Strawberry Pound Cake Recipe

This strawberry pound cake recipe is the perfect spring dessert. With fresh strawberries folded into the sourcream pound cake and topped with a strawberry cream cheese glaze, it’s bound to be a hit at your next party!

This post contains affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

One of my favorite memories growing up was heading to a local farm where you pick all the strawberries you could possibly carry. Now as a kid, that basically meant 1 in the bucket, 1 in my mouth.

And whatever we did end up taking home, meant strawberries went into everything. Usually a pie was made. Or a cobbler was a sure fire hit.

And of course, it usually paired up with rhubarb at least once. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more creative as to  where my strawberries end up.

Like maybe a scone. Or a 10-minute mousse. So this year, I decided to throw into a pound cake. I’ve made a lemon version of this pound cake, and raspberry version too. This time, strawberries were going to get their chance to shine.

How To Make This Strawberry Pound Cake Recipe

First off, let’s talk about pans. I made this pound cake in my go to favorite bundt pan. To properly prepare your bundt pan you want to make sure to actually wait to grease your pan.

Pro Tip: Because of the shape of a bundt pan, if you grease it too early the grease you use can fall down the sides of the pan. So wait until you grease your pan until right before you add your batter.

Now you have two options: shortening or spray. You can brush shortening on with a paper towel and then dust with flour. Or use a cooking spray that has flour added to it. I used both and they both worked great. So use what you have!

Now on to the cake. This strawberry pound cake recipe starts by sifting your properly measured flour. Now I know sifting might no be your favorite thing. But in order to end up with a light and fluffy cake in the end that rises properly sifting is key. These are my Amazon. So add in your flour, baking powder, baking soda, and a little bit of salt and sift away.

In your stand mixer you are going to want to cream softened butter (here are 3 easy ways to soften your butter in a pinch!) and sugar.

Do I Need To Soften My Butter?

Yes. Having properly softened butter is important so that the sugar can basically punch holes in the butter. Those little holes are going to be filled with air.

Now, yes, we added baking powder and baking soda. That air is also going to be key in getting your cake to rise. Once it’s all light and fluffy, add in your room temperature eggs.

Do my eggs really need to be room temperature?

Yes they do. When it comes to baking, temperature plays a vital role. If your eggs are too cold going in the bowl it will seize up all that butter you just creamed in the previous step.

Pro Tip: Place your eggs in a bowl of warm water for about 5 minutes before you add them into your bowl. And just be sure to add them one at a time, so you don’t overwhelm the mixture.

Then it’s time to alternate the sour cream (with a bit of vanilla stirred in) and your sifted ingredients. Sour cream is what makes this cake so darn moist.

Why do you alternate the ingredients? 

When you cream your butter and sugar together, you introduce air into the batter. This air that is introduced is what gives the cake a tender crumb. When you go to add the dry ingredients you want to introduce them gradually. If you introduce them gradually, you won’t deflate all that air you introduced during the creaming process. Basically a major bummer.  (Source:Cooking Light)

Ok enough science. On to the strawberries. I used fresh strawberries in this cake. No artificial nothing for me thanks.

Pro Tip: To ensure the strawberries don’t sink in the batter toss them first with a tablespoon of flour. It’s what I do to help keep my chocolate chips from sinking too.

Now your batter is done. So go ahead and grease that pan. And, bake, baby, bake.

Oh but wait, we aren’t done yet. We need to make some glaze. Oh this cream cheese glaze. Be still my heart. I was dipping extra strawberries in this glaze. I just couldn’t help myself.

This glaze has some typical ingredients- cream cheese (for a bit of tanginess), powdered sugar (for sweetness of course), heavy cream (for richness and something to thin it out), and vanilla (for a bit of flavor)- but it also has a secret weapon. Yes my glazes come with secret weapons.

Freeze dried strawberries.

I tried it with fresh strawberries and there was that whole seed and too much liquid thing going on. So how do you pack a punch of strawberry flavor without adding extra liquid? Freeze. Dried. Strawberries.

You can pulverize them in a food processor or simply place in a zip-loc bag and crush them with a rolling pin. I prefer the latter. No need to bust out my processor. No extra dishes to wash. I was able to crush every strawberry into a fine powder (my food processor wasn’t quite able to accomplish this), and it’s one heck of a way to get out any frustrations. Lots of traffic? Whack, whack. Spilled coffee on yourself this AM? Whack, whack. Stupid boss, endless laundry, annoying bills are due. Whack, whack, whack. Bad day forgotten. Strawberries crushed.

P.S. I found my strawberries in the organic/health food aisle. But if you can’t find any, you can always get them on Amazon of course.

So once the cake has cooled go ahead and drizzle this over your cake. Then cut a slice. Eat. Repeat. Tell yourself you’re getting fresh strawberries and doing something good for yourself 😉 I won’t tell.

0 from 0 votes

Print

Strawberry Pound Cake

A fresh strawberry pound cake recipe made with sour cream so it is extra moist! Then drizzled with a strawberry cream cheese glaze made with a secret ingredient!

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 pint strawberries diced (tossed in 1 Tbsp. flour)

For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Glaze

• 4 ounces cream cheese softened to room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 6 Tablespoons heavy cream I've also used milk or water!
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1.2 ounces freeze-dried strawberries crushed to a powder

Instructions

1. Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
2. In another bowl, combine the vanilla extract and sour cream.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the mixing bowl well after each addition and mix until blended. Add dry and wet ingredients alternately to butter-sugar-egg mixture until uniformly incorporated- do not overmix. Stir in the diced strawberries.
4. Grease and flour one bundt cake pan (or 2 large loaf pans- or 6-7 mini loaf pans). Pour batter into pan. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for approximately 50 minutes (be sure to lower the baking time if you are making things smaller). The cake is done when a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before glazing.
5. For the glaze: Mix all ingredients until smooth. Pour over top of cake and serve. For a thicker glaze use less heavy cream.