This delicious strawberry pound cake with strawberry glaze is a soft and moist dessert that is easy to make. The taste is bright and not too sweet, with a warm touch of vanilla and lemon. Plus it looks amazing, with a vibrant pink color from the fresh strawberries.
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Ingredients and substitutes
Strawberries - I use frozen strawberries but fresh berries will work as well.
Flour - You can use all-purpose flour or cake flour for an even more tender crumb.
Baking powder and salt - We will need baking powder to lift our cake during baking and salt for flavor balance.
Sugar - You can use regular white granulated sugar or castor sugar. Castor sugar whips better with the butter.
Butter - Unsalted butter should be at room temperature to whip well with the sugar.
Vanilla - It is optional, but I like to add a little bit of vanilla extract to my strawberry cake. That being said, adding too much vanilla will overpower the strawberry flavor, so ½ teaspoon is more than enough.
Eggs - You'll need two large eggs at room temperature.
Milk - Use whole milk at room temperature.
Food colorings - The glaze will turn out very bright pink without adding any food coloring, but the cake itself could use a couple of drops of red food coloring. However, if you don't want to use any coloring at all - that's fine! The cake will have a very pale pink color regardless.
Cooking tips
Don't overbeat the batter. Classic pound cake is loved by so many people for its tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture. If you mix our strawberry pound cake batter for too long, too much gluten will form and give the pound cake a chewy, more bread-like texture.
Cover the top of the cake with a piece of foil while baking. This strawberry cake recipe takes time to prepare. The baking time is around one hour and we don't want the top of the cake to burn. To prevent over-browning, cover the top of the cake with a piece of foil. I do this after the 40-minute mark as it's safe to open the oven at this point without deflating the cake.
Apply the glaze to a cooled-down cake. Pouring your sugar glaze on top of the warm cake will melt the sugar further which will make the glaze thinner. Your sugar glaze will run down the cake, so almost no coating will be left on top. This applies to any glaze in general.
Step by step directions
For the pound cake
1. In a stand blender, purée the strawberries.
2. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a saucepan to remove the seeds. Cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring now and then, until reduced by half and thick. Set aside to cool down.
3. Preheat the oven to 170C (350F) and line an 8” by 5” (20cm by 13cm) loaf pan or similar with parchment paper.
4. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
5. In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a bowl and a hand mixer), add the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat for 3-5 minutes until pale yellow and fluffy.
6. Add one egg at a time and beat until emulsified. Scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl, then beat again for a few seconds.
7. Reserve 30g of strawberry purée for the glaze; add the rest of it to the milk and mix.
8. Add the dry ingredients while alternating with the strawberry milk and mix on low, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Should look like this – dry/half of the milk/dry/the rest of the milk/dry.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake on the middle rack for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry.
10. Remove from the oven and let cool down in the loaf pan for 5-10 minutes. Then, transfer the cake onto a cooling rack to cool down completely.
For the glaze
1. When the cake is at room temperature, mix the reserved strawberry purée and powdered sugar.
2. Add lemon juice one teaspoon at a time and mix. If the glaze is still too thick, add more lemon juice. Repeat until a thick but runny texture has been achieved.
3. Pour the glaze over a completely cooled-down cake.
4. Let the glaze set a bit before slicing and serving our delicious pound cake.
Possible variations
Add fresh strawberries – This strawberry pound cake recipe can be improved further by folding ⅓ cup of cubed fresh strawberries into the cake batter before baking.
Add freeze-dried strawberry powder – I'm not going to lie, the strawberry flavor is very mellow in this pound cake. However, you can definitely improve it by adding 1 tablespoon of freeze-dried strawberry powder, or strawberry extract.
White chocolate for the glaze – If you're not a big fan of sugar glazes, you can make white chocolate glaze and pour it on top of the cake.
Cream cheese - Make a cream cheese frosting with the reserved strawberry purée instead of the sugar glaze.
Fresh strawberry decoration - Placed sliced fresh strawberries on top of the not-yet-set glaze so they stick well.
FAQ
Store it in an air-tight container or wrapped in a plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 5 days. If you cover your cake with cream cheese frosting or any other frosting that includes dairy, store it in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freeze the unfrosted cake for up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat for 10 seconds in the microwave before serving.
Yes, you can use almost any berry of your choice to make this cake. Make a purée of your choice and sieve it to remove seeds and possible skins before using it instead of strawberry purée.
More related recipes
Chocolate covered strawberries
Recipe card
Strawberry pound cake
Equipment
- Digital kitchen scale
- Rubber spatula
- Stand mixer or hand mixer and a large mixing bowl
- 8" by 5" (20cm by 13cm) loaf pan
Ingredients
For the cake
- 250 g strawberries fresh or frozen
- 240 g all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 240 g white granulated sugar
- 220 g unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 100 ml whole milk at room temperature
- Red or pink gel food coloring optional for a more vibrant look
For the glaze
- 30 g strawberry purée
- 140 g powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice can be less or more depending on the texture of your glaze
Instructions
- In a stand blender (or use an immersion blender and tall cup), purée the strawberries.
- Pour the mixture through a sieve into a saucepan to remove the seeds. Cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring now and then, until reduced by half and thick. Set aside to cool down.
- Preheat the oven to 170C (350F) and line an 8” by 5” (20cm by 13cm) loaf pan or similar with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer (or use a bowl and a hand mixer) fitted with a paddle attachment, add the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat for 3-5 minutes until pale yellow and fluffy.
- Add one egg at a time and beat until emulsified. Scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl, then beat again for a few seconds.
- Reserve 30g of strawberry purée for the glaze; add the rest of it to the milk and mix.
- Add the dry ingredients while alternating with the strawberry milk and mix on low, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Should look like this – dry/half of the milk/dry/the rest of the milk/dry. Scrape the sides and the bottom of the mixing bowl and mix again until homogenous in consistency.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake on the middle rack for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry. Loosely cover the top with a piece of foil after the 40 mins mark to prevent over-browning.
- Remove from the oven and let cool down in the loaf pan for 5-10 minutes. Then, transfer the cake onto a cooling rack to cool down completely.
- For the glaze
- When the cake is at room temperature, mix the reserved strawberry purée and powdered sugar.
- Add lemon juice one teaspoon at a time and mix. If the glaze is still too thick, add more lemon juice. Repeat until a thick but runny texture has been achieved.
- Pour the glaze over a completely cooled-down cake.
- Let the glaze set a bit before slicing and serving. To speed up the process, pop the cake into the fridge for 15 minutes.
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