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This moist Strawberry Pound Cake has all the fresh strawberry flavors in every bite. A homemade strawberry jam is layered in the center. Plus the cake is topped with a vibrant strawberry glaze to finish. It’s a bakery-style recipe that will impress any crowd.
My Strawberry Pound Cake has gone viral several times and for good reason, it’s insanely delicious. It’s one of my most requested dessert recipes by friends and family as well as on social media! It’s truly that delicious.
The reason everyone loves this strawberry loaf cake so much is that it showcases fresh strawberries in two different ways.
I first make a foolproof strawberry jam that gets layered in the vanilla pound cake batter. Once the cake has cooled, a bright pink strawberry glaze is drizzled over the top.
Serve it with an afternoon coffee or dress it up with whipped cream for a fancy dinner party or holiday dessert. Whatever the occasion, this cake will be a hit.
If you’re looking for other great dessert recipes, our Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie made with fresh strawberry and my mixed Berry Cake are both wonderful options.
Reader Review
I made this and it was delicious!
– Amy
Table of contents
This recipe article was originally published in April of 2024, it has since been updated with helpful tips and ingredient notes for clarity.
Tips for Making the Best Strawberry Pound Cake
I tested this recipe upwards of 12 times and throughout the process I came to a few conclusions. For starters, you can’t just add chopped strawberries to a pound cake batter and hope that it will be bursting with flavor.
- First, to achieve a truly impressive strawberry pound cake, you need to start with fresh strawberries and cook them down into a jam. The no-pectin strawberry jam then is layered into the cake batter for intense flavor.
- Second, you need to load the batter up with flavorful fat—butter and sour cream do the trick.
- Third, a lower oven temperature is key to baking a dense yet tender and moist cake. Too hot and the edges will burn before the center has time to bake through.
- And finally, there are a lot of thoughts out there on whether or not a pound cake should have leaveners in them. I’m in the “yes” camp on that. A bit of baking powder creates the perfect light yet dense texture.
Ingredients
- Fresh strawberries: you’ll need a pound of ripe, delicious strawberries. You can use frozen strawberries. If you do, increase the cornstarch to 2 teaspoons.
- Freeze dried strawberries: if you plan on making the strawberry glaze then you’ll need a bag of freeze dried strawberries which you’ll grind into a powder. I also like to dust some over the top of the cake.
- Sugar: granulated sugar and confectioners’ sugar (if you plan on making the glaze).
- Salt: I develop recipes using Morton kosher salt. If you’re using Diamond Crystal, you’ll want to use heaping measurements.
- Vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste: I like to use both in this recipe, but you can just use one or the other if you want. You’ll need a tablespoon (yes) of vanilla extract for the batter and a ½ teaspoon of vanilla bean paste in the strawberry jam.
- Cornstarch: just 1 ½ teaspoons is needed to thicken the jam.
- All-purpose flour: no specialty flour here. To create that clean pound cake appearance, just use all-purpose flour.
- Baking Powder: less than 1 teaspoon is needed to give this cake a bit of lift without making it light and airy (a pound cake should be nicely dense and moist).
- Butter: I recommend using unsalted butter, is allows you to control the seasoning level. I developed this recipe using standard supermarket butter. You don’t need to use European cultured butter, though if you do, let me know how it turns out.
- Sour Cream: use full fat sour cream. This is not the time to skimp on fat!
- Eggs: it’s important to use eggs labeled as “large” not medium, not Jumbo, you need large eggs. A large egg, out of shell, should weight about 50 grams. For the best results, use room temperature eggs—this will help you avoid those air pocket bubble you see in my slices.
- Half-and-Half: just a splash is needed for the glaze. You can also use whole milk or a combo of cream and milk.
How to Store Pound Cake with Strawberries
- Cook the Strawberries: You’re essentially making a quick strawberry jam. The first step is to finely chop the strawberries.
- Combine the chopped strawberries, sugar, salt and vanilla paste in a small saucepan and cook, stirring and mashing until it’s thickened and measures about 1 cup, this will take about 20 minutes.
- Whisk a cornstarch slurry into the strawberry mixture and cook just until thickened.
- Transfer the jam to a bowl and place chill completely. Pop the jam in the freezer for a quicker cooling time—just don’t let it freeze.
- Cream the Butter and Sugar: Whip the butter and sugar together, using a paddle attachment, until the mixture is very light in color and fluffy. I recommend you scrape down the sides of the bowl at least once throughout the creaming process.
- Beat in the Eggs: Add the eggs one at a time to the batter, then beat in the vanilla. Scrape down the sides occasionally to ensure everything is getting incorporated!
If the mixture looks a little curdled, that’s OK.
