Strawberry cream cheese pound cake

Delicious strawberry cream cheese pound cake is a simple tea cake bursting with ripe strawberries. The cream cheese batter makes a moist cake with a tender crumb and fabulous flavor. It is just barely sweet, making the perfect afternoon treat.

I’ll give you variations and substitutions where I can, plus helpful tips and tricks for success. Read on for this info as well as the shortcake recipe. If you’d like to skip straight to the recipe, use the jump button at the top of the post.

You may also be interested in my strawberry shortcake recipe and my strawberry cream cheese cupcakes recipe. For ease of browsing, you can find all of my strawberry recipes in one place.

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Strawberry cream cheese pound cake

It is absolutely delicious as is, which is how I really like it. But, if you want to glaze it, I suggest a vanilla glaze for those with a sweet tooth, a lemon glaze for those that like a little tart with their sweet or a strawberry cream cheese icing if you really want to gild the lily.

I love the simplicity of a pound cake. It’s the kind of thing that goes perfectly with a cup of coffee in the afternoon. A little “pick me up” without being too heavy or sweet.

The cream cheese in the batter gives it just a bit of tang to balance to sweetness, plus it makes a really tender and moist cake.

What you need to know

• Because this cake contains cream cheese, it will have a moist, slightly dense, but very plush crumb. Additionally, it will stay moist for days, so you can bake it a day ahead of time, if needed.
• When creaming the butter, cream cheese and sugar together, don’t rush it. The mixture should be pale and fluffy. After the flour is added, the opposite is needed – don’t mix for too long. This activates the gluten and can result in a tough or rubbery texture.
• When baking, the best way to measure your ingredients is with a food scale. This is especially important with flour. You can scoop and level, or spoon and level multiple times in a row, and your measurement will rarely be the same.
• Finally, start with room temperature ingredients to keep your batter from seizing. It will make the process much smoother – pun fully intended.

Pound Cake Ingredients

The ingredients for the pound cake are common pantry ingredients, to keep shopping to a minimum. Before you start, take a few minutes to measure all of your ingredients. I use a scale for accuracy. If you don’t currently own one, I would encourage you to find one that you like. They are so useful, especially in baking.

• Strawberries – You’ll need about a dozen medium-sized strawberries for the cake.
• Flour – Weighing your flour is the most accurate way to measure. I highly recommend using a scale. 
• Butter + Cream cheese – Both are a source of fat and flavor for the poundcake.
• Eggs – Eggs provide moisture and structure to the batter.
• Vanilla – Vanilla extract gives baked goods that familiar flavor we all love.
• Salt – All baked goods need salt. I use Diamond Crystal in all of my recipes. See note in recipe card if using other salt.
• Baking powder – Baking powder gives the cake a tiny bit of lift, which it needs because of the fruit and cream cheese.
• Milk – Whole milk is best for this strawberry pound cake. Please don’t use skim milk.
  • Substitutions: For a slightly richer cake, swap out the milk for half and half.
• Sugar – Granulated white sugar provides just a touch of sweetness.

How to make

Here’s a quick summary of how to make this pound cake recipe with fresh strawberries. Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full recipe. Making this cake couldn’t be easier. No need to drag the big mixer out, a hand-held electric mixer is all you’ll need for this recipe.

1. Prep – Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Butter and flour your loaf pan, then set it aside. Next, sift your dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
2. Beat – Beat the butter and cream cheese together before adding the sugar and eggs. Finally, the milk, vanilla, and finally, flour mixture gets added to make the pound cake batter.
3. Fill – Here is a trick to avoiding sinking fruit – I put about a third of the batter in the bottom of the pan first before adding the strawberries.
4. Fold in the sliced (or diced) strawberries, gently, then spread the remaining batter into prepared pan and slide it into the oven.

Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before you unmold it. As it cools, you’ll see it pull away from the edges of the pan a bit. That’s your cue that you can flip it over and remove it.

Place the cake on a cooling rack and let it cool completely before slicing. This is the hardest part – not cutting into the cake. It smells so good and all you’ll want to do is slice into it, but don’t. Trust me, it’s worth the wait.

Strawberry cream cheese pound cake FAQ’s

Variations and substitutions

• Peach – When summer peaches are in season, make this peach pound cake.
• Blueberry – For blueberry lovers, this blueberry pound cake is another delicious tea cake.

Helpful tools and equipment

• I used a loaf pan with folded corners. It gives you sharp edges and looks very pretty. These are the pans often used in professional baking.
• Your easier to clean option, is a molded 8 x 5 loaf pan. It won’t give you crisp edges, but it is easier to clean because there are no creases where batter can get trapped.

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Originally published 3/3/21, most recent update 4/1/26.