This Strawberry Pound Cake is a super moist cream cheese pound cake with strawberry pieces, topped with a vanilla cream glaze. It's the "it" treat for Valentine's Day or "just because!"
Raise your hand if you love pound cake. How about the berry of love -- strawberries?
If you answered yes to both questions, then you've just got to make this Strawberry Pound Cake. It is moist, delicious, and beautiful!
This edible present could put a huge smile on any Valentine's face.
I confess that I had someone more than just my Valentine in mind -- myself! 🙂 I hope my hubby doesn't mind.
Our kids were totally happy, too. So it winded up being a treat for the whole family... for my loved ones.
According to them, the cake was so good that it definitely made their "must-make again" list. The good thing about it is that this is not just a seasonal cake...
... and no one needs a special occasion to treat themselves. Yet, it looks and tastes like a very special treat!
The cream cheese pound cake was adapted from the great Martha Stewart. I also folded in chopped strawberries and added strawberry glaze swirls to the batter.
To upgrade this strawberry pound cake, I topped it with a sweetened vanilla cream glaze. It went from simple to posh, as you can see.
Suggestion: make the cake itself for no reason, and top it with the glaze for a special occasion. 😉
Don't you love a "Cinderella" recipe?
HOW TO MAKE STRAWBERRY POUND CAKE
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Grease a 4-quart tube or bundt pan well with butter or vegetable shortening and dust with flour. Set aside.
- Sift flour and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until smooth.
- Gradually adding sugar, beat on medium speed until light and fluffy (approximately 5 minutes). Then, add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition; just until the yolk disappears. Do not overbeat!
- Mix in vanilla. With the mixer on low, add flour and salt in two additions, beating until just combined.
- Fold in chopped strawberries using a spatula and pour half of the batter into the prepared pan.
- Top batter with 8 spoonfuls of strawberry glaze and make swirls using a toothpick.
- Bake on the middle rack until golden and a toothpick inserted close to the center comes out almost clean 60 to 70 minutes.
- If the top of the cake begins to brown too quickly, cover it loosely with aluminum foil.
- Let the cake cool for 10-15 minutes in the pan on a rack.
Meanwhile, prepare the glaze. In a medium bowl, combine powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla, whisking until smooth.
Turn out the cake onto a large plate and place the top side up. Once it is slightly warm (not hot), drizzle glaze over the cake and let set.
Decorate as desired. I used strawberries and sprinkles.
If you love pound cakes, also try our Lemon Coconut Pound Cake.
What's a Pound Cake?
The original recipe dates back to the 1700s and is from the Southern United States. It used one pound each of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs.
It got its name because of the one pound of each ingredient that the recipe called for.
Of course, modern recipes show variations both in flavors and the amount of ingredients, making the batter less dense.
Tips for the Perfect Pound Cake
- Measure ingredients precisely. Make sure to level every cup of flour and sugar with the straight edge of a knife or spatula. Why? Because extra sugar causes a cake to fall, while extra flour makes it dry.
- Ingredients must be at room temperature, such as the butter (for creaming) and the eggs (for rising).
- In order to whip air into the cake batter and to have the cake rise during baking, butter must be beaten until creamy; then, sugar must be added gradually, and beaten until mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time and avoid overbeating. Otherwise, the cake may develop a fragile crust that crumbles as it cools.
- Alternate dry with liquid ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. This will prevent a curdled batter!
- Grease the cake pan well and make sure to either dust it with flour or line it with parchment paper. This will help the batter to rise to its full volume.
- Bake the cake in the center of the oven, and keep the door closed; otherwise, this can cause the cake to fall.
- Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, allowing it to firm up. Cooling the cake for too long in the pan makes it damp and makes it stick to the pan.
Cream Cheese Substitute
If you would like to skip the cream cheese, substitute ½ cup of whole milk for 8-ounce cream cheese.
Once creaming butter and sugar and then adding eggs, one at a time until uniform, alternate milk with flour -- starting and finishing with flour (e.g. flour, milk, flour, milk, flour).
Keep in mind, pound cake won't be as moist and tender as if with cream cheese but it'll still be delicious.
Other Cake Recipes to Enjoy
PIN & ENJOY!
Strawberry Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting pan)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature (about 3 sticks) plus more for pan
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups chopped fresh strawberries (or frozen)
- 8 tablespoon strawberry glaze optional
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ¼ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 4-quart tube or bundt pan well with butter or vegetable shortening and dust with flour. Set aside.
