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My recipe for easy strawberry pound cake is all about celebrating fresh strawberry flavors, delivering a moist and tender loaf cake that just screams strawberry season. I have a few special tricks I use to keep the strawberries bright red while they bake, and it's finished with a simple pink strawberry icing for an extra kick of sweetness.

A loaf of strawberry pound cake with a pink glaze sits on a cooling rack. The cake is sliced to show the inside, revealing pieces of strawberry. A halved strawberry and a whole strawberry are placed in front.

A rectangular strawberry pound cake with pink icing sits on a cooling rack, with a sliced piece in front. Plates, forks, knife, strawberries, and decorative flowers surround the cake on a white surface.

Like all my best cake recipes, this strawberry pound cake is so good served with a scoop of ice cream, but I also love serving it with a dollop of whipped cream, fresh sliced strawberries, and a drizzle of my homemade strawberry simple syrup!

To preserve the strawberries' bright red color and prevent them from turning brown when they bake, I toss them with a bit of lemon juice before mixing them into the cake batter. (This is a trick I learned recently from my friend Sarah, a food scientist who shares helpful videos and recipes with science-backed baking tips at Half Batch Baking.)

The acidity of the lemon juice lowers the pH of the strawberries and keeps them bright red during baking. No brown strawberries here!

A hand uses a metal citrus squeezer to add juice to a bowl of chopped strawberries—perfect for making a delicious strawberry pound cake—on a white textured surface.

A person uses a white spatula to mix diced strawberries in a small round bowl, preparing the fresh fruit for a delicious strawberry pound cake, with one hand holding the bowl on a white textured surface.

Since I never like to let anything go to waste, I use the few teaspoons of strawberry lemon juice that I strain off the berries to make a pretty pink strawberry icing. The icing is technically optional, but very worth it if you've got a serious sweet tooth or are just feeling a bit extra!

Bowls and containers of ingredients for baking are arranged on a white surface, ready to create a delectable strawberry pound cake. The scene includes flour, sugar, chopped strawberries, eggs, lemon, sour cream, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sticks of unsalted butter. — See recipe card (at the end of the post) for ingredient quantities.

My strawberry pound cake works best with fresh strawberries. I've given the strawberries as a weight measurement in the recipe, but I find it's usually about 6-8 small strawberries, 4-5 medium strawberries, or 3 very large strawberries. I don't like using frozen strawberries in this recipe; they release too much moisture into the cake when it bakes.

How to Make Strawberry Pound Cake

Just like all my pound cake recipes, this strawberry pound cake uses the creaming method of mixing. If you're new to making cakes or want to understand exactly the "why" behind the creaming method, I do recommend clicking that link to read more about that process in detail!

A metal mixing bowl with a flat beater attachment contains creamed butter and sugar, partially combined with flour on top, sitting on a white textured surface.

Chopped strawberries in a fine mesh strainer with a white spatula, placed on a white textured surface—perfectly prepped for making a delicious strawberry pound cake.

It's impossible to get the strawberries completely dry before adding them to the batter, but even a quick pat-pat-pat with a paper towel can make a big difference. Blotting the berry pieces prevents excess moisture from getting trapped inside the cake, where it can cause giant air pockets or gummy cake batter around each strawberry piece!

A stainless steel mixing bowl containing thick, creamy strawberry pound cake dough with red strawberry pieces mixed in. A purple spatula rests in the bowl. The bowl is on a white textured surface.

Mix the berries in by hand.

A hand uses a mini offset metal spatula to smooth creamy strawberry pound cake batter in a rectangular metal loaf pan on a white textured surface.

Spread the batter into a loaf pan.

Pressing the cake batter down into the pan is important for pressing out any air bubbles that might be hiding inside. Then smooth out the top so it bakes evenly.

My Easy Strawberry Lemon Icing

Let me say this right off the bat: This strawberry icing is very sweet. If truly sweet things aren't your thing, you may want to just do a simple icing drizzle instead of the full icing layer. Personally, I just couldn't help myself; the pink color was so pretty, and I love the contrast of the sweet icing with the slight tartness of the strawberries in the cake.

