Strawberry Swirl Pound Cake

Sometimes you find a recipe you ADORE that just needs no adaptations. For me, that recipe was Sohla El-Waylly’s Chocolate Marble Pound Cake. The texture and the flavor were everything you could ever want in a pound cake. Although, come summer and springtime I find that I enjoy baking with more fruit flavors. I could not get the idea of a strawberry pound cake out of my head. When I started researching existing recipes, I realized that many recipes called for just dumping some strawberries into a pound cake batter. Since we are friends here, I am going to be very honest. I do not like to throw strawberries, raspberries, or other very water-filled fruits (with the exception of blueberries) into cake batter. I find that the cake gets wet and gummy. So, we had to go back to the drawing board. Luckily, we didn’t have to draw very much because I realized Sohla’s recipe was still a fantastic base for this. All we had to do was RIFF!!!

Why Freeze Dried Strawberry Powder is Perfect for your baking

I love baking with freeze-dried fruit. In some ways, I consider it my secret weapon in my pantry. By adding freeze-dried strawberry powder, we get all of the natural strawberry flavor but in an even more concentrated way. There is no water to mess with the texture of the cake, AND it gives a beautiful pink color. I did, of course, also add a little food dye for a vibrant pink, but hey, I bake on the internet! It needs to look pretty!

In this Strawberry Swirl Pound Cake recipe, we just substituted the cocoa powder in the original recipe with strawberry powder 1:1. This works perfectly because both cocoa powder and freeze-dried strawberry powder are dry ingredients that will behave in a similar fashion when baked. If we want to be super scientific here, the acidity is different in these two ingredients, and on a larger scale, it may affect the baked goods’ rise if we made this switch without adjusting the leaveners as well. HOWEVER, in this recipe, we are working with mere tablespoons. Therefore, the quantity is not enough to affect that at all. So back to the point, we can substitute strawberry powder for cocoa powder 1:1 in this recipe!”

If you are looking for more strawberry recipes, check out some of my other desserts here!

Strawberry Swirl Pound Cake

This strawberry swirl pound cake is a crowd-pleaser! It is filled with all natural strawberry flavor and topped with a lemon strawberry glaze!

Servings 8

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@lilypcrumbs

STRAWBERRY POUND CAKE RECIPE! If you learn the rules of baking, you can break them. Have you ever wondered how to develop a recipe? Are you curious about making substitutions in your baking? Enter- riffing!! Start by just making one or two changes to some of your favorite recipes -I’m sort of leading into a riffing 101 series here 😆 #bakingtiktok #recipedeveloper #recipedevelopment #poundcake #strawberrypoundcake

♬ Doo Wop (That Thing) (Instrumental) – Lauryn Hill

Equipment

• 1 1 pound loaf pan

Ingredients

Cake

• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter 196 grams, room temp, plus a little extra to grease the sides of the pan
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar 250 grams
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature 120 grams
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 187 grams
• 3 tablespoons ground freeze dried strawberry powder 15 grams, I just measure 15 grams then smash it with a rolling pin in a ziploc bag
• 3 drops of red/pink food coloring optional
• 1 tablespoon milk or water

Strawberry Frosting

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar 120g -sifted
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons freeze dried strawberry powder 15 grams
• 1 -3 Tablespoons milk this depends on how thick you want the glaze

Instructions

Make the Cake

• Preheat the 350°F. Grease a 9×5-inch metal loaf pan with butter and line with parchment paper
• In a large bowl with a handmixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, baking powder, and kosher salt. Beat in a medium-high speed for at least 4 minutes, until mixture is light and fluffy. Make sure to stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl! Mix again for 2 more minutes
• Scrape down the bowl again and add in the vanilla extract, eggs and the yolk. Scrape down again and add in the sour cream and vanilla. Mix again until smooth!
• Add in the flour. Scrape down the bowl again and remove it from the standmixer (if using).
• Get a clean medium sized bowl and place it to the side
• Transfer about half the batter to a medium bowl. Add the freeze-dried strawberry powder and stir into the batter along with the milk. Add in food coloring if you want that “pink” strawberry color!
• Next alternative placing half the strawberry batter and half the vanilla batter into the pan. The best marble effect comes from scooping a dollop of batter from each directly on top of one another. Then with a knife, swirl all the way through the batter to emphasize the swirl. Bang the pan a few times on the counter to get out any air bubbles
• Bake until the crust is deeply browned, the loaf rises and splits, and the cake feels firm and set when you gently press the top, 65 to 75 minutes.

Make the Glaze

• While the cake is cooling, add the sifted powdered sugar to a medium bowl. Add in the lemon juice and mix. Mixture will look like a paste. Add in the strawberry powder and mix again then add the milk. Feel free to add more or less milk depending on how thick you would like the glaze!
• Pour the glaze over the cooled cake and let it set for at least 20 minutes. Slice and enjoy!