- Sift flour and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until smooth.
- Gradually adding sugar, beat on medium speed until light and fluffy (approximately 5 minutes). Then, add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition just until the yolk disappears. Do not overbeat! Mix in 2 teaspoon vanilla.
- With mixer on low, add flour and salt in two additions, beating until just combined. Fold in chopped strawberries using a spatula and pour half of the batter into prepared pan.
- Top batter with 8 spoonfuls of strawberry glaze and make swirls using a toothpick. Pour the other half over top of this. Tap pan on a work surface in order to eliminate large air bubbles.
- Bake on the middle rack until golden and a toothpick inserted close to the center comes out almost clean, 60 to 70 minutes. If the top of the cake begins to brown too quickly, cover loosely with aluminum foil.
- Let cake cool for 10-15 minutes in the pan on a rack. Meanwhile, prepare the glaze. In a medium bowl, combine powdered sugar, heavy cream, and ½ teaspoon vanilla, whisking until smooth.
- Turn out the cake onto a large plate and place top side up. Once it is slightly warm (not hot), drizzle glaze over the cake and let set. Decorate as desired. I used strawberries and sprinkles for decoration,
Recipe Notes
- Love pound cakes? Also try our Lemon Coconut Pound Cake.
- If you would like to skip the cream cheese, use ½ cup of whole milk instead. Once creaming butter and sugar and then adding eggs one at a time until homogeneous, alternate milk with flour -- starting and finishing with flour (e.g. flour, milk, flour, milk, flour). Keep in mind, cake won't be as moist and tender as if with cream cheese but it'll still be delicious.
Nutrition
** Nutrition labels on easyanddelish.com are for educational purposes only. This info is provided as a courtesy and is only an estimate, since the nutrition content of recipes can vary based on ingredient brand or source, portion sizes, recipe changes/variations, and other factors. We suggest making your own calculations using your preferred calculator, based on which ingredients you use, or consulting with a registered dietitian to determine nutritional values more precisely.
Please note that health-focused and diet information provided on easyanddelish.com is for educational purposes and does not constitute medical advice, nor is it intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. Consult with your doctor or other qualified health professional prior to initiating any significant change in your diet or exercise regimen, or for any other issue necessitating medical advice.
Amanda says
I’m excited to try your recipe for my daughter’s birthday! Was wondering if it needs to be refrigerated, if I were to make a day or two in advance? Suggestions on if I were to do mini bundts instead?
Denise Browning says
Hi Amanda! Yes, you can make this strawberry pound cake 1-2 days in advance. The cake itself would be best kept in the refrigerator well wrapped in parchment paper and then aluminum foil but let it cool first.
On the day you will serve the cake, prepare the glaze and then top the cake with it. Let it set! The fresh strawberries must be placed on the cake right before serving or a few minutes earlier. Of course, if you prefer to bake this cake in mini bundt pan you can, but you would have to adjust the baking time accordingly. I have never made it in mini bundt cakes. I wish your daughter a very happy birthday!
Amy Ferguson says
This looks great and I'm going to try it, but I was wondering if you could use a strawberry jam instead of the glaze to swirl into the batter?
Denise Browning says
Hi Amy! Yes, you can use jam instead of the glaze.
Kathleen Shaw says
Hello, looks delish! Can you use frozen strawberries?
Denise Browning says
Yes you can.
Angie says
Can you use something other than cream cheese in this pound cake ???? Looks awesome !!!! Angie
Denise Browning says
Hi Angie! This is my husband's favorite pound cake. If you don't want to use cream cheese, use 1/2 cup of whole milk instead. The right way to incorporate the milk is by alternating with the flour. Cream butter with sugar, add eggs one at a time, and when you are adding the flour alternate the addition with the milk. The dairy ingredient helps to tenderize the cake. Keep in mind that it won't be as tender as if with cream cheese but still it will be good. Well enjoy!
John / Kitchen Riffs says
Wow, this looks wonderful! It's below zero here, so this is a nice taste of spring. Terrific recipe -- thanks.
Denise Browning says
Thank you! It is my husband's favorite cake. If I had made an extra cake, he would have taken care of it by himself.
Deb|EastofEdenCooking says
Even though its only January I'm already looking forward to local strawberry season. This is such a decadent berry dessert!
Denise Browning says
It is a great cake for V-day. Since strawberry is available all year round here, I made with fresh strawberries but you can make with frozen ones if desired.