Strawberry Pound Cake
Today we're going to share the BEST Strawberry Pound Cake recipe. If you love strawberry cakes and you love pound cakes, then you need this recipe in your life- I don't know how we got along so long without it!
It is SO good, and while strawberry pound cake is a great choice year-round, it is the perfect dessert for spring and summer months when we're craving cakes that are light and fruity. (Don't miss our favorite fruity summer cakes as well as our strawberry bundt cake!)
Table of Contents
Why We Love It
There are so many reasons to love this strawberry pound cake! Here are just a few:
- Great strawberry flavor
- Soft texture and fine crumb
- Can be made year round since frozen strawberries work great with this recipe!
- Such a pretty presentation!
- Perfect for spring and summer birthdays, picnics, potlucks, and more.
How to Make a Strawberry Pound Cake
You are going to love this fresh strawberry pound cake recipe- it has a moist, tender crumb and amazing strawberry flavor. It's such a pretty cake too!
*You can find the full, printable strawberry pound cake recipe further down in this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!
Preheat Oven and Prepare Pan: First, lower the oven rack to the next to lowest position. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour a tube pan or bundt pan.
Fresh Strawberry Puree and Reduction
Before making the strawberry pound cake batter, we started with the strawberry reduction. You can find the full instructions further down in the printable recipe card. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!
- Wash and slice one pound of strawberries (we used fresh strawberries).
- Puree the strawberries using a food processor or blender until you have 1 cup puree. Heat the strawberry puree in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until it reduces to ½ cup, stir frequently. Set aside to cool down.
Prepare the Strawberry Pound Cake Batter
Now it is time to put everything together! See the recipe card for full ingredient amounts and details.
- Flour Mixture: First, in a separate bowl, whisk the all purpose flour and baking powder to combine and set aside.
- Butter & Sugar: Next, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Gradually add the white sugar and mix at medium speed until lightened in color and fluffy (a few minutes).
- Eggs: Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yolk disappears
- Puree, Milk & Extract: In a one cup measuring cup, add ½ cup milk plus ½ cup of the reduced strawberry puree and 2 teaspoons strawberry extract. Set Aside
- Dry Ingredients and Wet Ingredients: With the mixer on low speed, add the flour/baking powder mixture alternately with the milk/puree mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of wet ingredients.) Mix just until blended. *If you are adding a little pink coloring, you can do so at this time.
- Pour into Pan: Pour the strawberry cake batter into a greased & floured tube pan or bundt cake pan.
- Bake the strawberry pound cake for about 1 hour, 10 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached. The baking time may vary- It's a good idea to check on the cake after about an hour to be on the safe side.
Here it is, fresh from the oven. It's almost impossible not to trim a little off the top for a quick taste test! We're flipping it over so nobody will ever know ;0)
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes and then carefully flip out the cake onto your cake base or cake stand.
(You can hold the cake base on top of the pan and flip it all as one. Lift off the pan and allow to cool a bit more.)
Glazing the Strawberry Pound Cake
We have used this vanilla glaze many times over the years and the recipe couldn't be easier.
Simply combine powdered sugar with a small amount of milk and extract and stir until smooth. (We've used variations of this easy glaze for our Coconut Pound Cake, Honey Cake, and Buttermilk Pound Cake, just to name a few!
Consistency of the Vanilla Glaze
You can adjust the amount of powdered sugar or liquid to reach the desired consistency. (We used about 2.5 cups powdered sugar to about 2 tablespoons milk plus vanilla extract). Ours was a little on the thicker side for a nice, white glaze but it's up to you!
*Note that considering the ingredients, this is a very sweet glaze-- you will find it too sweet if taste testing by the spoonful, but when drizzled over a pound cake, it is perfect!
Decorating the Cake
Once the Strawberry Pound Cake has cooled, you can apply the vanilla glaze. (We made ours a little more thick than usual so that it would be a bright white- but you can also use less confectioners sugar for a slightly transparent look. Adjust to your liking!
Fresh Berries on Top!
After glazing the strawberry pound cake, I washed several fresh strawberries and added them to the top!
It doesn't get any easier than that for a quick cake decoration and I just love the cheerful look of the additional strawberries!