A person is mixing light pink icing with a whisk in a clear glass bowl containing powdered sugar, on a white textured surface—perfect for drizzling over a strawberry pound cake.

Whisk until a smooth icing forms, adding more milk if needed.

A hand uses an offset spatula to spread pink icing on a rectangular strawberry pound cake resting on parchment paper and a cooling rack.

The icing should be thick and glossy but not runny.

Depending on the brand of powdered sugar, the fat content in the milk, how much strawberry lemon juice you were able to get, etc. there can be some variety and you may need to adjust.

A hand pipes a thin white zigzag of icing over a rectangular strawberry pound cake covered in pink glaze, which sits on a wire rack lined with parchment paper. The background is a textured white surface. — Use a fork or a piping bag with the very tip snipped off to drizzle the white icing on top.

I usually like to let the glaze sit for an hour or two before serving so that it forms a crust, but you can definitely serve it shiny and freshly glazed too.

USA Pan Bakeware Aluminized Steel Loaf Pan, 1 Pound

Dimensions: 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.75. Durable construction with corrugated surface for optimal airflow. Non-stick finish is PTFE, PFOA and BPA free.

Amazon

Crate & Barrel

Williams Sonoma

A loaf of strawberry pound cake with pink icing sits on a white surface. Two slices are cut in front, revealing the moist interior dotted with strawberry pieces. A halved strawberry rests beside the slices, while blurred flowers decorate the background.

A slice of strawberry pound cake with pink icing sits on a white plate, topped with two halved strawberries. A fork is nearby, and more cake and strawberries are visible in the background.

My Best Practical Tips and Recipe Notes

When in doubt, SCRAPE DOWN THE BOWL. If it feels like you're stopping too often to scrape down the bowl, that means you're doing it right. You don't want any ingredients to go unincorporated or you'll end up with large air bubbles or clumps in your final cake.
Mixing the dry ingredients on the lowest possible speed and stopping as soon as they're all combined with just a few streaks of visible flour is super important. The goal is to avoid developing gluten in the cake batter, which makes the cake dense and tough.

💭 Have More Baking Questions?

I've rounded up answers to common baking questions and how-to guides, including:

Ingredient swaps and FAQs
Why my recipes are written in grams and not cups
How to quickly bring eggs and butter to room temperature
Ingredients I use (salt, flour, yeast, etc.)
Step-by-step guides for bread and baking techniques

See my baking techniques & troubleshooting guide and ingredient swaps and FAQs for more!

📖 Recipe

a cross section of a loaf of strawberry pound cake with pink icing on top and two strawberry halves in front of it.

Strawberry Pound Cake made with Fresh Strawberries

Servings loaf

Author Rebecca Eisenberg

This easy strawberry pound cake is all about that fresh strawberry goodness, delivering a moist and tender loaf cake that just screams strawberry season. It's topped with a simple pretty-in-pink strawberry icing with a white icing drizzle, for an extra oomph of sweetness. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream and fresh strawberries!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 20

Recipe Notes

To keep the cake from sticking to the pan, spray the pan with nonstick spray, then line with a parchment paper sling. The non-stick spray helps the paper stick to the walls of the pan. I use metal binder clips to help hold the paper in place, but this is optional.
This strawberry pound cake can be stored at room temperature with an airtight cover for 4-5 days. You can also refrigerate it in an airtight container for up to a week.
The pound cake itself can be frozen for up to 3 months without icing. Defrost in the fridge, then add icing (you'll have to use a plain icing or glaze instead of the strawberry one since you won't have the reserved strawberry juice) and let come to room temperature for serving.
To use frozen strawberries, defrost completely and pat dry before tossing with lemon juice.
The strawberry icing is very sweet. If you prefer a less sweet icing, you can use just the white icing drizzle, replacing the milk in it with the strawberry lemon juice from step #7. You can also create a thinner icing, more like a glaze, and pour that over the top of the cake instead of a thick, opaque icing.