- Add in the Dry Ingredients: Gradually add in the flour mixture (flour, baking powder and salt) and mix on low speed just until incorporated.
Finish mixing the batter by hand to ensure it doesn’t get over-mixed (over-mixed=dense and tough cake).
- Layer the Cake by first spreading a third of the batter into the loaf pan. Dollop a third of the strawberry jam over top and spread into an even layer (don’t spread the jam all the way to the edges of the pan—this will help you avoid any brunt jam).
- Repeat layering twice more then use a spoon to swirl the top layer of jam gently into the batter.
- Bake the Cake until the edges are golden brown, the cake is tall and round, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool then drizzle with the strawberry glaze. Let the glaze to set then serve!
Expert Tips
- Find freeze dried strawberries in the dried fruit or health food section of your grocery store. You can also buy freeze dried strawberries online.
To make a powder, add the strawberries to a coffee or spice grinder or mini food processor and process until a fine powder is formed. - The size of pan you use is very important. I recommend you use a 9×5-inch loaf pan. It’s a traditional size for a pound cake and is large enough to hold all of the batter.
- For the best results, I recommend using a food scale to weigh the ingredients. If you do not have a food scale, measure the flour by spooning into measuring cup and leveling off.
- It’s very important that the butter and the eggs are at room temperature. Using room temperature soft butter will allow you to incorporate more air into the batter and thus more lift in the finished cake. Room temp eggs will create a uniform crumb (no large air pockets).
Why is My Pound Cake Dry?
- Too much flour: if the flour is improperly measured and too much flour is used, then your cake will come out dry. I recommend measuring ingredients by weight, but if you don’t have a food scale, make sure you are spooning the flour into your measuring cup(s) and leveling off with a flat edge.
Do not scoop the measuring cup through the flour, or pack the flour into the cup—this will result in too much flour.
- Over-baked: this could be from an oven that was too hot (I recommend using an oven thermometer to check how accurate your oven is) or from being in the oven too long. To avoid a dry cake, start checking the doneness after about an hour of baking. This’ll give you quite a bit of leeway should your oven run hot.
- Wrong size of eggs: all of my recipes, and those developed by trustworthy recipe developers, are tested with large-sized eggs. If you’re using smaller eggs, this will likely impact the texture of the cake. For reference, one egg, out of shell, should weigh 50 grams.
Storage
The cooled strawberry pound cake can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month.
I do not recommend refrigerating pound cake—it will make for a very dry and dense cake.
Strawberry Pound Cake Recipe
Description
A moist Strawberry Pound Cake featuring three layers of fresh strawberry jam, buttery vanilla pound cake, and a vibrant strawberry glaze.
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Ingredients
Strawberry Layer
- 1 pound (450g) fresh strawberries, finely chopped (~2 ½ cups)
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste, optional
- 1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
Pound Cake
- 2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour*
- Âľ teaspoon (4g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 16 tablespoons (226g; 2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (123g) sour cream
- 4 large eggs (200g), at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Strawberry Glaze
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground freeze dried strawberries **
- 5 teaspoons half-and-half
- Pinch salt
Instructions
Strawberry Layer
- Cook 1 pound chopped strawberries, ½ cup (100g) sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste, if using, in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring and mashing frequently, until thickened and mixture measures about 1 cup, about 20–22 minutes.
- In a separate small bowl, stir together 1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch and 1 ½ teaspoons water.
- Stir cornstarch slurry into strawberry mixture. Cook until thickened, 30 seconds–1 minute (mixture should measure ~1 cup).
- Transfer filling to bowl and refrigerate until no longer warm, about 1 hour. (Filling can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days.)
Pound Cake
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325ÂşF (163ÂşF). Grease a 9Ă—5-inch loaf pan*. Line pan with a 12-inch x 8-inch piece of parchment paper, making a sling in pan. Fold and crease parchment over edges.
- Whisk 2 cups (260g) flour, ¾ teaspoon baking powder and ½ teaspoon salt together; set aside.
- Using stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat 16 tablespoons butter and 1 cup (200g) sugar on medium to combine. Increase speed to high and cream until pale and fluffy, 5–7 minutes, scraping down bowl twice throughout process.
- Beat in ½ cup (123g) sour cream.
- Scrape down bowl and mix in one egg at a time (4 eggs total), followed by 1 tablespoon vanilla.
- Scrape down bowl and mix again for about 30 seconds to ensure the eggs are fully incorporated, mixture will look slightly curdled, that’s OK.
- With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture just until incorporated. Use a spatula to give it one final stir.
