Easy Strawberry Pound Cake Recipe with Cream Cheese - Restless Chipotle (2024)

If Spring was a dessert this would be what it looked and tasted like! It's an easy, pound cake with fresh strawberry flavor baked in a bundt pan!

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🗝️ Key takeaways

• Easy strawberry pound cake has a gorgeous pink color and vibrant strawberry flavor to match. Since there's no fruit the texture never gets heavy or gummy. It's always dense, tender, and moist.
• This is a fabulous cake for Spring, Mother's Day, Easter, or birthdays. Try it as the foundation for strawberry shortcake, too.
• Tastes just like it has fresh berries, but no strawberry extract is needed.

This easy strawberry bundt cake can be made into loaves, layer cakes, a strawberry shortcake, and even a full wedding cake. It is the perfect dessert for the strawberry lover in your life—and, the perfect way to make any day feel like a special occasion.

Sometimes I want to be a little more fancy and then I make this triple layer strawberry chantilly cake!

🧾 Ingredients

This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.

📖Variations

• Stir chopped, fresh strawberries into the batter during strawberry season. Dice them into small pieces so they mix in better!
• Or, use about 1 cup of freeze dried berries.
• Use a different flavor of Kool-Aid to give your cake a different taste. Try Pink Lemonade for a hint of lemon. Berry Cherry or Strawberry Kiwi would also taste yummy!
• Make this easy strawberry pound cake recipe in a loaf pan or layer cake pans, instead! It will make 2 loaves or layers. Find the baking time on the recipe card.
• Or, make mini strawberry pound cake cupcakes. There's enough batter for approximately two dozen cupcakes. Bake for 20-30 minutes or so.
• I like this homemade strawberry bundt cake recipe dusted with some powdered sugar. However, you can make a sweet glaze with my cream cheese icing. Add a little milk or cream to get the perfect gooey texture you like.
• Glaze the cake with some chocolate ganache for a chocolate-covered strawberry flavor.
• Add a splash of lemon juice or a bit of lemon zest to a simple glaze. I love a pop of citrus with sweet strawberry desserts.
• Pulse freeze-dried strawberries in a food processor until very fine, then mix them with some powdered sugar and melted butter. It makes a flavorful strawberry glaze!

🔪 Instructions

This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page.

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, let the butter and cream cheese come to room temperature. Beat on low speed until smooth.
2. Add the sugar and beat again.
3. One at a time, mix in the eggs.
4. Blend in the Kool-Aid mix, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Then, add the flour and salt and combine cake batter just until smooth. Spoon into the prepared pan and bake.

🥫 How to store leftovers

Want to slowly savor your strawberry cake? You can!

This strawberry pound cake is fine stored at room temperature for four or five days. For best results, keep it covered tightly with plastic wrap.

However, remember that any homemade cakes covered with cream cheese frosting need to be refrigerated.

For longer storage, wrap and freeze the cake for up to three months. I like to slice it and put parchment paper between each slice before freezing so I can thaw one or two pieces at a time.

💭 Things to know

Expert Tip: Pound cakes like this one usually taste best on the second day. So, there's no problem if you want to bake this in advance!

• Once you add the dry ingredients (mainly the flour mixture) be careful not to over-mix the batter. Otherwise, the cake can become tough.
• For this strawberry pound cake recipe, I recommend using the paddle attachment for your mixer, instead of the whisk.
• I like using a smoother bundt cake pan so that it's easier to grease. If you use one with lots of nooks and crannies, be sure to get in each little crevice with the butter and flour to prevent sticking.
• Baking the cake at 325F is what gives it that dense, melt-in-your-mouth texture. It might seem like it's taking a long time compared to a regular cake mix, but after the first bite, you'll see why it's worth the wait!
• Unsure if your cake is done baking? Insert a cake tester, a long toothpick, or a butter knife in the center of the cake. If there is any batter on the tester, the cake's not done. Moist crumbs are okay, though, and indicate the cake is done—so look carefully!
• Let the cake cool in the bundt pan for ten minutes, before turning it out onto a wire cooling rack. Turning it out too early can cause the cake to break, and letting the cake cool too long in the pan can cause it to dry out.

👩‍🍳 FAQs

• With delicious lemon flavor and fresh blueberries studded throughout the yummy cake, this Lemon Blueberry Bundt is a tasty summer treat!
• Strawberry Sheet Cake is easy to make and features a light, whipped cream cheese strawberry frosting so good you can eat it with a spoon!
• This No-Bake Strawberry Angel Food Cake combines store-bought cake with fresh, juicy strawberries for a quick, easy, fun dessert!

📞 The last word

This is one of my favorite desserts to take to potlucks! I have plenty more strawberry recipes that will get your mouth watering, too.

It's firm enough to use in a stacked wedding cake (I've done it!) but easy enough for every day. The lack of berries actually helps it maintain the dense texture needed for heavy cakes -- keeps them from collapsing.

And what about serving it with squares of this strawberry shortcake crunch ice cream cake? Strawberry heaven!

If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.

If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Recipe

First published May 20, 2015. Last updated February 3, 2024 for editorial improvements.

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