Ingredients

113 grams strawberries
½ lemon (juice and zest)
227 grams unsalted butter (65°F, softened)
227 grams sugar
227 grams all-purpose flour
3 large eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon diamond crystal kosher salt (use half as much of any other brand)
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
50 grams sour cream (full fat)

Strawberry Icing

70 grams powdered sugar
2 teaspoons strawberry lemon juice (from step #7)
1 teaspoon milk

White Icing

30 grams powdered sugar
1 teaspoon milk

Instructions

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Mise en Place. Bring butter and eggs to room temperature (the butter should be cool, around 65°F, but soft to the touch, not melty or greasy). Measure sugar and lemon zest into one container. In another container, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. Grease an 8x4" loaf pan and line with a parchment paper sling. Set aside.
Chop strawberries. Mince the strawberries into ⅛" pieces. Mix with lemon juice. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cream butter and sugar. Cut the butter into large chunks and place in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Beat on low-medium speed to soften, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the sugar and lemon zest. Beat on low speed until there's no loose sugar in the bowl, then increase speed to medium and continue creaming for 5-7 minutes, pausing to scrape down the bowl and the beater at least 3 times. Finish by scraping down the sides of the bowl.

When properly creamed together, the butter and sugar mixture will be pale yellow, light, and fluffy with a paste-like texture. If you rub it between your fingers the sugar granules should be almost entirely dissolved but still feel slightly gritty.

Add eggs. One at a time, crack each egg into a small bowl (to avoid getting shells in your cake!) then dump the egg into the mixer bowl, beating on medium speed for at least 60 seconds and scraping down the bowl again before adding the next egg. Scrape down the bowl again after the last egg has been added.

If the cake batter begins to look split or curdled as you're adding the eggs, don't sweat it too much. It will come back together when you add the flour.

Alternate adding dry ingredients and sour cream. With the mixer running on the lowest possible speed, add half the dry ingredients. When they are mostly combined, scrape down the bowl and beater. Add the sour cream and mix on low just until combined, then stop and scrape the bowl and beater again. Add the remaining dry ingredients on low speed until just a few streaks of flour remain. Do not over mix!
Add strawberries. Use a wire mesh strainer to strain the excess juice off the strawberries. Gently stir and lift the berries in the strainer, do not press them through it to get as much juice off as possible. Reserve the strawberry lemon juice for later. Turn the strawberries out onto a paper towel and blot dry. Add the strawberries to the cake batter and use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and gently fold them into the cake batter until evenly distributed.
Bake. Scoop the batter into the parchment lined loaf pan. Use a mini offset spatula to smooth out the batter, pressing it down into the corners and sides of the pan so that there aren't any trapped air bubbles. Level off the top, covering any berries at the surface of the cake as best you can. Bake in the center of a 350°F oven for 60-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it.
Cool. Remove the pan to a cooling rack. Let cool 15-20 minutes, then use the parchment sling to lift the cake out of the pan to finish cooling. Let cool completely before adding icing.

Strawberry Icing & White Icing Drizzle

Strawberry icing. Sift powdered sugar into a medium mixing bowl. Whisk in 2 teaspoons of the strawberry juice you saved in step #7. Then whisk in the milk ½ teaspoon at a time. This is a very thick icing, it will clump up inside your whisk at first but should move with a slow flowing consistency like molten lava.

I know it's tempting to skip sifting the powdered sugar step, but I wouldn't tell you to sift if it wasn't truly necessary. Powdered sugar is notoriously lumpy and clumpy and if you don't sift it, those lumps will be there even after whisking it. You may need to add more sifted powdered sugar (1 tablespoon at a time) or milk (½ teaspoon at a time) to reach the right thick consistency.

Use a mini offset spatula to spread the glaze over the top of the loaf cake. Let sit 10-15 minutes to form a crust so the white icing drizzle sits on top of it.
White icing drizzle. Whisk together the sifted powdered sugar and milk to create a fairly thick icing. Use a fork or a piping bag with a small hole at the tip to drizzle white icing across the top.

Video

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