berries cooked down until the water is gone.

Best for

cake batter, buttercream, ice cream, glazes, pastry cream

The best flavour of any of the wet options, because you are concentrating fruit rather than adding sugar. Fifteen to twenty minutes of gentle simmering takes half a cup of puree down to a thick, spoonable paste. The colour goes brick red rather than pink as the fruit cooks, so if you want a pastel pink cake you will need powder or a little colouring alongside it. Cool it completely before it goes near butter.

The boxed dessert powder that classic American strawberry cakes are built on.

Best for

strawberry cake, strawberry cupcakes, poke cake, pink frosting

Worth knowing that this is what most vintage strawberry cake recipes actually rely on. It delivers strong candy-strawberry flavour and vivid pink in one spoonful, plus sugar and gelatin, which makes the crumb slightly springier and chewier than a plain cake. Reduce the recipe's sugar by two or three tablespoons. The flavour is frankly artificial, and if you grew up with these cakes that is exactly the taste you are looking for.

A neighbouring berry flavour when strawberry is what you cannot find.

Best for

chocolate cakes, ganache, frostings, cordials

Raspberry is brighter and noticeably tarter than strawberry, and used one for one it reads as generic berry rather than specifically strawberry. Against chocolate this is an improvement. In strawberry milk or a pale pink birthday cake where strawberry is the entire premise, it is clearly a different flavour and people will notice.

The thing everyone tries, and why it disappoints.

Best for

eating, decorating, folding into whipped cream

Fresh strawberries are around ninety percent water, and their aroma compounds are delicate and largely bake away. Chopping a cup of them into a cake batter gives you a wet, slightly gummy crumb, pale grey-pink patches and a vague sweetness rather than strawberry flavour. If fresh berries are all you have, cook them down to a thick paste first, which turns them into the reduced puree option above.