- Spread ⅓ of batter (1 ½ cups; ~338g) into prepared pan, dollop ⅓ of jam (~¼ cup; ~75g) over top and spread into an even layer as best you can, leaving a ½-inch border around pan. Repeat layering with another ⅓ batter and ⅓ jam.
- Spread remaining batter over top and remaining jam over top, use a spoon to swirl jam into batter slightly.
- Bake until edges are golden brown, cake is tall, and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour 15 minutes–1 hour 20 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking.
- Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Using parchment overhang, lift cake from pan and let cool completely on rack, about 1 hour.
Strawberry Glaze
- In a small mixing bowl, combine ½ cup confectioners’ sugar, 2 teaspoons ground freeze dried strawberries and a pinch of salt. Add 5 teaspoons half-and-half and whisk until smooth. Adjust with additional half-and-half or confectioners’ sugar as needed to reach desired consistency.
- Drizzle glaze over cake. Optional, but I like to also dust with additional strawberry powder.
Notes
Storage: Cooled cake can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month. I do not recommend refrigerating pound cake—it will make for a very dry and dense cake.
*Measuring Flour: measure the flour by weight or the spoon and level method. Don’t scoop the flour with the cup—this will result in too much flour.
**Freeze Dried Strawberries: find freeze dried strawberries in the dried fruit or health food section of your grocery store. You can also buy them online. To make a powder, add the strawberries to a coffee or spice grinder or mini food processor and process until a fine powder is formed.Â
Pan Size: a 9Ă—5-inch loaf pan is best (and traditional) for a pound cake. If you’re using a 8.5×4.5 pan then you’ll need to hold back some of the plain batter. Use the batter to make mini pound cake cupcakes or pancakes (yum!).
Bundt Pan: I’ve not tested this recipe in a bundt pan, so I can’t guarantee it’ll work. That being said, I think it would work. I recommend making one and a half times the recipe. Bake at 325ÂşF (163ÂşC) for about 90 minutes (check the cake at 75 minutes and adjust timing as needed since this is an educated guess).Â
Kosher Salt: I develop recipes using Morton kosher salt. If you’re using Diamond Crystal, use a heaping ½ teaspoon for both the strawberry layer and the batter.
Eggs: use room temperature large eggs. Cold eggs will cause air pockets in the cake.
Store Bought Jam Shortcut: I tested this and it *works* to use store bought jam in place of the homemade jam, but it’s not as good. The layers of strawberry will be a bit softer and slightly drippy/wet in the cake.
Frozen strawberries: you can use frozen strawberries to make the jam. If you do, increase the cornstarch to 2 teaspoons. Frozen berries release a lot more moisture than fresh and will need more cornstarch to thicken the juices.
Nutrition
Serving: 1sliceCalories: 450kcalCarbohydrates: 60gProtein: 8gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 120mgSodium: 265mgFiber: 1gSugar: 35g
Like this? Leave a comment below!I love hearing from you and I want to hear how it went with this recipe! Leave a comment and rating below, then share on social media @zestfulkitchen and #zestfulkitchen!
Overall easy to follow, and the cake was very tasty. In the ingredients / measurements list for the glaze I found very confusing. It is written as “ 5 teaspoons 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons half-and-half” is it 1 table spoon + 7 teaspoons, or 1 table spoon + 2 teaspoons. Glaze was okay, truly don’t know if I did it correctly.
Hi Briana, thanks for the review. And I apologize for the confusion on the glaze. The correct measurement is 5 teaspoons, which can also be measured as 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons. For some reason the parenthesis to differentiate these measurements did not show up in the recipe card. I have now streamlined the ingredient list to be more clear. Thanks for bringing that to my attention!
I made this and it was delicious! I did double the recipe and baked in a Bundt pan.
Hi Amy! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and that is worked as a double batch in a bundt pan. Do you remember how long it took you to cook in the bundt pan? Gosh, I bet it was pretty!
I’ve done this recipe at least 3 times in Bundt pans and no matter how I layer the jam, it will not stay in the center of the cake, always flows straight to the bottom of pan. Is there a tip to keep the jam in the center?
Hi Dolph, I’m sorry to hear the jam is flowing to the bottom of the cake. A couple of questions: are you 1.5x or 2x the batter? I ahven’t tested this recipe in a bundt pan, so I can’t be sure, but I think it’s going to be important to have more batter. Is the jam completely cool when you spread it onto the batter? This should keep it from dropping down into the batter. If this keeps happening, I recommend increasing the amount of cornstarch you add to the jam, the thicker the jam, the less likely it will be to fall through the batter. If you’re using store-bought jam, this could be the issue as well since most pre-made jams have a higher sugar content and are thinner. I hope this helps!
Delicious!