This tender cake, rich with butter, cream cheese and whole eggs, is studded with a sweet red berries and topped with a gorgeous glaze showcasing the vibrant beauty of one of summer’s most glorious fruits.
Fruit cakes have long been Southern favorites. Not those fruitcakes, but delicate cakes that beautifully showcase fruit. This cake was inspired by the youngest members of our family, who love a pound cake and requested a strawberry version. Pound cakes are wonderful in their simplicity and also create a perfect backdrop for a variety of flavors. This version shares many of the same ingredients and techniques we use in our Sour Cream Pound Cake.
For the ingredients, always butter and whole eggs. For an almost silky texture, cream cheese is added and all blended with sugar. Whisk the flour together with kosher salt and baking powder – adding a light lift to the cakes. Pureed strawberries are stirred in along with orange zest, pure vanilla and almond extracts plus a touch of strawberry flavoring. Finish with a glaze of strawberry puree whisked together with powdered sugar and flavorings.
Our tips for a delicate crumb in pound cakes. Start with the butter, cream cheese and eggs at room temperature. Beat the butter until it looks somewhat like whipped cream, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat a bit more. And sift the flour, kosher salt and baking powder three times, creating a light cake.
These cakes freeze beautifully, making them great to keep on hand for unexpected guests.
This is not your ordinary “fruit cake”!
Strawberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 package cream cheese, 8-ounces, room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 extra-large eggs, room temperature
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup pureed fresh strawberries
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon pure almond extract
1 teaspoon strawberry flavoring
For the glaze:
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
½ cup pureed fresh strawberries
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
¼ teaspoon strawberry flavoring
For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 325-degrees. Spray 2 large loaf pans, 9”x 5”, with a cooking spray and line with a sheet of parchment paper, pressing into the bottom and sides of the pans. Using a large stand mixer, beat the butter on low speed until it becomes creamy. Raise the speed to medium and continue beating until it is very light and fluffy, looking much like whipped cream, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Add the cream cheese and continue beating on medium speed until well blended. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl to make certain the butter and cream cheese are whipped thoroughly together.
On medium speed, add the sugar, about ¼ cup at a time allowing the sugar to blend into the butter before adding more. Once all the sugar has been combined with the butter add the eggs one at a time.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and kosher salt three times. Don’t’ skip this step; it makes a difference in the light texture of your cake.
On low speed, add the dry ingredients to the batter, blending in about 1/3 cup at a time, beating just until the flour disappears.
Stir the 1 cup of strawberry puree, using medium-low speed.
Add the vanilla extract, almond extract, strawberry flavoring and orange zest, stirring into the batter on low speed.
Divide the batter evenly between the 2 large loaf pans. Bake the pound cakes on the center rack of your oven at 325-degrees for about 60 to 65 minutes or until the cakes are golden and when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for about 15 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack and glaze while the cakes are still warm.
For the glaze:
Whisk the powdered sugar together with the strawberry puree, vanilla extract, almond extract and strawberry flavoring until very smooth.
Using a toothpick, poke holes all across the tops of the cakes then spoon the glaze over the tops of each cake.
Makes 2 large pound cakes.
You can find strawberry flavoring online and in some specialty food stores.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Equipment
- Electric mixer
- 2 Large loaf pans, 9"x5"
Ingredients
- For the cake:
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 package cream cheese, 8-ounces, room temperature
- 3 cups sugar
- 6 extra-large eggs, room temperature
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup puréed fresh strawberries, divided
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 teaspoon strawberry flavoring
- For the glaze:
- 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
- ½ cup puréed fresh strawberries
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- ¼ teaspoon strawberry flavoring
Instructions
- For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325-degrees. Spray 2 large loaf pans, 9”x 5”, with a cooking spray and line with a sheet of parchment paper, pressing into the bottom and sides of the pans.
- Using a large stand mixer, beat the butter on low speed until it becomes creamy. Raise the speed to medium and continue beating until it is very light and fluffy, looking much like whipped cream, about 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add the cream cheese and continue beating on medium speed until well blended. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl to make certain the butter and cream cheese are whipped thoroughly together.
- On medium speed, add the sugar, about ¼ cup at a time allowing the sugar to blend into the butter before adding more. Once all the sugar has been combined with the butter add the eggs one at a time.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, and kosher salt three times. Don’t’ skip this step; it makes a difference in the light texture of your cake.
- On low speed, add the dry ingredients to the batter, blending in about ⅓ cup at a time, beating just until the flour disappears.
- Stir the 1 cup of strawberry purée, using medium-low speed.
- Add the vanilla extract, almond extract, strawberry flavoring and orange zest, stirring into the batter on low speed.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 2 large loaf pans. Bake the pound cakes on the center rack of your oven at 325-degrees for about 60 to 65 minutes or until the cakes are golden and when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for about 15 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack and glaze while the cakes are still warm.
- For the glaze:
- Whisk the powdered sugar together with the strawberry purée, vanilla extract, almond extract and strawberry flavoring until very smooth.
- Using a toothpick, poke holes all across the tops of the cakes then spoon the glaze over the tops of each cake.