Here is our delicious cake, freshly sliced. I love this photo because you can really see the fine crumb and lovely texture.
More Strawberry Cake Recipes
In addition to this favorite Strawberry Pound Cake recipe, we have several other moist strawberry cake recipes and flavorful Strawberry frostings and fillings to share!
Our Strawberry Shortcake Cake and and Homemade Strawberry Cake are always crowd favorites. Here are a few more for your must-bake list!
Make sure to scroll though our post of favorite strawberry cake recipes!
Favorite Pound Cake Recipes
Sometimes you just need a good pound cake! In addition to today's Strawberry Pound Cake, we have many more Pound Cake Recipes that we just love!
You'll find decadent Cream Cheese Pound Cake and Buttermilk Pound Cake, flavorful coconut pound cake, lemon pound cake, and many more!
Recipe FAQs
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Strawberry Pound Cake
This moist Strawberry Pound Cake is heavenly! We love the strawberry flavor- it's the perfect cake recipe for spring and summer, or for the strawberry lovers in your life!
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ( 453g) of strawberries (These will be pureed to 1 cup (232g) and reduced over heat to ½ cup as explained below)
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, slightly softened
- 3 cups (600g) sugar
- 5 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 cups (375g) all purpose flour (not self-rising)
- ½ teaspoon (2g) baking powder
- ½ cup cooled, reduced strawberry puree
- ½ cup milk
- 2 teaspoons (8g) strawberry extract (We used McCormick)
- pink food coloring (optional) we used a small amount of gel color
Instructions
For the Cake
- Lower the oven rack to the next to lowest position.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a tube pan. If you are baking in a dark colored pan, reduce the temperature to 325 degrees and you may need to bake a bit longer.
- Strawberry Puree and Reduction— Wash and slice 1 pound of strawberries. Puree using a food processor or blender ( I used a Bullet smoothie blender) until you have 1 cup puree. Put the puree in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until it reduces to ½ cup, stir frequently. Set aside to cool. Reducing the puree gives you the flavor of 1 cup puree without adding too much liquid to the recipe.
- In a separate bowl whisk the flour and baking powder to combine, set aside for later
- In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter until sooth. Gradually add the sugar and beat at medium speed until lightened in color and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, a bit longer if using a hand mixer.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yolk disappears.
- In a 1 cup measuring cup, add ½ cup milk plus ½ cup of the reduced strawberry puree. If you end up having a bit less than ½ cup, when you add it to the ½ cup milk, add more milk to bring the total liquid to 1 cup. Add the 2 teaspoons strawberry extract to the cup. Set Aside
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour/baking powder mixture alternately with the milk/puree mixture. Begin and end with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of wet ingredients. Mix just until combined. If adding a little pink coloring gel, you can do so at this time.
- Pour the cake batter into prepared tube pan/bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a long wooden skewer comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Keep an eye on the cake, if the top of the cake begins to get to dark, loosely place a piece of aluminum foil over it. Check at 1 hour for doneness.
- Remove the baked cake from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before carefully inverting the pan onto a cake board or cake plate.
For the Vanilla Glaze
- 2 ½ cups (230g) powdered sugar (sift then measure)
- 2 to 3 Tablespoons milk depending on how thick you want the glaze
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract (use clear extract for a whiter glaze)
- Mix all ingredients until smooth. If it is too thick add a little more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time. Add more powdered sugar if it is too thin.
Decorating the Cake
You can spoon the vanilla glaze over the strawberry pound cake if you'd like, but for a little more control, I like to spoon the glaze into a disposable piping bag with the very tip snipped away. Drizzle however you like, and top with fresh strawberries!
You may like to serve the strawberry pound cake with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream and more strawberries.
Notes
Makes approximately 8 cups batter. Strawberry extract can be hard to find at the grocery store. I have found it at Walmart and on Amazon.
Can I use frozen strawberries?
Hi Rebecca, Yes, you can use frozen strawberries in the recipe. Let them thaw slightly so you will be able to cup into smaller pieces to make it easier to puree in the food processor or blender. Hope you will enjoy the cake.
Can I add more strawberry puree to my cake instead of 1/2 of a cup?